Former No. 1 tennis player Simona Halep gets 4-year ban in doping case

Two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep has been suspended from professional tennis for four years for doping violations, the International Tennis Integrity Agency said Tuesday.

LONDON (AP) — Two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep has been suspended from professional tennis for four years for doping violations, the International Tennis Integrity Agency said Tuesday.

The 31-year-old Romanian “committed intentional anti-doping rule violations “ by failing a drug test during the 2022 U.S. Open and for irregularities in her Athlete Biological Passport, the ITIA said.

Halep, who plans to appeal the ruling, had been provisionally suspended since October 2022. The four-year ban will run to Oct. 6, 2026.

Halep reached No. 1 in the WTA rankings in 2017. She won Wimbledon in 2019, beating 23-time major champion Serena Williams in the final, a year after winning the French Open.

Halep, who had blamed contaminated nutritional supplements, plans to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.