Why was Iga Świątek given a one-month doping ban? What did she test positive for?

Iga Świątek She is the second famous tennis player to test positive for a banned substance this year Jannik Sinner. While Sinner, currently the No. 1 ranked player, has been fully cleared, Świątek, who dropped from No. 1 to No. 2 last month, agreed to a one-month suspension it was announced on Thursday.

The International Tennis Integrity Agency concluded that Świątek’s contaminated urine sample was the result of taking a contaminated drug and therefore had little liability.

“These are not cases of intentional doping. These are cases – in Sinner’s case… there is no fault or negligence. In (Światek’s) case, it is a very low level, there is no significant fault or negligence,” ITIA CEO Karen Moorhouse said in a video call with reporters. “So I don’t think it’s a cause for concern for tennis fans and the like.”

Here are the details of both cases:

Who is Iga Świątek?

Świątek is a 23-year-old from Poland who has won five Grand Slam titles and has been the best player in women’s tennis for the past 2.5 seasons, especially on clay courts. She has won four of the last five French Open titles, including the last three in a rowplus one US Open Championshipsand has been at number one almost every week since April 2022. Świątek also won a bronze medal at the Olympic Games in Paris in early August.

When did Świątek fail a drug test? What did she test positive for?

Small amounts of trimetazidine, a banned heart drug commonly referred to as TMZ, were detected in Swiatek’s urine in an out-of-competition test conducted on August 12, 10 days after her final match at the Summer Games and shortly before the start of the Cincinnati Open. She was told she would be temporarily suspended for eight days on September 12 after losing to Jessica Pegula in the quarterfinals of the US Open. TMZ was found to have contaminated the sleep aid melatonin, which psychologist Świątek bought for her at a pharmacy in Poland, where it is sold as a medicine. The ITIA report shows that Światek listed 14 medications or supplements she took that did not contain melatonin.

What is trimetazidine or TMZ?

Trimetazidine According to the European Medicines Agency, it is a metabolic agent that may help prevent angina attacks if used as an “add-on treatment”. It can increase the efficiency of blood flow and improve endurance – both of which are key to achieving high-class athletic performance. It is on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s list of prohibited substances in the “hormone and metabolism modulators” category. This substance was present in the cases of former Olympians in which the Russian figure skater took part Kamil Waliewa AND 23 Chinese swimmers.

When was Świątek suspended? Is it “banned” in the off-season?

Swiatek was faced with a temporary ban that began in September, after the US Open, but it was lifted because she quickly provided a credible explanation for the contamination – confirmed by testing, ITIA said. She missed three tournaments during the Asian swing after the US Open, although she did not give a real reason for the sidelining at the time. Ultimately, ITIA and Świątek agreed that he would serve a one-month suspension; since she was already credited for lost time, she had eight days left on her “monthly” sentence, so she’s “serving” it now, even though the season is over. Świątek had the opportunity to play in the WTA Finals and the Billie Jean King Cup. “The worst part of all of this is the uncertainty,” she said. “I didn’t know what would happen to my career, how it would all end and whether I would be able to play tennis at all.”

What is happening with the Jannik Sinner case?

Sinner tested positive for a banned anabolic steroid twice in March, but nothing came to light until August, just before the US Open, where he won his second Grand Slam title in 2024. As with Świątek, matters were kept quiet until they were resolved as both players offered explanations that ITIA deemed credible. He blamed it on the cream his trainer had used before Sinner’s massage, so he was completely cleansed – though WADA appealed against this decision — while Świątek was found to be “at the low end of the scale, without alleging any material error or omission,” and received a light sentence as a result. Asked if there was specific guidance on the length of bans in such cases, Moorhouse replied: “No, there isn’t. This isn’t where you put these things into a machine and it spits out a number at the end. It’s a matter of considering everything in a given round, taking into account all the circumstances and facts of a given case to arrive at the right result.

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Howard Fendrich has been an AP tennis writer since 2002. You can find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich. More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis