Iga Swiatek, the No. 2 ranked women’s tennis player in the world, has accepted a one-month suspension for violating the Tennis Anti-Doping Program, the International Tennis Integrity Agency announced on Thursday. Swiatek tested positive for trimetazidine (TMZ), which is a banned substance.
Back in August, Swiatek tested positive in an out-of-competition sample. Following an investigation, the ITIA determined that the positive sample was the result of Swiatek taking over-the-counter melatonin for sleeping issues.
Because the positive sample was deemed to be unintentional, the ITIA classified Swiatek’s level of fault as “No significant fault or negligence.”
In a video posted to Instagram, Swiatek said she was worried about how the positive test would affect her career.
“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. “The worst part of it was the uncertainty. 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.”
Swiatek, a five-time Grand Slam champion, is coming off a year in which she won the French Open and earned a bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
This isn’t the only doping scandal that has impacted tennis in recent months. Top-ranked men’s tennis player Jannik Sinner tested positive twice for a banned anabolic steroid back in March. However, Sinner’s positive test was also determined to be unintentional, and he avoided suspension entirely.
