It turns out that the Pole tested positive for trimetazidine (TMZ) during an out-of-competition test on August 12. The player was notified on September 12 and asserted her right to have the B sample analyzed which confirmed the first result.
Provisionally suspended on September 22, Iga Swiatek appealed, and the investigation led by the International Integrity Agency (ITIA) admitted that the contamination was not intentional and that no fault or negligence had been committed by the player. The contamination is believed to be due to the absorption of a medication containing melatonin, manufactured and sold in Poland, which the player was taking for jet lag and sleep problems.
Iga Swiatek therefore accepted, on Wednesday (November 27), the one-month suspension offered to her and which was served between September 22 and October 4, but she still has 8 days to serve.
She also had to give up her prizes won at the Cincinnati Open, the tournament which followed the positive test where she lost in the semi-finals against the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, who once again became world number 1.
Iga Swiatek played immediately after the US Open (from August 26 to September 8), the 4th Grand Slam lift of the season, where she was eliminated in the quarter-finals.
The Pole returned to competition for the WTA Finals, the end-of-season Masters which brings together the eight best players of the year in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from November 2 to 9 with elimination in the group stage after three matches.
Among the men, the verdict concerning the Italian Jannik Sinner is expected in the coming weeks.
Sinner, also 23 years old, world number 1, suffered two positive doping tests in March 2024 eight days apart during the North American tour. Clostebol, an anabolic drug, was found in his urine. Initially cleared by the ITIA, the Italian must appear before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), WADA, the world anti-doping agency having appealed and is demanding a suspension of one to two years.
The ITIA accepted at the end of August the Italian’s explanation that he had suffered accidental contamination due to a spray used by a member of his team.
