‘I want to be transparent’

The Polish tennis star said her doping test came back positive due to a contaminated batch of melatonin

Polish tennis player Iga Świātek has addressed her one-month suspension after a failed doping test.

After the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) in a statement on Thursday, November 28 that Świątek, 23, accepted her one-month ban under the Tennis Anti-Doping Program – following a positive test result for the banned substance trimetazidine (TMZ) – the world number 2 tennis player explained the “difficult” situation An Instagram role.

“I want to be transparent with you and I want you to understand,” Świątek said in the video, noting that she will “finally” be allowed to speak about her failed doping test, taken on August 12.

“So I immediately want to share with you something that became the worst experience of my life,” the athlete said in the caption of the video, explaining that she had been subjected to a “strict ITIA procedure” for the past two and a half years. months since she was notified of her positive test result on September 12.

Świątek said the procedure “confirmed my innocence” and claimed she had “never heard” of the substance she tested positive for prior to the failed result.

“The only positive doping test of my career, which showed incredibly low levels of a banned substance I have never heard of, called into question everything I have worked so hard for all my life,” Świątek wrote.

She said she was “shocked” when the positive result returned. “And this whole situation made me very worried,” she continued, adding, “At first I couldn’t understand how that was even possible.”

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“Both me and my team were dealing with enormous stress and anxiety,” said the Polish tennis star. “Now everything has been carefully explained and I can go back to what I love most with a clean slate.”

Świątek thanked her fans for sticking by her side during the suspension. “Without my supporters, I’m not sure I would have found the strength to carry on and keep fighting. Now I have fought the toughest battle of my life, and I hope you will stay with me and continue to support me.”

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Ultimately, Świątek claimed her test was positive due to a contaminated batch of melatonin she had taken for sleep problems.

“We responded immediately and cooperated with the ITIA,” Świątek explains. “The concentration detected, which was extremely low, suggested – or made it clear – that the sample was contaminated, or that a supplement or drug I was taking was contaminated. That’s why we focused on running tests.”

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After confirming that the melatonin had been contaminated during production, Świątek said: “It was a shock to hear, but it also explained a lot.”

The ITIA agreed with that finding after conducting “studies and analyzes from two WADA-accredited laboratories,

“The ITIA accepted that the positive test was caused by the contamination of a controlled drug (melatonin), manufactured and sold in Poland, which the player was taking for jet lag and sleep problems, and that the violation was therefore not intentional. ,” the agency said in their November 28 statement.