Tara Moore, the British tennis player given a four-year ban for a doping violation, says “the anti-doping system is broken.”
Moore’s ban was confirmed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) last Tuesday. After returning a positive test for the anabolic steroids boldenone and nandrolone following a tournament in April 2022, an independent panel ruled that Moore bore no fault or negligence in December 2023, only for the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) to appeal that decision to CAS.
CAS ruled in the ITIA’s favor, at the same time dismissing a counter-appeal from Moore, who was previously Britain’s No. 1-ranked doubles player. The 32-year-old’s four-year ban is minus the time she served while provisionally suspended, which began following her adverse test result from the tournament in Colombia. She will be able to return to tennis at the start of the 2028 season.
“The last three-and-a-half years have broken me into so many pieces,” Moore said in a statement on social media Sunday. “As my family and friends have scrambled to pick up the broken shards of me, they’ve glued me back together in the form of a different person.
“I don’t need a panel to tell me I’m innocent. I know the integrity I bring and I know I am innocent. I believe everyone over the past couple of years can see how subjective this process is.
“I have been the underdog. I have had my life as I knew it ripped away from me because the organisations and people in power failed to do what was right. They may have taken my fight away on the court, yet my fight is not over, not for me or others like me.
“The anti-doping system is broken. I am proof of this. We need to fix it. Not for me as it’s too late, but for future players who find themselves in this unfortunate situation. I have so much more to say when the time is right.”
Moore had argued that the presence of boldenone and nandrolone in her sample had been caused by the consumption of beef and/or pork while in Colombia.
“After reviewing the scientific and legal evidence, the majority of the CAS Panel considered that the player did not succeed in proving that the concentration of nandrolone in her sample was consistent with the ingestion of contaminated meat,” the court said in Tuesday’s media release.
“The Panel concluded that Ms. Moore failed to establish that the ADRV (anti-doping rule violation) was not intentional. The appeal by the ITIA is therefore upheld, and the decision rendered by the independent tribunal is set aside. The cross-appeal filed by Ms. Moore was declared inadmissible.”
Doping has been a highly contentious issue for the sport in recent months following the positive tests and subsequent bans served by men’s world No. 1 Jannik Sinner and four-time French Open women’s champion Iga Świątek. Both players went on to win their respective singles titles at Wimbledon last weekend.
(Top photo: Mike Owen/Getty Images)
