His violation of the Tennis Anti-Doping Program (TADP) has earned him a four-year ban. The Portuguese-born player denies having consciously used the substance and claims that it entered his body through ‘a kiss in a bar’.
According to the tennis player, he had met a woman there who had taken a pill earlier in the evening ‘which made her happy and energetic’. Not long afterwards, the two allegedly kissed for a long time, after which he unknowingly ingested traces of the drug.
Woman confirms kiss
The woman later confirmed that story in a witness statement. She admitted that she had taken a pill that evening, but would not say which substance she had taken. Oliveira insisted that he had not used anything else that evening and that the positive test could therefore not possibly indicate his own use.
However, an independent court ruled that there was no “clear, compelling, convincing or concrete evidence” to support that claim. As a result, it could not be proven that the ingestion of methamphetamine was unintentional.
What is Oliveira not allowed to participate in?
Oliveira’s sanction bans him from “playing, training or participating in any tennis event authorized or approved by ITIA members (ATP, ITF, WTA, Tennis Australia, the French Tennis Federation, Wimbledon and USTA) or a national tennis association until January 16, 2029.”
In addition, he will lose the results, prize money and ranking points of the competition in which he tested positive (November 2024), as well as all subsequent events. Oliveira reached a record high in doubles in August 2020: number 77 in the world rankings.
Fencer Thibus and tennis player Gasquet were acquitted
His best singles match was number 194 in 2017. Surprisingly, this isn’t the first time an athlete has attributed a failed drug test to a kiss.
French Olympic fencer Ysaora Thibus was accused of doping with the anabolic substance Ostarine in 2024, but was acquitted after the jury accepted that the substance had entered her body by kissing her partner for nine days. The ruling even allowed her to participate in the Olympic Games in Paris.
In 2009, tennis player Richard Gasquet avoided a lengthy ban when the International Tennis Federation court ruled that he had accidentally taken cocaine after kissing a woman in a nightclub. Despite these examples, Oliveira was less fortunate and was unable to avoid the sanction.