Simona Halep's four-year doping ban has been reduced to nine months by the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) following her appeal, and she will be refunded some of the costs she incurred.
Last September, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) sanctioned Halep for a positive test of the banned substance Roxadustat, which was found in her urine sample from an in-competition test at the 2022 US Open.
Halep was provisionally suspended for a year before ITIA concluded its investigation and issued a verdict through an independent tribunal. Halep was deemed to have intentionally consumed Roxadustat.
She was also charged with a second count of breaching the anti-doping regulations pertaining to inconsistencies with her athlete's biological passport. The ITIA delivered the bombshell news that Halep will be banned from sport for a period of four years.
The former World No. 1 denied wrongdoing and promised to clear her name in the hall of infamy. Several fans and some pundits rallied behind the Romanian, who became the first high-profile tennis player to be suspended from the sport since Maria Sharapova due to doping.
Halep stated her intention to challenge the ITIA's verdict at CAS, and her case was heard last month in Lausanne, Switzerland. This week, the much-anticipated decision from CAS came to light when it was announced that "on the balance of probabilities," Halep's consumption of Raoxadustat was through a contaminated supplement.
The 32-year-old has since shared her relief and excitement about the decision and her imminent tennis return. Halep also revealed in an Instagram post that CAS instructed the ITIA to compensate her for legal costs and other expenses incurred during the case, which are estimated to be $22,600.
"Furthermore, the tribunal has directed ITIA to compensate me with CHF 20,000 (almost $22,600)."
The ITIA, which is the body vested with the right to uphold and safeguard the integrity of professional tennis, stated that it "respected" the decision from CAS and that it would review the full verdict "thoroughly."