Former world No. 1 tennis superstar Simona Halep will not be able to participate in the top tiers of tennis competitions after getting banned for four years over a pair of anti-doping rule violations. The said sanction was announced by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) via a statement released on its official website.

“The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) can confirm that an independent tribunal has suspended Romanian tennis player Simona Halep for a period of four years following breaches of the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme (TADP).

Two-time Grand Slam title champion Halep, 31, was charged with two separate breaches of the TADP. The first related to an Adverse Analytical Finding (AAF) for the prohibited substance roxadustat at the US Open in 2022, carried out through regular urine testing during competition. The second charge related to irregularities in Halep’s Athlete Biological Passport (ABP).”

Halep's statement about unknowingly ingesting a supplement that was contaminated was accepted by the tribunal but that was still ultimately not enough to escape the harsh punishment.

“The tribunal accepted Halep’s argument that they had taken a contaminated supplement, but determined the volume the player ingested could not have resulted in the concentration of roxadustat found in the positive sample.  ”

Halep has been provisionally suspended from sanctioned events since 2022 following positive test results for usage of Roxadustat, a banned substance.

Halep, who reached the No. 1 ranking in the world in 2017, won the French Open in 2018 and the Wimbledon in 2019. She also played in the finals of the Australian Open in 2018 and reached the semis of the US Open in 2015.