Tennis player who said a kiss caused his positive methamphetamine test gets 4-year suspension

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LONDON (AP) — A professional tennis player who said a kiss caused a positive methamphetamine drug test was suspended for four years by the International Tennis Integrity Agency on Friday.

Goncalo Oliveira, who represents Venezuela, was provisionally suspended in January following a positive test in November 2024 while competing at the ATP Challenger event in Manzanillo, Mexico. Both his A and B samples contained the banned substance.

The Portuguese-born player denied taking the drug and made his argument at a hearing with an independent tribunal, which decided Oliveira couldn’t prove the drug’s presence was unintentional.

Oliveria receives credit for time served from his provisional suspension, meaning he will be eligible to compete professionally again on Jan. 16, 2029.

Oliveria reached a career-high world doubles ranking of 77th in August 2020.

This is not the first time an athlete has said a positive drug test happened because of kissing.

French Olympic fencer Ysaora Thibus was cleared in July by the Court of Arbitration of a doping allegation after judges accepted she was contaminated with the anabolic substance Ostarine in 2024 by kissing her American partner over a period of nine days. She was later cleared by an International Fencing Federation tribunal weeks before the Paris Olympics, which let her compete there.

In 2009, Richard Gasquet escaped a lengthy doping ban when the International Tennis Federation’s tribunal panel ruled that he inadvertently took cocaine by kissing a woman in a nightclub.

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis