Last year was quite a rollercoaster for Polish No.1 Iga Swiatek. She skipped the Asian swing for an entire month, telling fans she would be off the court for “personal reasons.” But in November 2024, the ITIA revealed she had tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine (TMZ) in an out-of-competition sample in August. She served a one‑month suspension. The tennis world was stunned. Now, another player faces the same fate.

Portuguese player Frederico Ferreira Silva, ranked World No.234, has been hit with a one‑month ban after testing positive for TMZ. The ITIA confirmed the news on Wednesday, September 24. The 30‑year‑old produced the positive sample during an in‑competition test back in February 2025.

The twist? As tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg pointed out on X, it is much like Swiatek’s case, officials ruled the positive result came from contamination of a regulated prescription medication. The violation was deemed unintentional. But because TMZ is classed as a non‑Specified Substance, Silva faced a mandatory provisional suspension on March 19, 2025. He even appealed to the independent tribunal chair. The challenge didn’t change the decision. The one‑month suspension now stands.

The ITIA judged Silva’s level of fault to be very low. The contaminated product, Daflon 1000mg, was a regulated prescription medication. A specialist sports medicine doctor prescribed it. His national tennis federation purchased it after consultation. Still, this wasn’t just a minor slip-up.

According to the ITIA statement, “No Fault or Negligence was not applicable as a recall notice had previously been issued by the Agence nationale de sécurité du medicament (ANSM) due to known TMZ contamination of another Daflon product.” With that precedent set, the org mirrored similar contaminated medication cases under the World Anti-Doping Code. Silva accepted the one‑month suspension offer on 15 September 2025.

While the ITIA handles each case as it sees fit, Iga Swiatek’s situation was about more than just the ruling itself. When the news first broke, the doping controversy surrounding her name exploded across the tennis world. By the time she returned in January for the 2025 season, the Pole admitted the storm had taken a toll. She even confessed she felt as if she were being prosecuted.

“You can be at peace with yourself that you didn’t do anything wrong, but no one actually treats you like that… Especially the people that are kind of prosecuting you. Even when you’re telling the truth, you feel like they treat you like a liar,” Swiatek told Tennis Insider Club. Not long after, she revisited the emotional story in a candid conversation with Andy Roddick.

Iga Swiatek opens up about her doping controversy

Back in July, fresh off her Wimbledon triumph, Iga not only celebrated her first SW19 crown but also her very first title of the 2025 season. Just days later, she joined former pro Andy Roddick on his podcast Served with Andy Roddick to look back on a season full of highs and lows. That’s where she opened up about the hardest moment of all—finding out about her positive test.

“I was at a photo shoot with my sponsor in Warsaw. We were in the middle of changing locations. I checked my email and saw I had received a message. I didn’t even read it because I immediately started crying. My agents, who were there with me, thought someone had died. I gave my manager my phone and she read everything. They were confused because no one knew what to do in such a situation,” Iga Swiatek recalled. With emotions raw, she shared the first people she reached out to afterward.

“I called Maciek (her trainer). He already knew everything. I called Daria Abramowicz and we met during the shoot. I wasn’t sure if I should continue because my face was red from crying. I cried for about 40 minutes. But I couldn’t say anything and continued the shoot for another three hours. I have to admit, those were my best photos, so I must be a good actress,” she said with a touch of humor, showing both her pain and her resilience.

That moment marked the lowest point of her career, but it didn’t define her. After a rocky start to 2025 and the weight of the controversy, Iga Swiatek steadied herself and struck back in style by lifting the Wimbledon trophy. Since then, she’s only been climbing higher. Titles in Cincinnati and Korea have followed, and her Asian swing is already firing on all cylinders.

From heartbreak to redemption, the WTA No.2 is proving she knows how to fight through adversity. So, what do you think? Could this run be the beginning of something even bigger? Tell us in the comments!