Five women's tennis players who got banned for doping 

31-year-old former Wimbledon winner Simona Halep has been banned until October 2026. 

The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) decided to ban Simona Halep from competing until October 2026 due to two separate violations of the anti-doping code. On Tuesday (September 12th, 2023), Simona Halep, a former World No. 1 from Romania, said she would appeal the decision before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS)

The 31-year-old former winner of the French Open and Wimbledon has been under a provisional suspension since October 2022, after testing positive for the blood-booster roxadustat at the US Open the previous year. 

Halep won't be able to participate in a professional tennis match again until October 2026, should the ruling be confirmed. There is however some optimism for Halep. She can contest the decision and she plans to do so in front of the CAS. In light of this, we look back to the five tennis female players banned for doping. 

Maria Sharapova (2016)

Popular women's tennis star Maria Sharapova was given a two-year ban from competition for doping, the International Tennis Federation tribunal announced in 2016. Sharapova was alleged to have submitted a urine sample on January 26 of that year following her quarter-final match at the Australian Open in Melbourne, according to an independent tribunal convened by the ITF, the sport's global governing body. The drug meldonium, which the World Anti-Doping Agency listed as being prohibited, was discovered in the sample.

Simona Halep (2022, 2023)

Simona Halep, a former No. 1 tennis player, received a four-year suspension in a doping case, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) announced on September 12th, 2023. After testing positive for the drug roxadustat at the US Open in 2022, it was found that Halep had irregularities in her athlete biological passport after the analysis of 51 blood samples. Halep won the French Open in 2018 and Wimbledon the following year.

Martina Hingis (2007)

The Swiss star, Martina Hingis, tested positive in 2007 for the cocaine metabolite benzoylecgonine. As a result, Hingis was disqualified from the competition for two years. The former World No. 1 had appealed, but her appeal was rejected by ITF and as a result, she had to forfeit the previous year's Wimbledon prize money she won along with the subsequent events.  

Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová (2013)

A six-month suspension was imposed on Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova after a positive stimulant test, in 2013. According to the International Tennis Federation, the 26-year-old tennis player's sample from the Luxembourg Open on October 16, 2012, contained sibutramine, a stimulant that is forbidden by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

The Czech player, who improved to 39th place in the world rankings in 2010, said that sibutramine got into her system as a result of taking a supplement called Acai Berry Thin, which is marketed as a way to speed up metabolism. 

Her claim that she had not meant to utilise the substance to enhance her performance was accepted by the ITF. She was then given a six-month suspension with a start date of 16 October 2012 and an expiry date of 16 April 2013. She lost all prize money and ranking points linked with her rankings at the Luxembourg Open and the 2012 Büschl Open in Germany, which was held a week later.

Mariska Venter (2023)

Halep is not the only female tennis player to be banned from tennis this year (2023). Mariska Venter, a 26-year-old wheelchair tennis player from South Africa, voluntarily accepted a provisional ban under Article 7.12.5 of the 2022 Tennis Anti-Doping Programme (TADP, or Programme), according to confirmation from the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) in January of this year.