The tennis world has been on high alert lately when it comes to anti-doping rules. From big names like Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek being roped into testing controversies, the spotlight has only grown harsher. But few stories are as tangled or as devastating as that of Tara Moore. After a years-long battle over contaminated meat, lab findings, and bureaucratic reversals, the former British No. 1 doubles player has finally spoken out. And she’s not mincing her words.
In June 2022, Moore was provisionally suspended after testing positive for two anabolic steroids, nandrolone and boldenone, at a tournament in Colombia. She maintained from the beginning that she had never knowingly taken a banned substance, and an independent tribunal later agreed. Their verdict? Contaminated meat was the likely culprit, and Moore had no fault or negligence.
It should have been the end of a nightmare that had already cost her 19 months of her career. But the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) wasn’t done. They appealed the ruling to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which has now ruled in their favor, nullifying the original decision and reinstating a four-year ban.
Tara Moore also filed a counter-appeal, but that, too, was dismissed. On Sunday, Moore took to social media to share the emotional cost of the ordeal and her refusal to let it define her. “The last three-and-a-half years have broken me into so many pieces,” Moore said in a statement. “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.”
Her words don’t just express grief, they seethe with frustration over a system she says has failed her. “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.”
Statement: pic.twitter.com/FrTaOeDlQK
— Tara Moore (@TaraMoore92) July 20, 2025
The post WTA Star Banned for 4-Years Hits Back at Doping Controversy: ‘I’m Innocent’ appeared first on EssentiallySports.
