Five women's tennis players who got banned for doping

Iga Swiatek is the most recent tennis player to be banned for doping. Five-time Grand Slam champion and former World No. 1 Swiatek was banned for one month after testing positive for the illegal drug trimetazidine (TMZ).

According to a statement from the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), the player's level of fault was at the lowest end of the spectrum for ‘No Significant Fault or Negligence’ and intentional, Swiatek will serve a one-month. 

Considering this, let’s recall the five female tennis players who were banned for doping. 

Maria Sharapova (2016)

In 2016, the International Tennis Federation tribunal declared that Maria Sharapova, a well-known women's tennis player, had been banned from competition for two years due to doping. An independent tribunal appointed by the ITF, the sport's international governing body, found that Sharapova had allegedly provided a urine sample on January 26 of that year after her quarterfinal match at the Australian Open in Melbourne.

The sample contained the drug meldonium, which the World Anti-Doping Agency listed as illegal.

Simona Halep (2022, 2023)

On September 12, 2023, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) announced that Simona Halep, a former World No. 1 tennis player, had been suspended for four years due to a doping case.

After testing positive for the drug roxadustat at the US Open in 2022, it was found that Halep had irregularities in her athlete biological passport after the analysis of 51 blood samples. Halep won the French Open in 2018 and Wimbledon the following year.

Martina Hingis (2007)

In 2007, the Swiss star Martina Hingis tested positive for benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine. Hingis was consequently barred from the competition for a period of two years. 

The former World No. 1 had filed an appeal, but the ITF denied it, forcing her to forfeit the Wimbledon prize money she had earned the year before as well as the events that followed.  

Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová (2013)

In 2013, Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova was suspended for six months following a positive stimulant test. The International Tennis Federation claims that sibutramine, a stimulant prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency, was present in the 26-year-old tennis player's sample from the October 16, 2012, Luxembourg Open.

The Czech player, who rose to 39th place in the world rankings in 2010, claimed that she took a supplement called Acai Berry Thin, which is advertised as a means of increasing metabolism, and this is how sibutramine entered her system. 

The ITF agreed with her assertion that she had no intention of using the drug to improve her performance. After that, she received a six-month suspension that began on October 16, 2012, and ended on April 16, 2013. She lost all prize money and ranking points linked with her rankings at the Luxembourg Open and the 2012 Büschl Open in Germany, which was held a week later.

Iga Swiatek (2024)

Former World No. 1 Iga Swiatek was suspended for one month after testing positive for the heart drug trimetazidine (TMZ) in an out-of-competition sample in August 2024, when she was world number one.

The source was identified as a contaminated regulated medication, according to an investigation confirmed by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA). Nonetheless, it determined that Swiatek was not negligent or at fault for the test failure.

The ITIA only offered Swiatek a month's suspension because his level of fault is regarded as being at the lowest end of the range for "No Significant Fault or Negligence."

Cover Credits - Tennis.com