Sara Errani Is Suspended Two Months for a Doping Violation

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Sara Errani, a former French Open finalist and top-10 player, must serve a two-month doping ban after testing positive for the banned substance letrozole in a test taken in February, the International Tennis Federation said Monday.

Errani blamed contamination from her mother’s breast cancer medication. Letrozole is used in the treatment of cancer.

“I never took, in my life and during my career, any prohibited substance,” Errani said in a statement. “I am extremely disappointed, but at the same time at peace with my conscience and aware I haven’t done anything wrong.”

An adjudication panel ruled that Errani’s fault was “at the lower end of the scale,” but that she should still be banned for two months from Aug. 3.

Errani’s mother, Fulvia, told the panel that she believed she accidentally dropped one of her tablets, which she kept in the kitchen, into some soup and tortellini she was preparing. Errani was staying with her parents at the time of her out-of-competition test.

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