Simona Halep will make her tennis comeback at the Miami Open this month following a successful appeal of her doping suspension, which saw her penalty reduced from four years to nine months.
“Thank you to the tournament for giving me this opportunity, and I cannot wait to be back on court and competing,” the two-time Grand Slam champion and former No. 1 player shared Thursday on social media. “See you all soon!”
She has been granted a wild-card entry for the main draw of the hard-court tournament, set to commence on the site of the Miami Dolphins’ stadium on March 19.
Halep, a 32-year-old from Romania, can resume her tennis career following the decision in her favor announced Tuesday by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
She had tested positive for a banned substance during the 2022 U.S. Open and has been absent from the tour since then. Halep contended to the court that her exposure to the substance occurred through a contaminated supplement.
While acknowledging Halep’s “some level of fault or negligence” for not taking “sufficient care” while using the supplement, the three-judge panel concluded that she did not bear significant fault or negligence and that her anti-doping rule violations were unintentional.
Halep’s notable victories include major championships at Wimbledon in 2019, where she defeated Serena Williams in the final, and at the French Open in 2018, where she bested Sloane Stephens in the final.
