Iga Swiatek received a doping ban after testing positive for the banned substance trimetazidine

Iga SwiatekThe women’s world No. 2 tennis player received 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 made it public on Thursday after ruling that the player’s level of error was at the low end of the ‘No Significant Fault or Negligence’ range and was not intentional.

Swiatek, who has already served a 22-day ban while the process is ongoing, is a five-time Grand Slam winner and has spent more than 100. 100 weeks world number 1 – he has eight more days to remain in office and will therefore be eligible to play at the Australian Open in January.

Swiatek, 23, tested positive for a trace concentration of TMZ, a drug normally used as a heart medication for its ability to increase blood flow, in an out-of-competition sample before the Cincinnati Open on Aug. 12.

Swiatek was notified of the positive test by ITIA exactly one month later on September 12 and received a mandatory interim suspension.

Swiatek appealed the temporary restraining order within 10 days of initial notification. The appeal was successful, so the interim suspension was not made public. This complies with TADP (Tennis Anti-Doping Programme) regulations. This is the same mechanism Jannik Sinner’s provisional sentencePenalties imposed after testing positive for the anabolic steroid clostebol were not disclosed.

After sending her medications and supplements along with hair samples to independent laboratories, tests confirmed the presence of TMZ in one of the medications Swiatek took: a melatonin supplement used to manage jetlag that does not require a prescription in Poland and some other EU countries.

Contamination of the drug was also confirmed by an independent WADA accredited laboratory independently commissioned by ITIA to verify the results of two independent laboratories.

“Once the source of TMZ was identified, it became clear that this was a highly unusual example of a contaminated product, which is a regulated medicine in Poland,” said ITIA CEO Karen Moorhouse.

“The product does not have the same name globally, and the fact that a product is a regulated medicine in one country cannot by itself be sufficient to prevent error at any level.

“Given the nature of the drug and all the circumstances, this error is placed at the low end of the scale.”

Following Swiatek’s successful appeal, on 4 October ITIA recommended that Swiatek’s sentence be vacated. This allowed her to compete at the WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia and the Billie Jean King Cup in Malaga.

Swiatek missed the Korea Open, China Open and Wuhan Open during her temporary suspension, which contributed to Swiatek losing the world No. 1 ranking to Aryna Sabalenka. During these retreats, Swiatek said his absence was due to “personal reasons”.

ITIA also confirmed in a statement on Thursday that Swiatek also forfeited the prize money from the Cincinnati Open tournament held immediately after the test. If Swiatek reaches the semi-finals, the points he loses will not affect his ranking.

During this period, Swiatek also Parted ways with three-year coach Tomasz Wiktorowski Instead in early October Wim Fissette.

“This experience, which has been the most difficult experience in my life so far, has taught me a lot,” he said in a video statement on Thursday.

“All of this will definitely stay with me for the rest of my life, it took a lot of strength, it almost broke my heart to return to training after this situation. So we shed a lot of tears and had a lot of sleepless nights.

“The worst part was the uncertainty. I didn’t know what would happen in my career, how things would turn out, or whether I would be allowed to play tennis,” he said.

‘Many fans will be horrified’

On the surface, this has been a pretty disastrous few months for tennis.

It’s only been three months since the men’s news World No. 1 Jannik Sinner tested positive for a banned substance twiceThe most high-profile and successful active female player was also given a doping ban. Swiatek, ranked No. 2 in part because he missed three races during a mandatory interim suspension, was world No. 1 at the time of his positive test.

In either case, the verdict is that neither player was doping on purpose, but there will still be many tennis fans who are deeply upset by what happened.

The Sinner case sparked intense criticism from some players over what they felt was favorable treatment, despite due process being followed at every stage. Likewise, there was criticism that the investigation was conducted in private, although it was also in accordance with ITIA protocols.

We can expect similar comments following the Swiatek case; Tennis inevitably faces questions about its integrity and reliability.

This article was first published on: Athletic.

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