In an unexpected addition to the list of doping excuses, former world No 5 Sara Errani has been banned for only two months after convincing an International Tennis Federation tribunal that she ingested a banned substance via her mother’s tortellini.

A chemical called letrozole was found in a urine sample that Errani donated in February, during an out-of-competition sample at her parents’ house in Italy. The substance is used in the treatment of breast cancer, but it has also been associated with the promotion of muscle tissue in female bodybuilders.

Errani argued that the letrozole in question was part of her mother’s treatment regime. Mrs Errani – who has suffered multiple incidences of cancer in the past – kept the chemical in a blister pack of pills, which she would leave to the side of her kitchen worktop.

According to the evidence given to the ITF tribunal on July 19, Mrs Errani would sometimes push out two pills rather than the one she intended to take, and in this instance there might have been a case of unintentional contamination when a pill fell into the “tortellini or broth which she prepared on 14 or 15 Feb”.