Simona Halep, the former world number one, will appear before the Court of Arbitration for Sport for a three-day hearing beginning Wednesday to appeal her four-year doping sentence, CAS revealed.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) punished the 32-year-old Romanian in September for two different doping violations.
The two-time Grand Slam singles champion tested positive for roxadustat following the US Open in 2022 and was punished with a second anti-doping violation last year due to inconsistencies in her athlete biological passport.
On Tuesday, CAS announced that the hearing would take place over three days beginning Wednesday at their offices in Lausanne.
“The parties, witnesses and experts will attend the hearing both in person and remotely, including Ms Halep who will be present in person,” the Court of Appeal said.
Halep has defended her innocence and refused to accept the ITIA verdict, which will prevent her from playing professional tennis again until October 6, 2026.
The 2018 French Open and 2019 Wimbledon singles champion says she wants to “clear her name” and claims scientists discovered she mistakenly took a tainted vitamin.
However, the ITIA stated that, while the tribunal acknowledged Halep had consumed a tainted supplement, they also “determined the volume the player ingested could not have resulted in the concentration of roxadustat found in the positive sample”.
Roxadustat is a valid treatment for anemia.
However, it is also on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s banned list since it is a blood-doping agent that raises haemoglobin levels and red blood cell synthesis.
The biological passport system is intended for long-term monitoring of an athlete’s blood markers with the goal of detecting abnormalities that could suggest doping.