US court dismisses Tara Moore's $20m damages claim against WTA over doping ban

British doubles player Tara Moore's legal bid for £15m ($20m) in damages from the Women's Tennis Association - over a doping case which led to her being banned for four years - has been dismissed by a United States court.

Moore, 34, argued the WTA - the governing body of the women's tour - failed to warn players about the risk of eating contaminated meat at a tournament held in Colombia.

But the United States District Court in New York has dismissed Moore's motion and directed to "close this matter".

Moore, who has always denied intentionally doping, told BBC Sport after the ruling that the case has been a "nightmare".

"It just shows how broken the anti-doping system is in tennis," Moore said.

In April 2022, Moore tested positive for nandrolone and boldenone at a WTA 250 event in Bogota, with an independent tribunal ruling in December 2023 that contaminated meat was the source.

Moore, who was Britain's leading women's doubles player at the time of the failed test, was found to bear "no fault or negligence", but the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) appealed against the decision.

Last year, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) ruled in favour of the ITIA and Moore was banned until 2028.

Moore then initiated proceedings with the American Arbitration Association, in which she claimed the WTA's "failure to warn against eating meat in Colombia was a direct cause of her positive test result and the harm that followed".

The arbitrator supported the ruling made by Cas and dismissed the case against the WTA.

In response, Moore filed a motion against the decision at the United States District Court in New York.

Moore, who was ranked a career-high 77th in the world in 2022, claimed she was denied a fair hearing by the arbitrator.

The motion detailed how Moore was seeking "no less than $20m in compensatory damages" after claiming the WTA "stayed silent in the face of a known and specific danger and then shifted the blame for its own negligence" to the player.

On Friday, United States district judge Andrew Carter found Moore's challenge was "not justified" on a legal basis.

The WTA and ITIA have been approached for comment.