Agency :
Simona Halep is unsure if she will play again if the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) does not uphold her appeal against a four-year doping suspension, the Romanian former world number one has said.
In September, the 32-year-old former Wimbledon and French Open champion was banned by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) for four years for two separate anti-doping rule violations.
Halep, who had been provisionally suspended since October 2022 after testing positive for banned blood-booster roxadustat at the U.S. Open last year, said she would appeal the ITIA’s decision to sport’s highest court.
On Tuesday, CAS said the hearing would be held Feb 7-9.
Asked if a failed appeal could spell the end of her playing career, Halep told Euronews: “Yeah, because four years is going to be a lot, for my age at least.
“And for an athlete who has done this thing every day for 25 years and dedicated their life to tennis and to sport I don’t know how it’s going to be, but it’s catastrophic if it’s going to be four years, and I don’t know how I will handle it.
“Probably, it’s going to be the end of my career, yes. And for something that I didn’t do and that is not my fault, it’s even more catastrophic.”
