Halep sues Canadian company for supplement linked to doping suspension.

Simona Halep, a former world number one, is suing the Canadian company that produced a nutritional supplement that she believes led to her four-year doping ban, which could end her career.

Halep is suing Quantum Nutrition, also known as Schinoussa Superfoods, for more than $10 million after testing positive for Roxadustat, a drug commonly used by anaemia patients, at the 2022 US Open.

Roxadustat is on the World Anti-Doping Agency's banned substances list because it can boost haemoglobin levels and red blood cell production, thereby increasing endurance.

Romanian Halep, 32, claimed she used Schinoussa supplements during the 2022 Flushing Meadows tournament and that the Keto MCT she took was contaminated with Roxadustat, which was not listed on the label.

The two-time Grand Slam champion stated that she has never used any banned substances and that Quantum's negligence and false claims that its supplement was legal have harmed her career and caused humiliation.

Halep also seeks punitive damages. She filed a lawsuit in Manhattan's New York State Court.

Quantum, headquartered in Scarborough, Ontario, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In October, its founder told Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail that Halep was looking for a scapegoat and that his company was being used as "the fall guy."

Halep's lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for additional comment.

Halep is appealing the four-year suspension imposed by an International Tennis Integrity Agency tribunal last September.

While agreeing that Halep was unaware that the supplement might contain Roxadustat, the tribunal stated that contamination could not account for the amount of the drug found in her urine sample on August 29, 2022.

Halep filed an appeal against the ruling last week with the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland.

"I really believe that the truth is going to come out and the day to be on court is going to be soon," Halep told reporters.

Halep won both the French Open in 2018 and Wimbledon in 2019.

The case is Halep v Quantum Nutrition Inc. et al., New York State Supreme Court, New York County.

SportsLigue