Swiatek secret sanction marks near-completion of doping case

Iga Swiatek has nearly put her positive doping test form last August on the back burner, with her surprise pullouts from three autumn Asian events now explained.

The world No. 2 who tested positive for what turned out to be tainted melatonin at the Cincinnati Masters in August, has taken to social media to explain the situation.

Swiatek was given a slap on the wrist without fault and served 22 days of a 30-day suspension.

She now owes eight more suspended days but reports indicate that will not prevent her from lining up for Poland at the United Cup in Australia from late December.

Swiatek tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine but was subject to a light touch by the International Tennis Integrity Agency [ITIA] due to “no significant fault or negligence” in the case.

“It turns out testing revealed historically lowest levels of trimetazidine, a substance I’ve never heard about before. I don’t think I even knew it existed. I have never encountered it, nor did people around me.

“So I had a strong sense of injustice and these first few weeks were really chaotic. We instantly reacted and co-operated with the ITIA.

“The detected concentrations, which was extremely low, suggested – or rather made it obvious – that either the sample was contaminated, or a supplement or medication that I was taking was contaminated, which is why we focused on running tests on all nutritional supplements and medications I was taking.

“The test showed that melatonin, I’ve been using a long time, the batch I had on me and had used before the Cincinnati tournament was contaminated during manufacturing. It was a shock to hear, but explained a lot – and locating the source is key in these cases.”