A decision has been issued under the 2021 Tennis Anti-Doping Programme (the "Programme") that Filip Pieczonka has committed an Anti-Doping Rule Violation under Programme Article 2.1. That decision imposed a period of ineligibility of eighteen months, commencing on 15 October 2021.
Mr. Pieczonka, an 18-year-old player from Poland, provided a urine sample on 1 September 2021, in association with his participation in the WTT M15 event held in Chornomorsk, Ukraine from 30 August to 5 September 2021. That sample was sent to the World Anti-Doping Agency (“WADA”) accredited laboratory in Montreal, Canada for analysis, and was found to contain Oxandrolone. Oxandrolone is a non-Specified Substance, and is prohibited under category S1 of the 2021 WADA Prohibited List (Anabolic Agents), and therefore is also prohibited under the Programme. Mr. Pieczonka was provisionally suspended on 15 October 2021.
Mr. Pieczonka was charged with an Anti-Doping Rule Violation under Articles 2.1 and/or 2.2 of the Programme (presence of a Prohibited Substance in a Player’s Sample and/or Use of a Prohibited Substance) on 30 October 2021. Mr. Pieczonka was able to demonstrate the source of the Oxandrolone (in the form of tablets of Anavar, used by his father). It was accepted that Mr. Pieczonka’s violation was not ‘intentional’, within the meaning of TADP Articles 10.2.1 and 10.2.3, and that he bore No Significant Fault or Negligence for that violation. Accordingly, an eighteen-month period of ineligibility was imposed.
This is Mr. Pieczonka’s first Anti-Doping Rule Violation. The decision determines that: (1) Mr. Pieczonka has committed a violation of the Programme; (2) he must serve a period of ineligibility of eighteen months; and (3) that period starts on 15 October 2021, and so ends at midnight on 14 April 2023. In accordance with Programme articles 9.1 and 10.1.1, all ranking points and prize money obtained by Mr. Pieczonka at the Event and all subsequent events prior to 15 October 2021 are disqualified.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency assumed responsibility for the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme on 1 January 2022 and will be responsible for all cases under the programme in 2022 and in future years. For more information, visit: https://www.itia.tennis/tadp/