British tennis star slapped with four-year ban for doping offence

British tennis star Tara Moore has been banned for four years for doping. The suspension starts immediately, although 19 months of the ban have already been served.

Moore, 32, was ranked as Britain's best doubles player when she was provisionally banned in June 2022 after testing positive for nandrolone and boldenone at a tournament in Colombia. In December 2023 though, an independent tribunal accepted her explanation that contaminated meat was the reason of the positive test, and that Moore "bore no fault or negligence." She duly returned to professional tennis in April 2024.

However, an appeal by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) has now been upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). In a statement, the organisation said: "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 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."

Born in Hong Kong, Moore played in the doubles main draw at Wimbledon and the US Open last year, as well as at the 2025 Australian Open. She reached the second round at Flushing Meadows, the first time she's been that far in a Slam since the 2022 French Open.

Moore also reached the second round of the singles draw at SW19 in 2016. She now won't be eligible to return to the sport until the start of the 2028 season.

The ITIA have reacted to the ruling, with chief executive officer Karen Moorhouse saying: "For the ITIA, every case is considered according to the individual facts and circumstances. Our bar for appealing a first instance decision is high, and the decision is not taken lightly.

"In this case, our independent scientific advice was that the player did not adequately explain the high level of nandrolone present in their sample. Today's ruling is consistent with this position.

"We understand that players and their support teams may have questions about this decision, and we will answer these fully once we have reviewed the details of the ruling."