5-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek accepted a one-month suspension after testing optimistic for the banned substance trimetazidine, a coronary heart treatment generally known as TMZ, the Worldwide Tennis Integrity Company introduced Thursday.
Swiatek failed an out-of-competition drug take a look at in August. She formally admitted the anti-doping rule violation Wednesday and accepted her penalty. The ITIA accepted her rationalization that the outcome was unintentional and was brought on by the contamination of a nonprescription treatment, melatonin, that Swiatek was taking for points with jet lag and sleeping.
It was decided her degree of fault was “on the lowest finish of the vary for no important fault or negligence,” the ITIA stated.
Swiatek has solely eight days remaining on the punishment, after she was provisionally suspended from Sept. 12 to Oct. 4 and missed three tournaments. The remaining suspension will probably be accomplished whereas there isn’t any competitors, and Swiatek will probably be cleared to return to play as of Monday.
She had stated in September that she was lacking the Korea Open, China Open and Wuhan Open for private causes.
The ITIA stated Swiatek additionally forfeited her prize cash of $158,944 from the Cincinnati Open, the primary event she performed after the failed take a look at. Swiatek misplaced within the semifinals in Cincinnati.
Swiatek, 23, known as testing optimistic the “worst expertise of my life.”
“Within the final 2½ months, I used to be topic to strict ITIA proceedings, which confirmed my innocence,” Swiatek stated in an Instagram video. “The one optimistic doping take a look at in my profession, exhibiting unbelievably low degree of a banned substance I’ve by no means heard about earlier than, put all the pieces I’ve labored so laborious for my whole life into query.
“Each me and my crew needed to cope with large stress and anxiousness. Now all the pieces has been rigorously defined, and with a clear slate I can return to what I like most.”
That is the second latest high-profile doping case in tennis. Jannik Sinner failed two assessments for a steroid in March and was cleared in August, proper earlier than the beginning of the US Open, which he went on to win for his second Grand Slam title of the season.
With two of the most important names in tennis escaping prolonged bans for anti-doping violations, questions are being raised concerning the sport’s repute.
Addressing reporters Thursday, ITIA chief govt Karen Moorhouse stated: “These are usually not instances of intentional doping. We’re coping with inadvertent breaches of the principles.
“So I do not assume this can be a trigger for concern for tennis followers,” she stated. “I believe the truth that we’re being clearly open, clear, and it reveals the breadth and depth of our anti-doping program.”
Swiatek, from Poland, was ranked No. 1 many of the previous two seasons however is now at No. 2. She received the French Open in June for her fifth main championship and took dwelling a bronze medal on the Paris Olympics in early August.
She was handed for the highest spot by Aryna Sabalenka throughout her provisional suspension.
The WTA stated in a press release that it “totally helps Iga throughout this troublesome time.”
“Iga has constantly demonstrated a robust dedication to truthful play and upholding the ideas of unpolluted sport, and this unlucky incident highlights the challenges athletes face in navigating using drugs and dietary supplements,” the WTA stated.
TMZ is the drug on the heart of the case involving 23 Chinese language swimmers who remained eligible for the Tokyo Olympics regardless of testing optimistic for efficiency enhancers in 2021. Russian determine skater Kamila Valieva additionally examined optimistic for TMZ, with the outcome revealed in the course of the 2022 Winter Olympics. She was disqualified from the crew competitors on the Beijing Video games and handed a four-year doping ban.
The Related Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
