Polish tennis star Iga Swiatek is serving a one-month doping ban

In August, the tennis world was shocked when the #1 men’s player tested positive for a banned substance. Italian Jannik Sinner actually had two positive doping tests for a steroid months earlier, and the whole thing had been hushed-up and covered-up for months before they announced that Sinner had been “cleared.” Well, now a major WTA player has her own doping scandal and it broke on Thanksgiving. Poland’s Iga Swiatek, who is currently #2, also tested positive for a banned substance months ago. She was given a month-long suspension which didn’t seem to affect her playing for Poland at the Billie Jean King Cup less than two weeks ago??

Iga Swiatek, the women’s world No. 2 tennis player, has 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 announced it publicly on Thursday, after ruling that the player’s level of fault was at the lowest end of the range for ‘No Significant Fault or Negligence’ and not intentional.

Having already served 22 days of the ban while the process was ongoing, Swiatek — a five-time Grand Slam winner who has spent more than 100 weeks as world No. 1 — has eight more days to serve and so will 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 heart medication for its ability to enhance blood flow, in an out-of-competition sample on August 12 ahead of the Cincinnati Open. Swiatek was informed of the positive test by the ITIA exactly one month later on September 12 and given a mandatory provisional suspension.

Swiatek appealed the provisional suspension within 10 days of the original notice. The appeal was successful, so her provisional suspension was not publicly disclosed. This is in line with the TADP (Tennis Anti-Doping Programme) regulations. This is the same mechanism by which Jannik Sinner’s provisional suspensions, imposed after he tested positive for the anabolic steroid clostebol, were not disclosed.

After submitting her medications and supplements to independent laboratories alongside hair samples, tests confirmed the presence of TMZ in one of the medications used by Swiatek: A melatonin supplement to manage her jetlag which does not require a prescription in Poland and some other EU countries. The contamination of the drug was also confirmed by an independent WADA-accredited laboratory, which was commissioned independently by the ITIA to confirm the results of the two independent laboratories.

“Once the source of the TMZ had been established, it became clear that this was a highly unusual instance of a contaminated product, which in Poland is a regulated medicine,” said Karen Moorhouse, the chief executive of the ITIA. “The product does not have the same designation globally, and the fact that a product is a regulated medication in one country cannot of itself be sufficient to avoid any level of fault. Taking into account the nature of the medication, and all the circumstances, it does place that fault at the lowest end of the scale.”

Following Swiatek’s successful appeal, the ITIA on October 4 recommended that Swiatek’s suspension be lifted. This allowed her to compete in WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia and the Billie Jean King Cup in Malaga. During the time of her provisional suspension, Swiatek missed the Korea Open, China Open, and Wuhan Open, which contributed to Swiatek losing her world No. 1 ranking to Aryna Sabalenka. At the time of those withdrawals, Swiatek said that her absence was due to “personal reasons”.

The ITIA also confirmed in a statement on Thursday that Swiatek also forfeits prize money from the Cincinnati Open, the tournament directly following the test. The points Swiatek will lose for reaching the semifinals there will not affect her ranking. During this period, Swiatek also parted ways with her coach of three years Tomasz Wiktorowski in early October and replaced him with Wim Fissette.

[From The NY Times]

The whole thing is shady as hell, but I find it interesting that Swiatek gave hair samples to prove her innocence, or prove that she’s not a habitual doper. Correct me if I’m wrong, but Sinner did not provide hair samples, correct? With Sinner, it was more of an Italian gentleman’s agreement to obfuscate and cover up. And Sinner missed the Olympics, whereas Swiatek played and won a bronze, which is important because there are different doping-control standards at the Olympics. But like Sinner, there’s been a lot of weird stuff happening around Swiatek this year, including the sudden coach switch and the lies about why she skipped the Asian swing.

