Simona Halep set for tennis return as doping ban is cut to nine months

The former Grand Slam champion was banned for four years in 2022, but can now return to the game immediately having already been out for more than a year.

Simona Halep’s four-year doping ban has been cut to nine months by the top court for global sport, making the former world number one eligible to return to competition immediately.

Former Wimbledon and French Open champion Halep was initially banned for four years for two separate anti-doping rule violations. But the Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled that her suspension should be reduced to nine months, a period she has already served.

“The CAS Panel has unanimously determined that the four-year period of ineligibility… 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 CAS said on Tuesday.

Now that the 32-year-old Romanian is eligible to compete, she could be granted a wild card to this year’s French Open or Wimbledon.

“Throughout this long and difficult process, I have maintained my belief that the truth would eventually come out, and that a just decision would be reached, because I am and always have been a clean athlete,” Halep said in a statement.