After Jannik, Iga turns out to be a ‘sinner’ too!

Iga Swiatek

Five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek accepted a one-month suspension on testing positive for the banned substance trimetazidine (TMZ), a heart medication, the International Tennis Integrity Agency announced on Thursday.

Unintentional use

Swiatek failed an out-of-competition drug test in August, and the ITIA accepted her explanation that the result was unintentional and was caused by the contamination of a non-prescription medication, melatonin, that Swiatek was taking for issues with jet lag and sleeping.

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It was determined her level of fault was "at the lowest end of the range for no significant fault or negligence," ITIA said. This is the second recent high-profile doping case in tennis: The top-ranked man, Jannik Sinner, failed two tests for a steroid in March and was cleared in August, right before the start of the U.S. Open, which he went on to win for his second Grand Slam title of the season. Poland's Swiatek, 23, was ranked No. 1 for most of the last two seasons, but is now at No. 2. She won the French Open in June for her fifth major title and took home a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics.

Swiatek formally admitted the anti-doping rule violation on Wednesday and accepted her penalty. She already was provisionally suspended from Sept 22 to Oct 4, missing three tournaments during the post-US Open hardcourt swing in Asia - Korea Open, China Open and Wuhan Open. That provisional ban ended after her appeal showed her test result came inadvertently from contaminated melatonin. As the ultimate agreement was for a month's suspension, she will serve the remaining eight days and can return to play on Dec 4. Swiatek also was fined the prize money of $158,944 that she earned for her semi-final run at the Cincinnati Open in August.

ITIA's statement

"Once the source of TMZ was established, it became clear that this was a highly unusual instance of contamination, which in Poland is a regulated medicine. But, it does not have the same designation globally," ITIA CEO Karen Moorhouse said.

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