Simona Halep to play Miami Open after winning doping appeal

Simona Halep announced she will make her return to tennis after more than 17 months at the Miami Open later this month.

The former world No. 1 shared the news in an Instagram post Thursday.

“I’m thrilled to let you all know that I will be making my return to the WTA Tour in two weeks at the Miami Open,” Halep wrote. “Thank you to the tournament for giving me this opportunity and I cannot wait to be back on court and competing.”

Halep, a two-time major champion, was cleared to return to competition Tuesday after the Court of Arbitration for Sport accepted her claim that she was not completely at fault for her positive doping test and reduced her ban from four years to nine months.

As she has not played since the US Open in September 2022, the ban was applied retroactively, making Halep eligible to play immediately.

Halep, 32, tested positive for roxadustat, a banned blood-booster substance, at the 2022 US Open. She has been steadfast in denying any wrongdoing and immediately appealed the four-year punishment when it was handed down last year.

This week, the CAS judges determined Halep “established on the balance of probabilities” her positive test for a banned substance “entered her body through the consumption of a contaminated supplement.” Halep had blamed contaminated nutritional supplements for the positive test.

“Although the CAS panel found that Ms. Halep did bear some level of fault or negligence for her violations, as she did not exercise sufficient care when using the Keto MCT supplement, it concluded that she bore no significant fault or negligence,” the court said.

Due to her lengthy absence from the sport, Halep currently is unranked and needs wild cards for entry at WTA events. She is a two-time semifinalist in Miami and last won a title at the 1000-level Canadian Open in August 2022.