Iga Swiatek is suspended for doping: what happened and until when she will not compete :: Olé

Iga Swiatekone of the best tennis players today, has been suspended for failing a doping test. This was reported by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), after noting that trimetazidine (TMZ) was detected in the young Polish woman who is currently the number 2 in the WTA ranking (although it was at the top between April 2022 and October of this year, except for September and October 2023).

In another section, the organization describes that the alarms went off due to “contamination of a regulated over-the-counter medication (melatonin), manufactured and sold in Poland, which the player had been taking for jet lag and sleep problems.” After the latter, they clarify that “the violation was not intentional and that it followed interviews with the player and her team, investigations and analysis by two laboratories accredited by WADA.”

Far from being a sanction that takes a long time to be fulfilled, the ITIA imposed a one-month punishment. This, they allege, is due to “that the player’s level of guilt was at the lowest end of the range” and that the European “accepted a one-month suspension under the Tennis Anti-Doping Program, after testing positive (.. .) in August 2024”. In this way, after the “provisional suspension on October 4, 2024” that counts to complete it, the current Roland Garros champion will be able to return to action “on December 4, 2024.”

It should be noted that this process deprived her of participating in three WTA tournaments and she even had to return the monetary prize she received after reaching the semifinals of the Cincinnatti Master 1000 (122,190 US dollars) for this event.

Once the ITIA statement was published, knowing the repercussion this would have, the Pole published a video on her official Instagram account giving her version of the events. “During the last two and a half months I have been subjected to harsh actions by the ITIA agency, which confirmed my innocence. The only positive drug test in my career, which questioned what I have worked for all my life. Me and my entire team We face a lot of stress and fear,” he first stated.

“Everything has been explained in depth and I can go back to doing what I like most with a clean slate, and I know that now I will be stronger than ever. (…) Today I also feel relief that it is over. I want to be honest with you and, although I know that I have not done anything wrong, out of respect for my fans and public opinion I share all the details of the longest and hardest ‘tournament’ of my career. My greatest hope is that you will stay with me,” he concluded.

As we have mentioned, this resonated in the tennis world. The Canadian Denis Shapovalovfor example, mentioned what happened in his X profile: “A month of suspension eh.” In an exchange with another user, the former Top 10 mentioned that the positive doping was the product of accidental contamination: “That doesn’t make it fair that players like (Simona) Halep and others have had such long suspensions for similar things.” “I’m glad that’s changing because the anti-doping rules are unfair. But players like (Elias) Ymer are still suspended and have never tested positive.” “The rules are inconsistent,” he added.