Following a doping suspension, Simona Halep, the former world number one, will return to the WTA circuit at the Miami Open this month, the Romanian said on Instagram on Thursday.
After this week’s Indian Wells, California, event, Halep announced that she had accepted a wild card into the main draw of the prestigious hard court event in Florida—tthe second half of the “Sunshine Double”—just two days after her four-year ban was reduced to nine months and she was cleared by the Court of Arbitration for Sport to return right away.
“I’m excited to inform everyone that the Miami Open in two weeks will mark my comeback to the WTA Tour!” Halep, who participated in the US Open in 2022, posted.
“I am grateful to the tournament for providing me with this chance, and I am eager to return to the court and compete. I’ll see you all shortly.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) banned the two-time Grand Slam singles winner in September of last year due to two distinct drug offenses from the previous year.
The 32-year-old filed her appeal with CAS in February, claiming that a contaminated supplement was the cause of her positive test result for Roxadust, a medication used to treat anemia that is prohibited as a blood doping agent.
Halep’s infractions were deemed to be “not intentional” by CAS, as she had “established, on the balance of probabilities,” that the prohibited substance originated from the tainted product.
Additionally, CAS determined that Halep’s biological passport—a long-term monitoring tool for an athlete’s blood signs that may suggest doping—did not, in fact, corroborate “the doping scenarios put forward by the ITIA” due to “irregularities” highlighted by the ITIA.
Halep had argued for her innocence and rejected the ITIA ruling, which would have prevented her from appearing in court until October 6, 2026.