Tennis stars question ITIA following Iga Swiatek ban

The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) is facing severe backlash for offering Iga Swiatek only a one-month ban after the world No. 2 tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine in August.

Former world No. 1 Simona Halep — banned in 2022 for nine months (originally four years) for testing positive for roxadustat — blasted the ITIA for the disparity in how it hands out bans. 

Through a strongly-worded social media post, Halep questioned how her case differed from Swiatek's. 

"I stand and ask myself, why is there such a big difference in treatment and judgment?" Halep wrote on Instagram. "I can't find and I don't think there can be a logical answer. It can only be bad will from the ITIA, the organisation that has done absolutely everything to destroy me despite the evidence. It was painful, it is painful and maybe the injustice that was done to me will always be painful."

At the time of her suspension, Halep denied knowledge of taking the banned substance, arguing that only small amounts of the anemia drug entered her system from a licensed supplement. In Swiatek's case, ITIA absolved her of "no significant fault or negligence" since her positive test was caused by a regulated medication sold in Poland that she had been taking "for jet lag and sleep issues."