British tennis player Tara Moore has received a four-year ban from the sport following a successful appeal by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA)—despite being previously cleared by an independent tribunal.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) overturned the tribunal’s 2023 ruling and upheld the ITIA’s appeal, determining that Moore’s positive drug test in April 2022 constituted a doping violation.
The 32-year-old had tested positive for nandrolone and boldenone during a tournament in Bogotá, Colombia, where she was competing as Britain’s top-ranked women’s doubles player at the time.
Although Moore was provisionally suspended in May 2022, a December 2023 ruling from an independent panel accepted her defense that the positive test resulted from eating contaminated meat. The tribunal concluded she bore “no fault or negligence.”
Moore later expressed deep frustration, citing “19 months of lost time and emotional distress”, and said her reputation had been unjustly harmed.
She returned to competitive tennis in April 2024, mostly playing on the ITF World Tour, and also featured in the main draws of Wimbledon, the US Open, and the Australian Open.
However, following a hearing in March 2025, CAS ruled in favor of the ITIA. Moore’s four-year suspension takes immediate effect but will be backdated by 19 months—the time she spent provisionally banned—meaning she will be eligible to return at the start of the 2028 season.
The ruling is a major setback for the doubles specialist, particularly given the limited earning opportunities on the lower-tier circuit.
