Five-time Grand Slam winner Iga Swiatek has been banned for a month after a positive doping test. The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) announced this on Thursday. Accordingly, the banned substance trimetazidine was detected in Swiatek’s blood after a test on August 12th. After hearing from the world number two, the ITIA assessed the incident as less serious.
Swiatek was provisionally suspended from September 22nd to October 4th and missed three tournaments that counted towards the sanction. Accordingly, there are still eight days of suspension left. The 23-year-old, who won the French Open for the fourth time this year, will also lose her prize money from the Cincinnati Open, which took place immediately after the positive test. Swiatek reached the semifinals at the tournament in the USA.
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Swiatek told the ITIA that the positive doping test was caused by contamination of a non-prescription drug (melatonin) manufactured and sold in Poland. She took it for jet lag and sleep problems and accidentally violated the guidelines. The ITIA apparently rated her statement as reliable.
Swiatek is already the second prominent case of doping in tennis this year, after today’s world number one Jannik Sinner tested positive for the banned steroid Clostebol in the spring. An independent court commissioned by the ITIA acquitted the Italian, and after an objection from the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada), the case is before the International Court of Arbitration for Sports (Cas).
