British tennis star Tara Moore is the latest player to take aim at the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) after Iga Swiatek was handed a one-month anti-doping ban.
Moore was provisionally suspended in May 2022 but was cleared the following year after a panel ruled that a failed drugs test was caused by contaminated meat.
The 31-year-old, whose case is subject to an appeal by ITIA, has responded to the suspension handed to Swiatek after the Polish player provided a positive test in August. The world No. 2 tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine.
ITIA found Swiatek to be at the lower end of their “no significant fault or negligence” spectrum and she will only serve a ban for eight more days. She successfully argued that the positive test was caused by contamination of the regulated non-prescription medicine melatonin, which she was taking for sleep issues.
Moore is unhappy with the case, pointing out that she lost 19 months of her career to a positive test that an independent panel later found had been caused by contaminated meat.
She wrote on X: “I took 19 months off as I had to make a ‘change to my team’ too guys. Let’s not forget, mine was also contamination, and two other people also tested positive yet ITIA are appealing my case. Why is no one seriously looking into the corruption of the organisations that govern us?”
An ITIA spokesperson told Express Sport: “We deal with each case based on the facts and evidence, not a player’s name, ranking or nationality. When a prohibited 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 helpful.”
Meanwhile, ATP star Taylor Fritz is frustrated with the way some tennis fans react to news of a positive drugs test.
The American wrote: “What drives me CRAZY about these situations is not the actual cases themselves. It’s tough to know exactly what happened in all of these specific instances, so the speculation talk isn’t really my favourite thing to do.
“It’s fine to have your own honest opinions but what I can’t fathom and what is so upsetting to see as a player, is the INSANE bias from the tennis public supporting whatever story pushes the agenda they want to be pushed.
“If it’s a rival of the player you support that tests positive then you are on team ‘let’s call them a doper/cheater/disgrace them as much as possible’, and if it’s your [favourite] player then it’s ‘innocent no questions asked’.
“How are you not able to remove your own personal bias and form an educated and honest opinion for yourself? Even if as the player, you can prove your innocence (not saying anyone is or isn’t) people that support rival players/have bias against you will always blindly push the narrative you are a cheater, and that fact really makes me sad for all the true innocent players that have to go through this.”
