Tara Moore loses $20m WTA court fight over ban
Tara Moore has lost her $20m legal fight against the Women's Tennis Association.
A United States District Court in New York has dismissed the British player's motion and directed that the matter be closed. District judge Andrew Carter found her challenge was "not justified" on a legal basis, according to BBC Sport.
Moore was Britain's leading women's doubles player when she failed a drugs test in 2022. She reached a career-high singles ranking of 77th in the world that same year.
The case traces back to April 2022. Moore tested positive for nandrolone and boldenone, two banned anabolic steroids, at a WTA 250 event in Bogota. A WTA 250 is a lower-tier tour stop, a rung below the big 500s, 1000s and Grand Slams.
Moore said the positive test came from contaminated meat eaten in Colombia. She argued the WTA failed to warn players about that risk.
In December 2023 an independent tribunal agreed contaminated meat was the source. It ruled Moore bore "no fault or negligence" for the failed test.
That should have ended it. It did not.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency, which polices doping in tennis, appealed. The Court of Arbitration for Sport, sport's highest appeal court, sided with the agency. Moore was banned for four years, until 2028.
Moore then turned her case on the WTA. She went to the American Arbitration Association, claiming the tour's failure to warn players against eating meat in Colombia directly caused her positive test and the harm that followed.
An arbitrator backed the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling and dismissed her claim. Moore asked the federal court in New York to overturn that decision, saying she was denied a fair hearing. Her motion sought "no less than $20m in compensatory damages" from the WTA, around £15m.
The court has now rejected that motion.
Her battle had drawn support from a breakaway players' union, which stood behind her $20m claim earlier this year, as reported by The Guardian.
What makes this stand out is the chain of rulings. One tribunal cleared her entirely. The next banned her. Two further legal routes have now closed.
For fans, this means the ban stands. Moore will remain suspended until 2028, six years after the test that changed her career.
