Lleyton Hewitt has been suspended for two weeks following an incident in which he pushed a volunteer anti-doping chaperone. The International Tennis Integrity Agency announced the sanction on Wednesday; it will run from Sept. 25 until Oct. 7.

The episode took place last November after Australia’s Davis Cup team lost in the semifinals to Italy. Hewitt, serving as Australia’s captain at the time, pushed a 60-year-old volunteer anti-doping chaperone following the defeat. He denied the charge, pleading self-defense. The ITIA reviewed video evidence, witness statements and interviews before referring the matter to an independent tribunal.

The tribunal upheld a charge of offensive conduct, finding that Hewitt’s actions “did not meet the requirements of self-defense” and that his behavior was “not reasonable and proportionate.” In addition to the two-week suspension, the 44-year-old former No. 1-ranked men’s tennis player has been fined around $20,000.

The ITIA set the suspension dates so the penalty would not be “unduly punitive” by affecting Hewitt’s Davis Cup responsibilities. During the suspension he will be barred from all tennis-related activities, including coaching, mentoring, playing, captaincy and other associated roles.

Australia is due to play Belgium on Sept. 13-14 in Sydney, with a place in the last eight of the Davis Cup Finals at stake. The scheduling of the sanction was announced with that forthcoming tie and Hewitt’s role in mind.

The case marks a disciplinary conclusion to an episode that began with post-match confrontation and moved through a formal review process involving video, witnesses and interviews before reaching an independent tribunal. The sanctions combine a short ban and a monetary penalty and restrict Hewitt from participating in official tennis duties for the period specified.

Iga Swiatek shared her emotional struggle after receiving news of a failed doping test due to a contaminated melatonin batch. The six-time Grand Slam champion revealed that the situation, which arose from a positive test for the banned substance trimetazidine, left her crying for two weeks and confused about her future in tennis.

Swiatek detailed the moment she discovered the test result during a sponsor photoshoot in Warsaw: “I went on my email and I saw that an email from this portal, and I thought it was just a reminder of my whereabouts or something. I didn’t even read it because I started crying, and my agents who were at the shoot thought that someone had died.”

The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) accepted her explanation that the violation was unintentional, caused by contamination in a non-prescription melatonin supplement she used for jet lag and sleep issues. Following investigations and consultation with WADA-accredited laboratories, the ITIA imposed a one-month suspension and ruled the offense non-intentional.

Despite the resolution, Swiatek was forced to miss several tournaments, including important WTA 1000 events in Beijing and Wuhan. She recounted the impact: “When everything came out [publicly], I was basically crying for two weeks, couldn’t practice, because I felt that tennis did this to me and that I’m in this place because of tennis. I felt like I was losing my integrity, like no one is going to believe me that I didn’t do anything wrong and that the whole world would turn their backs on me and that every accomplishment that I had would start to disappear.”

Swiatek also highlighted the complexity of navigating such cases publicly, emphasizing the need for privacy until clear evidence is presented: “If anyone were to say straight away with this kind of case without the data or proof that you did nothing wrong, we would all be finished and they would hate us.”

Now recovered and prepared, Swiatek will return to competition at the Canadian Open, beginning with a matchup against world No. 33 Hanyu Guo.

Jannik Sinner, the Wimbledon champion, has reinstated Umberto Ferrara as his fitness coach almost a year after dismissing him amid a doping investigation. This adjustment in his coaching team comes shortly after Sinner parted ways with fitness coach Marco Panichi and physiotherapist Ulises Badio.

A spokesperson for Sinner’s team stated, “Umberto has played an important role in Jannik’s development to date, and his return reflects a renewed focus on continuity and performance at the highest level.”

Sinner’s doping case centers on two positive tests last March for trace amounts of an anabolic steroid, Clostebol. The situation surfaced publicly only in August, days before the US Open, which Sinner subsequently won, marking his second title among four Grand Slams.

Sinner was initially cleared after establishing that exposure was accidental. The defense revealed that Ferrara had procured a topical product in Italy and handed it to then-physiotherapist Giacomo Naldi to treat a finger cut. Naldi allegedly administered treatment to Sinner without gloves, resulting in contamination.

Following these revelations, Sinner dismissed both Naldi and Ferrara. Ferrara later temporarily joined Matteo Berrettini’s team. However, after the World Anti-Doping Agency appealed the initial clearance, Sinner accepted a three-month suspension which concluded just before the Italian Open in May of the current year.