Former women's world No. 1 Simona Halep cops four-year ban for doping

Bad news for Simona Halep. The former women's world No. 1 one was given a four-year ban after she broke doping rules, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) announced.

Halep violated the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme (TADP) by failing a drug test at the 2022 US Open, where she tested positive for a substance called roxadustat.

Moreover, she was charged with irregularities in her Athlete Biological Passport (ABP).

Halep had already been provisionally suspended since October 2022, which means her ban will end 6 October 2026, the ITIA added.

Halep and her defense argumented that she had taken a contaminated supplement, but the independent tribunal deciding in the case stated, "the amount the player had ingested could not have resulted in the concentration of roxadustat found in the positive sample."

"The volume of evidence for the tribunal to consider in both the roxadustat and ABP proceedings was substantial," ITIA Chief Executive Officer, Karen Moorhouse, said.

Halep intends to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, she announced on X, formerly Twitter.

"I am continuing to train and do everything in my power to clear my name of these false allegations and return to the court," she declared on the platform.

Before Halep was sidelined, she reached the absolute top in tennis by climbing to world No. 1 in the rankings for the first time in October 2017.

She has won two Grand Slams in her career: the French Open in 2018 and Wimbledon in 2019.

The four-year ban Halep received could well mark the end of her career, as she will be 35 in October 2026. Or will we see her back in action sooner?