British tennis player Tara Moore has been handed a four-year doping ban after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) overturned an earlier tribunal decision that cleared her. The 32-year-old, a former British No 1 in doubles, tested positive for nandrolone and boldenone in April 2022 during a tournament in Bogota, Colombia.
An independent tribunal initially ruled that the anabolic steroids entered her system via contaminated meat, finding her to bear 'no fault or negligence' after a 19-month wait. However, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) appealed, and Cas has now upheld that appeal, stating Moore failed to prove the violation was not intentional.
Moore's ban is effective immediately but reduced to 19 months due to time already served, meaning she cannot return to competition until 2028. The decision could end her career, as she will be 35 by then.
ITIA chief executive Karen Moorhouse said the appeal was 'not taken lightly' and that independent scientific advice indicated Moore did not adequately explain the high nandrolone level. Moore had filed a cross-appeal to dismiss the ITIA appeal, but it was declared inadmissible.
Moore's case had been cited in debates about perceived leniency for top players like Iga Swiatek and Jannik Sinner, who received shorter bans for doping violations. Swiatek was suspended for one month after testing positive for trimetazidine, while Sinner received a three-month ban for clostebol.
