Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, a former world No. 1 and two-time grand slam title winner, can return to the tennis court immediately after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) reduced her doping ban from four years to nine months on the grounds that she was not guilty of intentional doping.

Halep argued that the anti-doping rule violation was not intentional and the roxadustat had entered her body through the consumption of a contaminated supplement, Keto MCT.

“This ordeal has been a testament to resilience,” Halep wrote on Instagram, quoted by The Guardian. “The triumph of truth is a bittersweet vindication that, albeit delayed, is immensely gratifying.”

Simona Halep received the suspension last Septem­ber after testing positive for roxa­dustat. At 32, a four-year ban would likely have meant the end of her career.

Simona Halep has been ranked world number one in singles twice between 2017 and 2019, for a total of 64 weeks, which ranks twelfth in the history of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) rankings. She was the year-end #1 in 2017 and 2018. She has won two Grand Slam singles titles: the 2018 French Open and the 2019 Wimbledon Championships.

iulian@romania-insider.com

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