The Romanian grand slam champion was suspended back in October 2022 for failing a drug test, taking positive for the banned substance, Roxadustat.

International Tennis Integrity Agency (Photo: firstsportz.com)

Simona Halep, a former top ranked and two-time grand slam champion, has been suspended from playing professional tennis for four years because of doping allegations, announced Tuesday by the International Tennis Integrity Agency.

According to USA Today, the ITIA said that it confirmed the presence of the Roxadustat in the grand slam champion at the 2022 US Open and irregularities in Simona Halep’s athlete biological passport. 

The agency said that despite hearing from the grand slam champion and her expert scientific witnesses, it has determined that she committed doping offenses as independent experts ruled “likely doping” as the explanation behind the athlete biological passport.

On September 11, the tribunal confirmed that it was found that the grand slam champion has committed intentional Anti-Doping Rule Violations. The suspension which began in October, will continue up until October 6, 2026.

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The grand slam champion has responded to the suspension, saying in a statement that she plans to appeal the suspension and do everything in her power to clear her name against the false allegations and return to court.

According to CNN Sports, the grand slam champion has previously denied the allegations, responding to the announcement by stating that she will appeal and has never knowingly or intentionally used any prohibited substance.

The two-time grand slam champion was charged with two separate breaches of the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme. The first breach, according to ITIA, related to Halep’s testing positive for banned substance, Roxadustat – which was listed on the 2022 World Anti-Doping Agency Prohibited List – at the US Open in 2022. The second charge was for the irregularities in the grand slam champion’s Athlete Biological Passport (ABP), which was designed to monitor athletes’ selected biological variables over time.

The ITIA said that the grand slam champion’s suspension is backdated and will run from October 7, 2022 to October 6, 2026. Halep’s last appearance was at last year’s US Open, and has been suspended since October 2022.

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