Miami Gardens, Florida (AP) Simona Halep will return to tennis at the Miami Open this month, having won her appeal against a four-year doping suspension and had the penalty reduced to nine months.
“Thank you to the tournament for this opportunity, and I can’t wait to get back on the court and compete,” the two-time Grand Slam champion and former No. 1 player wrote on social media Thursday. “See you all soon!”
She received a wild-card admission to the main draw of the hard-court tournament held at the Miami Dolphins stadium. Women’s play begins March 19.
Halep, a 32-year-old Romanian tennis player, is set to resume her career after the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled in her favour on Tuesday.
She tested positive for a prohibited substance during the 2022 US Open and has not competed on tour since. Halep claimed to the court that her exposure to the drug came via a tainted supplement.
when a three-judge panel ruled that Halep bore “some level of fault or negligence” for failing to exercise “sufficient care” when using the supplement, it also stated that “she bore no significant fault or negligence.” The judgment stated, “Her anti-doping rule violations were not intentional.”
Halep won major championships at Wimbledon in 2019, beating Serena Williams in the final, and at the French Open in 2018, defeating Sloane Stephens in the final.
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