Iga Swiatek receives a doping ban after positive test for banned substance trimetazidine
Iga Swiatek, the world’s number 2 women’s tennis player, has been given a one-month doping ban 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 fault level was at the lower end of the range for ‘No Significant Fault or Negligence’ and not intentionally.
Having already served 22 days of the suspension while the trial was ongoing, Swiatek – a five-time Grand Slam winner who spent more than 100 weeks as world No. 1 – has eight days left to serve and is thus eligible to play at the Australian Open in January.
The 23-year-old Swiatek tested positive for a trace concentration of TMZ, a drug normally used as a heart medication for its ability to improve blood flow, in an out-of-competition sample on August 12 ahead of the Cincinnati Open.
Swiatek was informed of the positive test by the ITIA exactly one month later, on September 12, and was given a mandatory provisional suspension.
Swiatek appealed the provisional suspension within ten days of the original notice. The appeal was successful, so her provisional suspension was not made public. This is in accordance with the TADP regulations (Tennis Anti-Doping Programme). This is the same mechanism by which Jannik Sinner’s provisional suspensions, imposed after he tested positive for the anabolic steroid clostebol, were not made public.
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After submitting her medications and supplements alongside hair samples to independent laboratories, tests confirmed the presence of TMZ in one of the medications Swiatek was taking: a melatonin supplement to manage her jet lag, which does not require a prescription in Poland and some other EU countries .
The contamination of the drug was also confirmed by an independent WADA-accredited laboratory, which was commissioned independently of the ITIA to confirm the results from the two independent laboratories.
“Once the source of the TMZ was identified, it became clear that this was a highly unusual instance of a contaminated product, which is a regulated drug in Poland,” said ITIA CEO Karen Moorhouse.
“The product does not have the same designation worldwide, and the fact that a product is a regulated drug in one country may not in itself be sufficient to prevent possible errors.
“Taking into account the nature of the drug and all the circumstances, this places the error at the lower end of the scale.”
Following Swiatek’s successful 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 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 this withdrawal, Swiatek said her absence was due to “personal reasons.”
The ITIA also confirmed in a statement on Thursday that Swiatek will also forfeit prize money from the Cincinnati Open, the tournament immediately following the test. The points that Swiatek loses for reaching the semi-finals there do not affect her ranking.
During this period, Swiatek also said goodbye to her three-year coach Tomasz Wiktorowski in early October and replaced him with Wim Fissette.
She said in a video statement on Thursday: “This experience, the most difficult in my life so far, has taught me a lot.
“This whole thing will definitely stay with me for the rest of my life. It took a lot of strength to start training again after this situation almost broke my heart. So there were a lot of tears and a lot of sleepless nights.
“The worst thing was the uncertainty. “I didn’t know what was going to happen with my career, how things would end or if I would even be allowed to play tennis,” she said.
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‘Many fans will feel appalled’
Analysis by Charlie Eccleshare
On the face of it, these have been pretty disastrous months for tennis.
Just three months after news of men’s world number 1 Jannik Sinner testing positive twice for a banned substance, the most high-profile and successful active women’s player has also been banned from doping. Swiatek, who was ranked second in part due to missing three events during her mandatory provisional suspension, was world No. 1 at the time of her positive test.
The verdict on both cases is that neither player deliberately doped, but there will still be plenty of tennis fans who feel extremely appalled by what happened.
The Sinner case led to a barrage of criticism from some players over what they felt was favorable treatment, even though due process was followed at every stage. There was also criticism of the fact that the investigation took place in private, even though it again followed ITIA protocols.
We can expect similar comments in the wake of the Swiatek case, with tennis inevitably facing questions about its integrity and credibility.
(Tnani Badreddine/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
