Former WTA world No. 1 Iga Swiatek has lost the prize money she earned from one of this season's tournaments after testing positive for a banned substance.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) provisionally suspended Swiatek on September 12th after she tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine. She submitted an out-of-competition sample on August 12th.
Desperate to prove her innocence, Swiatek appealed the provisional ban, explaining that a non-prescription medicine had been contaminated with the prohibited substance, leading to the positive test.
The Sports Medicine Research and Testing Laboratory studied the matter and found that Swiatek's story was correct. The ITIA lifted the provisional suspension after accepting the Pole's explanation.
Swiatek was then offered a one-month ban because her fault was at the lowest end of the range for 'no significant fault or negligence.' The world No. 2 accepted the short ban and can return to tennis at the start of 2025 because she already served some of it provisionally.
However, Swiatek faced one other consequence. The ITIA's statement about the one-month ban confirmed that she also agreed to forfeit all prize money earned from the Cincinnati Open, which amounted to $158,944. Swiatek played there a few days after providing the sample in August.
"The ITIA accepted that the positive test was caused by the contamination of a regulated non-prescription medication (melatonin), manufactured and sold in Poland that the player had been taking for jet lag and sleep issues, and that the violation was therefore not intentional. This followed interviews with the player and their entourage, investigations, and analysis from two WADA-accredited laboratories."
"In relation to the Player’s level of fault, as the contaminated product was a regulated non-prescription medication in the player’s country of origin and purchase and considering all the circumstances of its use (and other contaminated product cases under the World Anti-Doping Code), the player’s level of fault was considered to be at the lowest end of the range for ‘No Significant Fault or Negligence’."
"The ITIA therefore offered a one-month suspension to Świątek and on 27 November 2024, the player, currently ranked number two in women’s singles, formally admitted the ADRV and accepted the sanction."
"The player was provisionally suspended from 12 September until 4 October, missing three tournaments, which counts towards the sanction, leaving eight days remaining. In addition, the player also forfeits prize money from the Cincinnati Open, the tournament directly following the test."
The ITIA does not mention whether Swiatek lost her ranking points. Therefore, it can be assumed that the penalty is only related to prize money, and the 2022 US Open champion retains the points she earned from reaching the semifinal in Cincinnati.
That contrasts with Jannik Sinner. Although the ITIA cleared him of wrongdoing, the ATP world No. 1 lost his prize money and ranking points from the Indian Wells Open after twice testing positive for a banned substance at the tournament.
The World Anti-Doping Agency decided to appeal Sinner's case, and a verdict from the Court of Arbitration for Sport is expected in early 2025.