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.
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.