Yesterday, Five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek accepted the one-month ban suspension after testing positive for trimetazidine, the International Tennis Integrity Agency announced.
Swiatek failed her drug test in August, and the ITIA accepted her explanation. She expressed that the presence of the substance was unintentional and caused by the contamination of a medication she took for issues with jet lag and sleeping.
It was described that her level of fault was “at the lowest end of the range for no significant fault or negligence,” the ITIA said.
“This experience, the most difficult in my life so far, taught me a lot,” Swiatek, said.
She added: “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,"
“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.”
This case is the second recent one of a high-profile tennis star as men's top-seeded Jannik Sinner failed two tests for a steroid in March and was cleared in August.