British tennis player Tara Moore has been handed a four-year suspension following a successful appeal by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), overturning a previous ruling that had cleared her of wrongdoing.
Moore, once the UK’s top-ranked doubles specialist, originally tested positive for anabolic steroids—boldenone and nandrolone—during a tournament in Colombia in April 2022. An independent tribunal later accepted her defense that the substances likely entered her system through contaminated meat, and she was subsequently cleared in December 2023.
However, the ITIA challenged that outcome, focusing particularly on the elevated levels of nandrolone. The CAS has now sided with the ITIA, determining that Moore failed to provide sufficient evidence to support her claim, and reinstated a four-year ban.
“The bar for appealing first-instance decisions is set high,” said Karen Moorhouse, ITIA Chief Executive. “Our independent scientific advice concluded that the player did not adequately explain the presence of such a high level of nandrolone. Today’s decision aligns with that assessment.”
Moore, now 32, has consistently denied any intentional doping throughout the investigation. She described the experience as one that left her career and reputation “slowly trickling away” over the course of her provisional 19-month suspension.
That initial suspension period, however, will count toward her newly imposed ban. The British player, currently ranked No. 864 in singles and 187 in doubles, has been competing mainly in lower-tier WTA tournaments since her return to competition.
The ruling casts further light on the ITIA’s efforts to enforce anti-doping standards across professional tennis, with Moore’s case serving as one of the more high-profile examples in recent years.
