Not a good picture for tennis: After Jannik Sinner, Iga Swiatek also tested positive for doping. Image: IMAGO / Michael Weber
Iga Swiatek has been provisionally suspended after a positive doping test. ARD doping expert Hajo Seppel misses strict action in the fight against doping in tennis.
Iga Swiatek’s positive doping test and the way it was handled by the ITIA responsible for it is causing a lot of unrest in tennis. Swiatek tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine on August 12, 2024 at the WTA tournament in Cincinnati. A month later, on September 12, 2024, he was provisionally suspended for one month. She missed three tournaments in Asia, which counted towards the sanction. Swiatek competed in the WTA finals and the Billie Jean King Cup, and the Pole is currently “serving” the last eight days of the ban.
Swiatek is said to have taken contaminated medication
According to her own statement, the 23-year-old had taken the medication melatonin, which does not require a prescription in Poland, to combat the effects of jet lag. Contamination of this medication led to the positive test result. The investigators classified the Polish woman’s statements as credible and considered it a non-serious case. Swiatek himself spoke of the “worst experience of my life” in an Instagram post. Over the last 2.5 months she has been “subjected to a rigorous ITIA process” which “confirmed my innocence.”
“The excuse we can all use is that we didn’t know. Just didn’t know. Professional athletes at the highest level can now simply say: We didn’t know,” wrote tennis professional Nick Kyrgios on X. The Australian had already criticized the acquittal of world number one Jannik Sinner from Italy in late summer after his doping case.
The excuse that we can all use is that we didn’t know. Simply didn’t know. Professionals at the highest level of sport can now just say “we didn’t know” 👏
— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) November 29, 2024
The German player Eva Lys also criticized the outcome of the proceedings. “I’m starting to think that not everyone gets the same treatment,” commented the 22-year-old on X: “There are a lot of lower ranked players who don’t get the same treatment as higher ranked players. I’m not saying anyone is innocent or not, I’m saying everyone deserves equal opportunities.”
Unequal treatment on the tennis tour
Background: Other professionals in similar doping cases were either sanctioned more harshly or had to wait much longer for their case to be clarified. In the doping case of former world number one Simona Halep, both were true. It was only a year after her positive doping finding that the ITIA imposed a four-year ban. The International Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) later reduced this to nine months. “I stand there and ask myself why there are such big differences in treatment and assessment,” Halep wrote on Instagram: “I can’t find a logical answer and don’t think there can be one.” She even accused the ITIA “evil intention.”
Simona Halep with some STRONG words on Instagram.
“Why is there such a big difference in treatment and judgment? (…) the ITIA has done absolutely everything to destroy me”. pic.twitter.com/FrFCciWzSL
— José Morgado (@josemorgado) November 29, 2024
The ITIA defended itself against the allegations. “No two cases are the same, the circumstances are often very different and direct comparisons are not always helpful,” the agency said. Swiatek was a regulated drug and not a dietary supplement like Halep.
The American Taylor Fritz did not comment on the Swiatek case, but criticized the behavior of fans on social networks on X: “It drives me crazy when stories are supported that go in a direction that you want. Even if you as a player can prove your innocence, people who support your competitors will always blindly claim that you are a fraud. That makes me sad.”
What drives me CRAZY about these situations (in terms of going on X) is not the actual cases themselves. It’s tough to know exactly what happened/all the details in all of these specific instances, so the speculation talk isn’t really my favorite thing to do. It’s fine to have…
— Taylor Fritz (@Taylor_Fritz97) November 28, 2024
The trimetazidine found in Swiatek is used for circulatory disorders of the heart. The preparations are primarily used to prevent angina pectoris attacks. Trimetazidine can help athletes to better endure the enormous training stress. Instead of fatty acids, carbohydrates are burned in the cells, which requires less energy and oxygen. Those who take the drug gasp for air less and their pulse remains more constant. The muscles do not tire as quickly and recover more quickly after great exertion.
The active ingredient recently gained notoriety due to the doping incident involving the 15-year-old figure skater Kamila Valiyeva. The then 15-year-old was the big topic at the 2022 Winter Olympics – because of a positive doping test and the treatment of minors in sport. The CAS ultimately banned her retroactively for four years.
“Tennis does not have the necessary consistency in the fight against doping”
“In the case of the 23 Chinese swimmers uncovered by the ARD doping editorial team, trimetazidine was also detected. The Chinese explanation that trimetazidine found its way into the athletes’ food was questioned by most observers. It happens again and again that seemingly strange explanations are given for trimetazidine findings in sports,” says ARD doping expert Hajo Seppelt Sportschau.de. He finds it “striking how frequently trimetazidine has been detected in doping tests in recent years”. It has “a clear performance-enhancing effect and is therefore listed as a banned doping substance.”
Regarding the two prominent doping cases in tennis with Jannik Sinner in the summer and Iga Swiatek now, Seppelt says: “My impression for a long time has been that doping in tennis is not being combated with the necessary consistency and transparency. Even in the Sinner case there were questionable attempts at explanations that were accepted by those responsible in this sport.”
ITIA Managing Director Karen Moorhouse said of the approach in the cases of Jannik and Iga Swiatek: “These are not cases of intentional doping. We are dealing with unintentional violations of the rules. So I don’t think this is a cause for concern for tennis fans.”
The World Doping Agency WADA wants to reach a final verdict in the Sinner case in the first quarter of 2025 – but after the Australian Open. The Italian faces a two-year ban. She left it unclear whether WADA would also lodge an objection in Swiatek’s case. “As in all cases, WADA will look closely at the decision and reserve the right to appeal to CAS if appropriate,” said WADA upon request.
