The International Tennis Integrity Agency is not leaving any stone unturned in exercising fair play and maintaining the integrity of professional tennis, as highlighted in its latest decision.
On Tuesday, the ITIA announced that it had suspended American tennis player Casey Kania for a period of two years for the use of marijuana. Kania is an ATP pro with a career-high ranking of World No. 1317 in doubles.
A random in-competition testing at the Cary Challenger in August 2023 returned a positive test of Cannabis, which is “a cannabinoid banned in competition under section S8 of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List,” as indicated in the ITIA press release.
As such, Kania is deemed to have breached the Tennis Anti-Doping Program. According to the TADP, players with medical conditions are permitted to apply for Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUEs), allowing them to use certain medications that appear on the WADA prohibited list.
It doesn’t look like Kania’s case had anything to do with that, nor did he seek an exemption for using Cannabis. However, the ITIA noted that the player “did not intentionally breach the provisions of the TADP” although he bore “No Fault or Negligence for their violation.”
Kania will serve two years instead of four years because of the degree of fault on his part. His sanction will be backdated to begin on February 2nd, 2024, and run till February 1st, 2026.
According to the ATP website, the 21-year-old had accumulated $482 in prize money, which appears to be what he earned at the Cary Challenger. He will now forfeit all of that, including points received at his home tournament and in subsequent events he participated in.
As Kania takes his forced leave of absence, he is not allowed to train, play, or even coach at any tennis tournament authorized by the members of the ITIA (ATP, WTA, ITF, and the four Grand Slams).
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