JUST IN: Suspension Statement of Iga Swiatek Due To…

JUST IN: Suspension Statement of Iga Swiatek Due To…

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

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

It was determined 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, a 23-year-old from Poland, said in a video she posted on social media.

“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,” Swiatek said, speaking in Polish with an English translation scrolling across the top of the post. “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.”