Four-year ban upheld for Gonçalo Oliveira after meth positive test

Gonçalo Oliveira, a Portuguese-born tennis player who represents Venezuela, was suspended for four years by the International Tennis Integrity Agency after testing positive for methamphetamine at an ATP Challenger event in Manzanillo, Mexico, in November 2024. Both his A and B samples confirmed the presence of the banned substance, and the ITIA provisionally suspended Oliveira in January before an independent tribunal upheld the four-year ban on Friday. Credit for time already served under the provisional suspension means he will be eligible to return to competition on January 16, 2029.

Oliveira, 30, denied intentionally taking methamphetamine and argued at a hearing that the substance entered his system through prolonged kissing with a woman he met at a bar in Manzanillo. He requested that the woman provide a witness statement, and she testified that she had consumed a pill that made her feel "euphoria, agitation, confidence to socialize and in the moment a feeling of energy and joy" before she and Oliveira kissed. She later reiterated that account to an ITIA investigator but declined to identify the drug.

The tribunal considered testimony from Oliveira and the woman, as well...