LONDON – Goncalo Oliveira, a Venezuelan tennis player, has been handed a four-year suspension by the International Tennis Integrity Agency following a positive test for methamphetamine. The ruling came on October 10, 2025, after Oliveira was initially provisionally suspended in January due to the results of a test taken in November 2024 during the ATP Challenger event in Manzanillo, Mexico. Both his A and B samples confirmed the presence of the banned substance.
During a hearing with an independent tribunal, Oliveira argued that the drug’s presence in his system was unintentional, claiming it was the result of a kiss. However, the tribunal found that he could not adequately prove his assertion, leading to the length of his suspension. The time he has already served during his provisional suspension will count, making him eligible to return to professional play on January 16, 2029.
Oliveira previously achieved a career-best doubles ranking of 77 in August 2020 and has been involved in discussions around drug testing anomalies before. His case adds to a somewhat unusual history in sports where athletes have claimed that positive drug tests were due to kisses or close personal contact.
One notable instance involved French fencer Ysaora Thibus, who was absolved of doping allegations after the Court of Arbitration acknowledged that she was contaminated with the anabolic agent Ostarine through kissing her American partner over several days. Her case was ultimately dismissed weeks before the Paris Olympics, allowing her to compete.
Additionally, in 2009, tennis player Richard Gasquet found himself in a similar predicament when the International Tennis Federation ruled that he had inadvertently consumed cocaine after kissing a woman at a nightclub, thus avoiding a significant ban.
As the conversation surrounding doping in professional sports evolves, Oliveira’s suspension serves as a reminder of the stringent measures in place and raises questions about the complexities of drug testing protocols.
