Iga Swiatekthe world’s second-ranked tennis player, was suspended for a month for doping after testing positive for the banned substance trimetazidine (TMZ).
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) issued the ban on Wednesday (November 27) and announced it publicly on Thursday, after ruling that the player’s level of misconduct was at the lowest end of the range “absence of significant fault or negligence” and was not intentional.
Having already served a 22-day ban while the process was underway, Swiatek – a five-time Grand Slam winner who has spent more than 100 weeks as world number 1 – still has eight days to serve and will therefore be eligible to play at the Australian Open in January.
Swiatek, 23, tested positive for a trace concentration of TMZ, a drug normally used as a heart medication because of its ability to improve blood flow, in an out-of-competition sample on Aug. 12 before the Cincinnati Open .
Swiatek was informed of the positive test by the ITIA exactly one month later, on September 12, and was provisionally suspended.
Swiatek appealed the provisional suspension within 10 days of the initial notice. The appeal having been successful, his provisional suspension was not made public. This complies with TADP (Tennis Anti-Doping Program) regulations. It is the same mechanism by which Provisional suspensions of Jannik Sinnerimposed after he tested positive for the anabolic steroid clostebol, were not disclosed.
After submitting her medications and supplements to independent laboratories as well as hair samples, tests confirmed the presence of TMZ in one of the medications Swiatek uses: a melatonin supplement to manage her jet lag that does not require medication. order in Poland and some other EU countries.
Contamination of the medicine was also confirmed by an independent WADA-accredited laboratory, independently commissioned by the ITIA to confirm the results of the two independent laboratories.
“Once the source of the TMZ was established, it became clear that this was a very unusual case of a contaminated product, which in Poland is a regulated medicine,” said Karen Moorhouse, director general of the ITIA.
“The product does not have the same name globally, and the fact that a product is a regulated medicine in one country cannot alone be enough to avoid any level of misconduct.
“Taking into account the nature of the drug and all the circumstances, this places this defect at the low end of the scale.”
Following the success of Swiatek’s appeal, the ITIA recommended on October 4 that Swiatek’s suspension be lifted. This allowed her to participate in the WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia and the Billie Jean King Cup in Malaga.
During the duration of her provisional suspension, Swiatek missed the Korea Open, China Open and Wuhan Open, which contributed to Swiatek losing her world No. 1 ranking to Aryna Sabalenka. At the time of these withdrawals, Swiatek said his absence was due to “personal reasons”.
The ITIA also confirmed in a statement on Thursday that Swiatek was also losing prize money from the Cincinnati Open, the tournament directly following the test. The points Swiatek loses by reaching the semi-finals will not affect her ranking.
During this period, Swiatek also has parted ways with her coach of three years Tomasz Wiktorowski at the beginning of October and replaced it with Wim Fissette.
In a video statement on Thursday, she said: “This experience, the most difficult of my life so far, has taught me a lot.
“All of this will definitely stay with me for the rest of my life, it took a lot of strength for me to return to training after this situation almost broke my heart. So there were a lot of tears and a lot of sleepless nights.
“The worst part was the uncertainty. I didn’t know what was going to happen with my career, how things would end or if I would be allowed to play tennis,” she said.
“A lot of fans will be dismayed”
On the face of it, the last few months have been pretty disastrous for tennis.
Only three months after the announcement of the men’s news World No. 1 Jannik Sinner tests positive twice for banned substancethe most prominent and successful active player, was also banned for doping. Swiatek, ranked No. 2 in part because she missed three events during the period of her mandatory provisional suspension, was world No. 1 at the time of her positive test.
The verdict in both cases is that neither player intentionally doped, but many tennis fans will still be extremely dismayed by what happened.
The Sinner affair sparked a wave of criticism from some players over what they saw as favorable treatment, even though due process had been followed at every stage. Similarly, there was criticism that the investigation was conducted in private, although again this followed ITIA protocols.
Similar comments can be expected in the wake of the Swiatek affair, with tennis inevitably facing questions about its integrity and credibility.
This article was originally published in Athletics.
Tennis, Women’s Tennis
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