The number two in the world, the Polish Iga Swiatek, has accepted a one-month ban after testing positive for trimetazidine (TMZ) in a sample taken in August during a period without competition, as announced in a statement by the International Agency for Integrity. in Tennis (ITIA, for its acronym in English). The 23-year-old Pole is one of the symbols of the women’s circuit: she has already won five Grand Slams – four Roland Garros and a US Open – and dominated the WTA rankings with an iron fist during the last year and a half, until that the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka unseated her last September for the first time.
According to the agency, Swiatek tested positive after contamination with a medication purchased without a prescription (melatonin) and regulated in Poland. The ITIA has considered that the infraction was accidental—not intentional—given that the tennis player was taking the drug for jet lag and the sleep problems he suffered due to the amount of travel he makes during the year due to the circuit calendar.
The agency has reached the conclusion after an investigation in which they interviewed the player and her environment and analyzed the samples in the laboratories of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). The body considered that the Pole’s level of fault is in the lowest range of the World Anti-Doping Code scale, which is defined as “No significant fault or negligence” (No Significant Fault or Negligencein English).
Swiatek was first suspended between September 22 and October 4, a period in which she missed three tournaments: the WTA 500 Hana Bank Korea Open, the WTA 1000 China Open and the WTA 1000 Dongfeng Voyah Wuhan Open. The Pole appealed and was able to play again, but has finally accepted the sanction, of which she only has eight days left to serve – it ends on December 4 – having already stopped at the beginning of autumn.
The winner of four Roland Garros has also had to give up the money she got for reaching the semifinals of the Cincinnati Open in August – a Masters 1000, the second category after the Grand Slams – where she lost in the semifinals in two sets against Sabalenka, by playing it right after testing positive for trimetazidine. Swiatek had submitted a urine test a few days earlier – on August 12 – in which the agency found low levels of TMZ, a banned substance that is part of the Tennis Anti-Doping Program (TADP) category of hormonal and metabolic modulators. its acronym in English) and which entails a mandatory provisional suspension. The Pole appealed to an independent court on September 22, when she explained that the source of her positive was the melatonin she had bought without a prescription in her country. The contamination was confirmed by a laboratory in Utah (United States) accredited by the AMA. The provisional suspension was canceled with the agreement of the ITIA, but he has finally accepted a month of punishment.
“Once it was established that the source was TMZ, it became clear that this was a very unusual case of a contaminated product, which in Poland is a regulated medicine,” explained Karen Moorhouse, executive director of the ITIA. “However, the product does not have the same designation around the world, and the fact that a product is a regulated medicine in one country cannot be sufficient by itself to avoid any level of blame. Considering the nature of the medication and all the circumstances, that does put that guilt on the lower end of the scale. “This case is an important reminder to tennis players of the strict liability nature of the World Anti-Doping Code and the importance of players carefully considering the use of supplements and medications,” he added.
