‘Feels like I never left’: Simona Halep back on court in Miami

FILE – Romania’s Simona Halep. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File)

Simona Halep posted a video on Tuesday of her practicing on the courts of the upcoming Miami Open in what will be her first competitive appearance since winning an appeal over a doping suspension.

The Romanian former world number one had her four-year doping ban cut to nine months by the top court for global sport last week, making her eligible to return to competition immediately.

“Feels like I never left,” Halep wrote in an Instagram story with a winking emoji.

READ: Simona Halep free to return after four-year doping ban reduced

“First day back, thank you @miamiopen.”

The 32-year-old Halep, a former Wimbledon and French Open champion, was suspended in October 2022 after she tested positive for roxadustat – a banned drug that stimulates the production of red blood cells – at the U.S. Open that year.

She was also charged with another doping offense last year due to irregularities in her athlete biological passport (ABP), a method designed to monitor different blood parameters over time to reveal potential doping.

Halep, who vigorously denied the charges against her, said that she would most likely have been compelled to retire if the initial four-year ban was maintained.

The Miami Open runs March 17-31.