Swiatek after Sinner: Another doping case shocks the tennis world

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The Polish tennis player has communicated the latest developments in the affair that overwhelmed her last August

One-month suspension for Iga Swiatek . The Polish tennis player announced on her social media profiles that she has accepted the measure adopted by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (Itia) following her positive doping test. The five-time Slam champion and Olympic bronze medalist in Paris had in fact tested positive last August for trimetazidine (TMZ), a drug included in the list of substances prohibited for professionals. The WTA number 2 had already been provisionally suspended from 22 September to 4 October, a period however included in the calculation of the new suspension: the remaining days to be served are therefore 8. During the appeal, Swiatek had declared that she had been contaminated following the intake of melatonin, the sleep regulator used to treat the symptoms of jet lag. An accidental contamination later confirmed also by the same Itia, which had thus attributed her the lowest degree of guilt. The Swiatek case adds to the one hanging over the fate of Jannik Sinner , awaiting the Wada verdict, as well as that of 23 Chinese swimmers who also tested positive for TMZ.

The Itia press release
This is the press release with which the Itia announces that it will admit in the counting of the sanction, the days of suspension already served from September 22 to October 4. "The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) confirms that Iga Swiatek, a 23-year-old Polish tennis player, has accepted a one-month suspension under the anti-doping program after testing positive for the prohibited substance trimetazidine (TMZ) detected in August 2024. The ITIA found that the positivity was caused by contamination from a regulated over-the-counter drug (melatonin), manufactured and sold in Poland, and that the tennis player had taken to treat sleep-related jet lag symptoms, and that the violation was therefore not intentional. All of this emerged following interviews with the player and his entourage, as well as investigations and analyses conducted by two WADA-accredited laboratories".

"In relation to the degree of fault of the player, and given that the contaminated product was a non-prescription drug regularly sold in the player's country of origin, as well as the circumstances that led to its purchase and consumption (as well as for other cases of contaminated products governed by the World Anti-Doping Code), the degree of fault was assessed at the lowest level, namely 'No Significant Fault or Negligence'. The ITIA therefore proposed a one-month suspension to Swiatek and on 27 November 2024, the player, currently ranked number two in the women's singles ranking, formally admitted the ADRV and accepted the sanction. The player has already been provisionally suspended from 22 September to 4 October, thus missing three tournaments. This suspension is admitted in the calculation of the new measure, with eight days of the sanction remaining to be served. In addition, the player forfeits the prize money from the Cincinnati Open, a tournament played after the test."