Iga Swiatek, the women's world number 2, was only given a short ban after her positive doping result. For Simona Halep, who was banned for much longer, this is a great injustice. Others from the scene also criticize the ruling.
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- Iga Swiatek, the world number two in women's tennis, was banned for a month due to a doping finding. Jannik Sinner also gave a positive doping sample this year. The Italian has got off lightly so far.
- Simona Halep, on the other hand, had a much longer gauntlet after her findings. She complained about unequal treatment on social media.
- Other exponents from the tennis scene also criticized the Swiatek ruling. The ITIA defends itself against the accusations.
Iga Swiatek was banned for one month after testing positive for the banned heart medication trimetazidine (TMZ). This was announced by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) on Thursday. Swiatek formally admitted to the anti-doping rule violation and accepted her punishment.
The ITIA accepted Swiatek's explanation that the ingestion was unintentional and caused by the contamination of a non-prescription drug, melatonin. She had taken it because of problems with jet lag and insomnia.
The five-time winner of Grand Slam tournaments described the positive test as "the worst experience of my life. The only positive doping test in my career, which showed an incredibly low level of a banned substance I had never heard of before, called into question everything I had worked so hard for all my life. Both myself and my team had to deal with tremendous stress and anxiety. Now I can go back to what I love most with a clean slate."
Halep's gauntlet run
Simona Help also has a dark spot on her CV. Her enforced break started with a positive doping test at the US Open the year before last (2022). The Romanian was found to have used the banned substance roxadustat during the test. In May 2023, she came under scrutiny again due to irregularities in her biological athlete passport.
The offenses resulted in a four-year ban. Halep responded to the penalty by appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne. The appeal paid off. The CAS reduced the duration of the suspension to nine months. After hearing the complainant and "carefully examining" Halep's account, the judges came to the conclusion that the banned substance had "entered her body through the consumption of a contaminated food supplement". Halep had long since served her nine-month ban and was eligible to play again after the ruling.
But Halep, who had to make her comeback as a player without being ranked in the world rankings, is still very frustrated. "I wonder why there is such a big difference in treatment and assessment," the 33-year-old wrote on Instagram in response to Siwatek's verdict. "I can't find a logical answer and I don't think there can be one. It can only be the ill will of the ITIA, the organization that did everything they could to destroy me despite the evidence." She has lost two years of her career, said the two-time major winner, who is currently ranked 877th in the world number one rankings.
"A terrible picture for the sport"
Swiatek is not the only sensational doping case in recent times. In March, Jannik Sinner tested positive twice for a banned steroid. In August, just before the US Open, which he won, the Italian was acquitted. However, the World Anti-Doping Agency WADA lodged an appeal and the case is currently before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Even if the case constellations of Halep and Swiatek are different, questions about equal treatment in tennis are not unjustified. In Sinner's case, for example, the public was not informed immediately. According to the ITIA, the current world number 1 could not be proven to have acted with intent. It is only now, after the investigation has been completed, that the commission of inquiry has made the incidents involving Sinner and Swiatek public. The procedure "paints a terrible picture for the sport", commented Portuguese tennis journalist José Morgado on X.
Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios criticized. "The excuse we can all use is that we didn't know. We just didn't know", he monied via X: "Professional athletes at the highest level can now just say: 'We didn't know'."
Authority defends itself against accusations
The ITIA justified its actions. As Sinner and Swiatek had successfully appealed against the provisional ban within ten days, the suspensions had not been published in accordance with the anti-doping rules in tennis, the investigating commission stated.
"We treat each case on the basis of facts and evidence, not a player's name, ranking or nationality. If a banned substance is found in a player's body, we investigate it thoroughly," the statement continued.