30-year-old Portuguese-Venezuelan player Goncalo Oliveira was suspended for four years due to a positive doping test. After he was previously temporarily suspended in January of this year, a few months later his sentence was confirmed, because it was determined that he had indeed tested positive for the prohibited substance methamphetamine.
Both samples showed the presence of this substance.
Although the 30-year-old tennis player tried to justify the positive test by claiming that the contamination occurred "through kissing" or "environmental influence", the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) did not believe such a story.
Oliveira was tested during the Manzanillo Open in Mexico last November. According to the ITIA's decision, he will not be able to play, train or attend any event under their supervision until January 16, 2029.
Public reactions: Are there really double standards in the world of tennis?
Cases like this are becoming more and more common, not only in the world of tennis, but in sports in general. Probably the most famous example is Jannik Sinner, who tested positive for clostebol, but did not receive a serious punishment. A similar thing happened with Igawitek, who tested positive for trimetazidine, but was suspended for just one month.
Many are outraged by this and believe that there are "double standards" in tennis, while tennis governing bodies claim that they treat everyone equally and that they want to ensure the same foundations for every player.
Governing tennis bodies are ready to act in the same way in the future, and it seems that testing will become more frequent in the world of tennis. The goal is to completely eradicate such phenomena, given that the number of similar cases in the sport is growing year by year.
Whether there will be any significant changes is difficult to give an exact answer, but one thing is certain; such cases could make some players think carefully before deciding on similar moves.
