Tennis star and five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek has been suspended one month for a doping violation, she revealed on Thanksgiving Day.
Swiatek, 23, tested positive for trimetazidine, a banned heart medication known better as TMZ, in August. She said the result of the test was unintentional and caused by contamination of a sleep medication, melatonin, which is available over the counter in the U.S.
“The whole thing will definitely stay with me for the rest of my life. It took a lot to return to training after the situation nearly broke my heart, so there were many tears and lots of sleepless nights,” Swiatek said in an Instagram video.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency, which handles tennis doping cases, said Swiatek’s level of fault was “at the lowest end of the range for no significant fault or negligence.”
Swiatek secretly served 22 days of the 30-day suspension from Sept. 12 to Oct. 4, missing the Korea Open, the China Open and the Wuhan Open while she was provisionally suspended. At the time, Swiatek said she was missing the Asian hardcourt tournaments for “personal reasons.”
On Wednesday, Swiatek formally accepted the one-month suspension, meaning she will serve the remaining eight days when no tournaments are scheduled. Swiatek also forfeited $158,944 in prize money, which she earned from a semifinal appearance at the Cincinnati Open immediately after the positive test result.
“This experience, the most difficult in my life so far, taught me a lot,” Swiatek said in her social media video. “I can start my new season with a clean slate, focused on what I’ve always done — simply playing tennis.”
Swiatek’s case bears some resemblance to the doping case of another young tennis star, men’s world No. 1 Jannik Sinner. Sinner was able to avoid a suspension in his case, as his personal team worked rapidly to prove his innocence, and the ITIA accepted his explanation.
With News Wire Services
