Iga Swiatek is the second high-profile tennis player to test positive for a banned substance this year, joining Jannik Sinner. While Sinner, currently the No. 1 ranked man, was fully cleared, Swiatek, who slid from No. 1 to No. 2 last month, accepted a one-month suspension that was announced Thursday (November 28, 2024).
The International Tennis Integrity Agency said it determined that Swiatek’s tainted urine sample was because of a contaminated medicine she took and so she bore a low level of responsibility.
“These are not cases of intentional doping. These are cases — in Sinner’s case … no fault or negligence. In (Swiatek’s) case, very low end, no significant fault or negligence,” ITIA CEO Karen Moorhouse said in a video call with reporters. “So I don’t think this is a cause for concern for tennis fans and the like.”
Here is a look at the details of the two cases:
Who is Iga Swiatek
Swiatek is a 23-year-old from Poland with five Grand Slam titles who has been the best player in women’s tennis over the past 2 1/2 seasons, particularly on clay courts. She won four of the past five French Open titles, including the last three in a row, plus one U.S. Open championship, and has been ranked No. 1 nearly every week since April 2022. Swiatek also collected a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics in early August.
Swiatek’s urine showed low amounts of trimetazidine, a banned heart medication commonly referred to as TMZ, in an out-of-competition test on Aug. 12, 10 days after her last match at the Summer Games and shortly before the start of the Cincinnati Open. She was told she was being provisionally suspended on Sept. 12, eight days after losing to Jessica Pegula in the U.S. Open quarterfinals.
It was found that the TMZ had contaminated a sleep aid, melatonin, that Swiatek’s psychologist bought for her at a pharmacy in Poland, where it is sold as a medicine. According to the ITIA report, Swiatek listed 14 medications or supplements she was using, although not melatonin.
What is trimetazidine
Trimetazidine is a metabolic agent that can help prevent angina attacks if used as an “add-on treatment,” according to the European Medicines Agency. It can increase blood flow efficiency and improve endurance — both crucial to high-end athletic performance. It is on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s prohibited list in the category of “hormone and metabolic modulators.” The substance was involved in past Olympic athletes’ cases involving Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva and 23 Chinese swimmers.
Swiatek was given a provisional ban that began in September, after the U.S. Open, but that was lifted because she quickly offered a believable explanation for the contamination — one that was backed up by tests, the ITIA said. She missed three tournaments during the Asian swing after the U.S. Open, although at the time, she didn’t give the real reason for being sidelined.
Eventually, the ITIA and Swiatek agreed she would serve a one-month suspension; because she was credited for the time she already missed, there were eight days remaining in a “one-month” penalty, so she is “serving” those now, even though the season is over.
Swiatek was able to play in the WTA Finals and the Billie Jean King Cup. “The worst part of it was the uncertainty,” she said. “I didn’t know what was going to happen with my career, how things would end or if I would be allowed to play tennis at all.”
Sinner tested positive for a banned anabolic steroid twice in March, but nothing came to light until August, just before the U.S. Open, which he went on to win for his second Grand Slam title of 2024.
As with Swiatek, the cases were kept quiet until they were resolved because both players offered what ITIA found to be plausible explanations. He blamed it on a cream his trainer used before giving Sinner a massage and so was cleared completely — although WADA has appealed that ruling — while Swiatek was found to have been “at the lowest end of the range for no significant fault or negligence,” and so was given a light punishment.
Asked whether there are specific guidelines that determine the lengths of bans in such instances, Moorhouse said: “No, there isn’t. This is not where you put these things into machine and it spits you out a number at the end of it. It’s a case of considering everything in the round, take into account all the circumstances and facts in the case to come to the right outcome.”