Simona Halep’s return: What happened? How was doping ban reduced? Who will she face in Miami Open draw?
It’s been over 560 days since Simona Halep played a competitive tennis match.
Her last appearance on a tennis court at the 2022 US Open was followed, two months later, by the news that she was provisionally suspended after testing positive for a banned substance.
The former world No. 1 has not been able to play since and might have feared her career could be over after being given a four-year ban last September.
However, earlier this month she was cleared to return after her ban was reduced on appeal and she will be back at this week’s Miami Open.
So what has happened over the last 18 months? And who will she play in Miami?
What happened to Halep?
Simona Halep’s career highlights include winning the French Open in 2018 and Wimbledon in 2019. She has also spent time as world No. 1 and has won 24 career singles titles.
Her last professional match was on August 29, 2022 in the first round of the US Open.
The match saw seventh seed Halep – who that summer had won Toronto and reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon – shocked by 20-year-old qualifier Daria Snigur in three sets.
Shortly afterwards, Halep said that she would not play again that year due to having nose surgery.
The ITIA said: “Halep provided a sample whilst competing at the US Open in August 2022. The sample was split into A and B samples and the subsequent analysis found that the A sample contained FG-4592 (Roxadustat), which is a prohibited substance listed in the 2022 World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List.”
Simona Halep is a two-time Grand Slam winner
Image credit: Getty Images
Roxadustat can increase the production of red blood cells, which can improve the oxygen supply to the body. Halep said the positive test was the “biggest shock of my life”.
“Today begins the hardest match of my life: a fight for the truth,” she said in a statement.
“Throughout my whole career, the idea of cheating never even crossed my mind once, as it is totally against all the values I have been educated with. Facing such an unfair situation, I feel completely confused and betrayed.
“I will fight until the end to prove that I never knowingly took any prohibited substance and I have faith that sooner or later, the truth will come out.”
Halep timeline – from four-year ban to Miami return
| Date | What happened |
| October 2022 | Halep is provisionally suspended by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) for testing positive for Roxadustat, which is a prohibited substance |
| May 2023 | Halep says on social media she has “lived the worst nightmare I have ever gone through in my life” after being initially charged. She also says her name has been “soiled in the worst possible way” and she was a victim of contamination. The ITIA says Halep has been accused of a “further and separate breach of the tennis anti-doping programme” following an independent assessment of her athlete biological passport. |
| September 2023 | The ITIA announce that Halep is suspended for four years following breaches of the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme (TADP). The statement said Halep had committed intentional violations. Halep said she plans to appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). |
| November 2023 | Halep’s coach Patrick Mouratoglou takes the blame for the doping violation. “There was no way to know it. But I feel responsible for what happened because it’s my team – so me, basically – who brought her this collagen,” said Mouratoglou in an Instagram post. “We have done all possible tests to be able to establish that we are talking about a contamination. I’m very confident that this independent tribunal will recognise the fact that she never did doping. She is a victim and she has to come back to the court and be able to compete as soon as possible.” |
| March 2024 | Following a CAS hearing in February, Halep’s four-year ban is reduced to nine months and she is able to return to tennis immediately. A statement from CAS said: “Having carefully considered all the evidence put before it, the CAS panel determined that Ms. Halep had established, on the balance of probabilities, that the Roxadustat entered her body through the consumption of a contaminated supplement which she had used in the days shortly before 29 August 2022 and that the Roxadustat, as detected in her sample, came from that contaminated product. As a result, the CAS panel determined that Ms. Halep had also established, on the balance of probabilities, that her anti-doping rule violations were not intentional. Although the CAS panel found that Ms. Halep did bear some level of fault or negligence for her violations, as she did not exercise sufficient care when using the Keto MCT supplement, it concluded that she bore no significant fault or negligence.” |
Who will Halep play at the Miami Open?
Halep’s first match in 18 months will see her face Paula Badosa in the opening round of the Miami Open on Tuesday, March 19.
Badosa missed Indian Wells due to injury and has lost both previous meetings against Halep in straight sets.
The winner of the match will face world No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka in the second round
Where else will Halep play?
Halep is currently unranked on the WTA Tour due to her lengthy inactivity.
She has got a wild card into the Miami Open and will need further wild cards to get into top-level tournaments until she can improve her ranking.
After Miami she is likely to continue her comeback in the clay swing.
Her first Grand Slam since the 2022 US Open is likely to be the French Open, where she was champion in 2018 and also a two-time runner-up in 2014 and 2017.
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