Iga Swiatek accepts one-month suspension in doping case - ESPN

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. She formally admitted the anti-doping rule violation Wednesday and accepted her penalty. The ITIA accepted her explanation that the result was unintentional and was 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.

Swiatek has only eight days remaining on the punishment, after she was provisionally suspended from Sept. 22 to Oct. 4 and missed three tournaments. The remaining suspension will be completed while there is no competition, and Swiatek will be cleared to return to play as of Monday.

She had said in September that she was missing the Korea Open, China Open and Wuhan Open for personal reasons.

The ITIA said Swiatek also forfeited her prize money of $158,944 from the Cincinnati Open, the first tournament she played after the failed test. Swiatek lost in the semifinals in Cincinnati.

Swiatek, 23, called testing positive the «worst experience of my life.»

«In the last 2½ months, I was subject to strict ITIA proceedings, which confirmed my innocence,» Swiatek said in an Instagram video. «The only positive doping test in my career, showing unbelievably low level of a banned substance I've never heard about before, put everything I've worked so hard for my entire life into question.

»Both me and my team had to deal with