Two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep was cleared for an immediate return to tennis on Tuesday by sports’ highest court cutting her ban for doping on appeal.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport said its judges partially upheld Halep’s appeal and reduced her 4-year ban to just 9 months. It was applied retroactively and expired last July.
The 3 judges decided Halep had “established, on the balance of probabilities" her positive test for a banned blood-boosting substance "entered her body through the consumption of a contaminated supplement.”
Halep has not played since the 2022 U.S. Open where she tested positive and was serving a ban that would have exiled her from tennis until October 2026 after she turned 35.