By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-11-28 22:21:46 | Updated at 2024-11-29 00:47:24
2 hours ago
World No2 Iga Swiatek has been handed a one-month ban in the latest doping scandal to rock tennis.
The reigning French Open champion tested positive for performance-enhancing drug trimetazidine in August and was provisionally suspended the following month.
Swiatek, who blamed ‘personal reasons’ for her absence from tournaments at the time, has now accepted a one-month ban for an anti-doping rule violation.
However, having already served 22 days of the suspension, the Pole will not miss any more tennis, as she will serve the remaining eight days now when there is no competition.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency accepted Swiatek’s explanation that her failed drugs test was caused by the contamination of the non-prescription medication melatonin, which she took for jet lag and sleep issues.
Subsquently, the ITIA said her level of fault was at the lowest end of the range for ‘no significant fault or negligence’.
French Open champion Iga Swiatek has been banned from tennis for one month
The reigning French Open champion tested positive for performance-enhancing drug trimetazidine
Swiatek’s doping case is a further blow to the reputation of her sport, coming just two months after men’s No1 Jannik Sinner avoided a ban despite twice testing positive for banned steroid clostebol in March – something the World Anti-Doping Agency are now appealing.
In an Instagram statement, Swiatek described the last three months as ‘the worst experience in my life’ and insisted she ‘did nothing wrong’.
The five-time Grand Slam singles champion wrote: ‘The only positive doping test in my career, showing unbelievably low level of a banned substance I’ve never heard about before, put everything I’ve worked so hard for my entire life into question. Both me and my team had to deal with tremendous stress and anxiety.
‘Now everything has been carefully explained, and with a clean slate I can go back to what I love most. I know I will be stronger than ever. I’m just relieved it’s over.’
Trimetazidine, also known as TMZ, is normally used as a heart medicine for its ability to enhance blood flow.
It is the drug 23 Chinese swimmer tested positive for in the build-up to the 2021 Tokyo Olympics before being cleared to compete, and was also the substance at the centre of the scandal involving Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
After Swiatek was provisionally suspended on September 12, she missed the Korea Open, the China Open and the Wuhan Open, which led to her losing her No1 ranking.
She then successfully appealed her suspension, allowing her to play in the WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia and the Billie Jean King Cup in Malaga.
It was the substance at the centre of the scandal involving Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva
It comes after men’s No1 Jannik Sinner avoided a ban despite twice testing positive for banned steroid clostebol
Despite now accepting an anti-doping rule violation, she will be free to play again as soon as Wednesday, although she has been fined the £125,000 she earned at the Cincinnati Open, the event which followed her positive test.
‘Once the source of the TMZ had been established, it became clear that this was a highly unusual instance of a contaminated product, which in Poland is a regulated medicine,’ said Karen Moorhouse, the ITIA chief executive.
‘The product does not have the same designation globally, and the fact that a product is a regulated medication in one country cannot of itself be sufficient to avoid any level of fault.
‘Taking into account the nature of the medication, and all the circumstances, it does place that fault at the lowest end of the scale.’