The larger problem is that two of the biggest tennis stars, two current or former number ones, both had positive doping tests in the same year and it absolutely looks like tennis’s governing bodies are bending over backwards to protect and coddle their doped-up “stars.” Personally, I’m not a fan of either Sinner or Swiatek. I’m such a hater, I can’t believe people are bending over backwards to protect these two charisma-vacuum players, you know? “They’re good for tennis!” Are they? It seems like the sport would actually be better off without all of this.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

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13 Responses to “Polish tennis star Iga Swiatek is serving a one-month doping ban”

  1. ShazBot says:

    Tennis needs to figure itself out because the inconsistency in treatment and transparency is insane and is going to become the bigger story.

  2. Nanea says:

    I really don’t get the governing bodies for the ATP and WTA in this.

    Not only is doping wrong, but it also hurts the players. Those who use banned substances, ruin their health, and bend over backwards to find a lame excuse as for why they had no idea something was “contaminated”, but also the players who don’t use, because no one believes them when they improve their game.

    It seems no one learned from the decade or more of Dopapova misusing meds for a degenerative heart disease she didn’t suffer from. And she should have been punished differently. Instead she got the chance to redeem herself.

    Or from the endless rumors surrounding a certain male antivaxxer, who was tested far less than a retired female GOAT who happened to be Black.

  3. Bumblebee says:

    A one month suspension is not served in chunks of days with breaks in between. What’s up with that? Can you imagine being 16 and trying to convince your parents to split up being grounded into on/off days? Hahahaha

  4. ML says:

    I don’t follow tennis, so I’m a bit confused. Sinner sounded like he should have been punished far more than Swiatek for what he was found doping with: his people had multiple infractions of this sort. For Swiatek, it sounds like it caught her by surprise (hair samples) and she actually took the melatonin in good faith. I admit I don’t regularly pay attention though. Too many sports make too many people way too much money for the athletes to need to actually face consequences though.

  5. Flower says:

    Seeing articles like this is quite annoying given how much Serena was treated like a pin cushion.

  6. Jais says:

    Messy. It makes it hard to root for the tennis players or get into the sport. Bc I assume they want to grow the tennis fanbase right? Esp after such famous and beloved players have recently retired.

  7. Blairski says:

    Wait, why was she punished at all? Seems like she inadvertently took contaminated medication. Unless I’m missing something?

    • NikkiK says:

      She was punished because the whole anti-doping thing is a joke. It sounds like this was an actual case of another product being contaminated, hence the “No Significant Fault or Negligence’ and not intentional” – my issue is I can’t believe in this year if our lord 2024 people are still pretending as though most elite athletes aren’t doing everything under the sun to give themselves a competitive advantage.

      But the whole anti-doping thing is a joke because a) what’s considered illegal and not illegal is pretty arbitrary b) people are routinely suspended for drugs that aren’t actually performance enhancing and c) the whole system is actually set up to give those caught an out through a complicated system of appeals and a bizarre maze of rules…….

      So yeah, a total joke.

  8. blueberry says:

    So “contaminated” drugs are a problem, then? Will there be an investigation into the manufacturer? Random heart meds shouldn’t be in pills that aren’t meant to have them. That could have serious consequences. But it seems like that’s never the focus of these stories—just hand waving and saying “contaminated” isn’t an excuse.

    • Malina says:

      Hey, yes, it is being investigated here in Poland. Just heard it today on the radio that the
      Sanitary-Epidemiological Station (SANEPID) is checking on the manufacturer.

  9. Anne Maria says:

    Sinner was positive for a billionth of a gram of a banned substance, which the authorities accepted had been transferred via massage. A billionth. Calling it doped up is pretty ridiculous. I don’t care if he’s banned for a month, fine, do it. And he’s a terrific player – as is Iga – calm, focused, thoughtful, hard hitting. I’ll take that over some allegedly ‘charismatic’ boorish hot head any day.

  10. Lady Rae says:

    This does sounds different to you the sinner situation. It looks like she took it over the counter medication to help with jet lag that contained a band substance. This doesn’t look like such a big deal except with the way the tennis world deals with these scandals that she was forced to lie about why she wasn’t playing tennis

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