British tennis star Tara Moore has become the latest player to be targeted by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA). Iga Swaatek was given a one-month anti-doping ban.
Moore was provisionally suspended in May 2022 but was cleared the following year after a panel ruled a failed drug test was caused by contaminated meat.
The 31-year-old, whose case is the subject of an appeal by ITIA, has responded to the suspension imposed on Swiatek after the Polish player tested positive in August. The number 2 in the world tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine.
ITIA found Swiatek to be at the lower end of the spectrum of ‘no significant fault or negligence’ and that she will serve only eight more days of a suspension. She successfully argued that the positive test was caused by contamination of the controlled, over-the-counter drug melatonin, which she was taking for sleep problems.
Moore is unhappy with the case, pointing out that she lost 19 months of her career due to a positive test that an independent panel later found was caused by contaminated meat.
She wrote on X: “I took 19 months off because I also had to make a ‘change in my team’ guys. Let’s not forget that mine was also a contagion, and two other people also tested positive, but ITIA is appealing my case. Why is no one seriously investigating the corruption of the organizations that govern us?”
An ITIA spokesperson told Express Sport: “We handle every case based on the facts and evidence, not on a player’s name, ranking or nationality. When a banned substance is found in a player’s system, we investigate it thoroughly.
“No two cases are the same, they often involve different circumstances and direct comparisons are not always useful.”
Meanwhile, ATP star Taylor Fritz is frustrated with the way some tennis fans are reacting to news of a positive drug test.
The American wrote: “What drives me crazy about these situations is not the actual cases themselves. It’s hard to know exactly what happened in all these specific cases, so the speculation conversation isn’t really my favorite thing to do.
“It’s fine to have your own honest opinion, but what I can’t fathom and what is so disturbing to see as a player is the INSANE bias of the tennis public that supports whatever narrative pushes the agenda they want to push .
“If it’s a rival of the player you support who tests positive, then you’re on the ‘let’s call them a doper/cheater/disgrace’ team as much as possible, and if it’s your (favorite) player, then it’s ‘innocent, no questions asked’. ‘.
“How can you not remove your own personal biases and form an informed and honest opinion for yourself? Even if you can prove your innocence as a player (not saying someone is or isn’t), people who support rival players/prejudice against you will always blindly tell the story that you are a cheater, and that fact really makes me sad. all the real innocent players who have to go through this.”
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