Tennis player banned for four years after kissing leads to positive drug test
LONDON – A professional tennis player was banned for four years by the International Tennis Integrity Agency on Friday after a kiss led to a positive drug test for methamphetamine.
Goncalo Oliveira, who represents Venezuela, was provisionally suspended in January after testing positive while attending the ATP Challenger Tour in Manzanillo, Mexico, in November 2024. Both his A and B samples contained banned substances.
The Portuguese-born player denied taking the drug and made his case during a hearing before an independent tribunal, which found Oliveira could not prove its presence was unintentional.
Oliveira received points for his temporary suspension, meaning he will be eligible to compete professionally again on January 16, 2029.
Oliveira reached a career-high doubles world ranking of No. 77 in August 2020.
This is not the first time an athlete has reported a positive drug test as a result of kissing.
In July, an arbitration court dropped doping charges against French Olympic fencer Ysaora Thibus, who was found to be contaminated with the anabolic substance Ostarine after kissing her American partner for nine days in 2024. She was later found not guilty by an International Fencing Federation tribunal just weeks before the Paris Olympics, allowing her to compete.
In 2009, Richard Gasquet escaped a lengthy doping ban after an International Tennis Federation tribunal ruled that he had unintentionally snorted cocaine while kissing a woman in a nightclub.
