Simona Halep eager to return after doping ban reduced

Former Wimbledon champion Simona Halep is eager to return to tennis with “renewed vigor and an invigorated spirit” after Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) reduced her four-year ban to nine months. The International Tennis Federation (ITF) Independent Tribunal found Halep guilty of both Anti-doping Rule Violations (ADRV) and imposed a four-year period of ineligibility on her last September. Now, the former world number one is free to return to the tour as soon as possible as she has already served the nine months of suspension. “The CAS Panel has unanimously determined that the four-year period of ineligibility imposed by the ITF (International Tennis Federation) Independent Tribunal is to be reduced to a period of ineligibility of nine (9) months starting on 7 October 2022, which period expired on 6 July 2023,” CAS said in a statement on Tuesday.