The best sports court in Geneva allowed two-time Grand Slam winner Simona Halep to return to tennis on Tuesday following her adverse drug test results from the 2022 US Open.
In 2019, Simona Halep won the Wimbledon final over Serena Williams, having won the French Open the previous year.
Halep’s entire career may have been impacted by the four-year ban that was eventually lifted.
The Romanian player, 32, had his career suspended for over a year after his claims of drug use were dismissed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Three CAS judges came to the conclusion that a contaminated supplement was the reason behind Halep’s positive drug test result for chemicals that increase blood pressure. In July, Halep’s four-year sentence was shortened to nine months.
“I am so excited to go back on the tour,” Halep declared.
Attorney Howard Jacobs claims that Simona Halep is suing the manufacturer of the dietary supplements.
Great appreciation was shown for both her denial of “scandalous accusations” and her victory over the “seemingly unlimited resources” of the tennis authorities.
When she was banned by the International Tennis Integrity Agency and sentenced by the CAS six years ago, her career may have come to an end. CEO Karen Moorhouse states that the organisation honours both CAS decisions and athletes’ appeals against doping.
Halep received 20,000 Swiss francs ($22,650) from the CAS justices to pay her ITIA legal fees.
Her career was ruined by roxadustat doping at the US Open in 2022.
Endurance athletes naturally experience an increase in EPO, a doping hormone.
Her biological passport revealed blood anomalies that had existed for years after a thorough check, preventing her from participating. ITIA banned Halep in September 2026. Halep was born on October 35.
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She denied any responsibility and attributed the terrible outcome to contaminated vitamins.
Athletes need to identify the source and stop the infection. One month ago, Halep took part in a three-day closed-door session in Lausanne, Switzerland, following the filing of an appeal with CAS.
The court stated that the justices “as soon as practicable” dismissed Halep’s protest regarding her blood test results, although they did not provide a rationale. Thus,
“The CAS panel concluded that Ms. Halep bore no significant fault or negligence, even though it found that she did bear some level of fault or negligence for her violations because she did not exercise sufficient care when using the Keto MCT supplement.”
It was heard by three esteemed judges.
Australian Annebelle Bennett defended Caster Semenya at the ECHR. Despite a positive test, 15-year-old Russian figure skater Kamala Valerieva was allowed to compete in the 2022 Beijing Summer Olympics. Jeffrey Benz, an American lawyer who served on the CAS panel that made the decision, made this possible.
A different panel imposed a four-year suspension on Valieva.
Ulrich Haas is a German legal expert who frequently nominates people to the CAS and advises the World Anti-Doping Agency. Halep can finish at 1138 after missing the US Open in 2023.
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