'THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO PRISON': BRIT CONTINUES FIGHT FOR JUSTICE AFTER POSITIVE DOPING TEST

It will take more than a positive doping test to keep Tara Moore silent. (Getty/George Wood)

May 2025 will mark three years since former British No.1 doubles player Tara Moore unexpectedly tested positive for a banned substance, tarnishing her reputation and leaving her career in limbo.

The 32-year-old breached Articles 2.1 and 2.2 of the 2022 Tennis Anti-Doping Program (TADP) after her system contained Nandrolone metabolites and Boldenone and its metabolite after consuming contaminated meat, which are prohibited on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA's) list.

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After losing all her ranking points, Moore's doping charges were dropped in December 2023, deemed to have borne "no fault or negligence" by an independent tribunal.

However, she is still battling in the courts after the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) appealed the decision.

Moore featured on The First Serve's 'The Grind' podcast as she described her instant reaction after reading an email notifying her of an immediate suspension.

"I think anyone who has lived their life the way I have, in the sense that maybe not achieved everything I wanted to results-wise or that people have expected, I've always done it with integrity and the willingness to watch the sport grow," she said.

"I've always been a strong advocate for the improvement of the sport, and I've always spoken up for people who don't have a voice.

"It was just such a shock, and it blindsided me completely because I disassociate from this side of the game so much. The anti-doping side, the corruption side; It's something I've never even thought about because it's something so distant from me.

"It was surreal. It's really difficult to understand at the beginning how and why it's happening to you.

"If I was taking a steroid [and I] injected it or ingested it, I would know straight away how it's in my system. But when you aren't ingesting it or injecting it, I had no idea it was in my system, so figuring out how this got into my system felt like an impossible task.

"It was scary because you're going into something so unknown. This was so foreign to me, I had no idea."

Last week, Ukrainian veteran Lesia Tsurenko wrote a heartfelt message on social media, claiming the WTA "refused to protect" her after coming forward in relation to being on the receiving end of mental abuse by a former CEO.

Despite being different circumstances, Moore shared harrowing details about the WTA becoming invisible during the moment she needed the organisation most.

"I thought that the WTA were going to contact me and help figure out who do I need to speak to? Do I need a lawyer? How am I going to figure this out? I was very naive in thinking they were very much on my side, when it was very clear quite quickly how opposite and how far away from the truth that was," she explained.

"Straight away you're blacklisted from tournaments, so at the French Open, I couldn't even go on-site to collect my prize money. I wasn't even allowed to take a French Open transport to go to the airport. My doubles partner had to do everything for me on-site.

"The contact from the WTA was nothing. I can't explain to you, it was literally like this is what's in your system, and here is one lawyer that we refer all the tennis players to, here's that lawyer, see you later. That was it.

"I called this lawyer, and when he was speaking to me, I thought I was going to prison; I literally thought I was going to be imprisoned and thought there's no coming back from this. My life's over."

Not out of the woods just yet, the former world No.77 doubles player is continuing to fight for justice and her name to be fully cleared, making the firm point that she hasn't been treated equally.

"I'm going through the appeal process now," Moore shared. "It is a difficult process. [The ITIA] can appeal for no reason whatsoever, so it's not like they have to have new evidence.

"For me, it's not fair. It's not even slightly in the athlete's favour. This is in your system, you need to figure it out. You have these people judging you, that have never met you."

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