Simona Halep says she is “shocked and disappointed” by the decision to ban her from tennis for four years on doping charges and will appeal the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The former world No 1, who won the French Open in 2018 and Wimbledon in 2019, has always protested her innocence but the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) announced on Tuesday that she has been handed a suspension of four years that could, if upheld, effectively end the 31-year-old’s career.
“I have never knowingly or intentionally used any prohibited substance,” Halep said.
“I refuse to accept their decision of a four-year ban.
“While I am grateful to finally have an outcome following numerous unfounded delays and a feeling of living in purgatory for over a year, I am both shocked and disappointed by their decision.
“I am eternally grateful for the outpouring of support I have received from my family, friends, and tennis fans around the world.
“I am continuing to train and do everything in my power to clear my name of these false allegations and return to the court.”
The independent tribunal, held in June 2023, “found the player had committed intentional anti-doping rule violations” both in the presence of a banned substance in her urine and “use of a prohibited substance or method during 2022” relating to her Athlete Biological Passport (ABP), the method drug-testers use to monitor normal levels of substances in each athlete’s system.
More than 8,000 pages of evidence were submitted to the tribunal, which delivered its verdict on 11 September, and five expert witnesses were called, four by Halep and one by the ITIA. The tribunal also heard from a separate panel of three independent experts on the second ABP charge.
What is roxadustat?
Halep originally tested positive for banned substance roxadustat at the US Open last year and was provisionally suspended in October 2022.
Roxadustat is most commonly used to treat anaemia as a complication of kidney disease, but it can also be used to enhance sporting performance because it forces the body to produce more red blood cells, which in turn allow an athlete to move oxygen around the body more efficiently. As such, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) have banned it in and out of competition, and placed it in the same category as EPO, the substance that Lance Armstrong and a number of other cyclists admitted using.
The automatic provisional suspension removed Halep from competition at the end of last season but she aired her frustrations in April of this year over the length of time that the process, understood to be a highly complex one, was taking.
“A player that is provisionally suspended is entitled to get an expedited hearing,” Halep said.
“Everything takes so long. I asked the [sic] ITF to lift my sanction to be able to play but they also refused it.”
The ITIA (rather than the ITF as Halep mentioned) insisted throughout that they were working “in line with the World Anti-Doping Code”.
Halep also claimed that she had independently employed experts to analyse the supplements she had been taking, one of which was supposedly the source of the banned substance, and they had “found out that there was a contamination, a supplement contamination, and that’s why the quantity was so, so low in my body”.
She added: “I really want to play again because I love this sport and I want to play for the big titles again.
“Until now, tennis has always been my life. I feel that I want to do it again when I come back. I want to be as strong as I was before, even more if it’s possible. I strongly believe that if I work hard, I can play at the highest level again.
“At this age, it’s really tough to lose days, weeks and months. You are scared about the injuries. When you don’t have official matches, it is more risky. When time passes like this, it is harder to come back.”
In May, it was subsequently revealed that Halep was facing a second charge due to irregularities with her ABP, which is the method used by anti-doping officials to create a baseline for each athlete against which to measure findings.
In her statement after the ban, Halep revealed that she had started taking a new set of supplements in 2022.
“None of the listed ingredients included any prohibited substances however we now know – and the tribunal agreed – one of them was contaminated with roxadustat,” Halep said.
“I was tested almost weekly after my initial positive test through early 2023, all of which came back negative.”
