Grand Slam champ Simona Halep wins doping case on appeal and is cleared to resume tennis

The highest court in tennis decided on Tuesday that Simona Halep, a two-time Grand Slam champion, was not solely to blame for her failed doping test, allowing her to resume playing games right away. Halep's appeal was partially upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport's justices, who suspended her for nine months instead of four years. July of last year was the end of its retroactive application.

Halep's initial four-year ban came about as a result of two different anti-doping code violations. But the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne decided that her suspension ought to be shortened to nine months, which she has already completed. "The CAS Panel has unanimously determined that the four-year period of ineligibility imposed by the ITF (International Tennis Federation) Independent Tribunal is to be reduced to a period of ineligibility of nine (9) months starting on 7 October 2022, which period expired on 6 July 2023," the court said in a statement.

Following a positive test for the prohibited substance roxadustat, which stimulates the production of red blood cells, during the United States Open in 2022, the 32-year-old Romanian was suspended in October of that same year.