Iga Swiatek, the French Open victor, has received final and non-appealable sanctions, namely a one-month ban from competition, after test results showed that she ingested Trimetazidine (TMZ), which is on the WADA prohibited substances list. Such a definitive decision about this doping case was announced on Thursday by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) after examining the evidence for the 23-year-old Polish player who had tested positive during an out of competition sample taken in August 2024.
However, the ITIA took a rather lenient view of the situation saying that the violation was unintentional and saying that other anti-jet lago medications can be classified as non-prescription drugs which she took to help her sleep “contaminated” the positive test result.
This contamination was due to a melatonin supplement which the player consumed regularly. As a result, Swiatek was found to have committed the violation without intent. The agency also rated her level of fault and found it to be at the lowest end of the spectrum, ‘No Significant Fault or Negligence’. Therefore, Swiatek has been suspended for only one month.
The sanction was effective from the date it was issued, which meant that Swiatek was provisionally banned from competition between September 22 and October 4, a time during which she participated in three events.
This period shall be counted towards one month of the serve, hence the only remaining period of the suspension is eight days.
Apart from that suspension, Swiatek must also return the amount of USD 69000, which was the prize money accrued at the Cincinnati Open, held immediately afterwards after a positive test. She had progressed to the final round and thereafter lost to the number one tennis player worldwide Aryna Sabalenka.
Having five grand slams in career, Swiatek was happy to have accepted the suspension and the implications that come with it. She has been an outstanding player and former champion of the greatest tournaments and this incident can simply be attributed to a mistake and not any fraud.