Written by Richard Pagliaro | @Itenisi_Manje | Friday, December 27, 2024
Photo credit: Simon Bruty/US Open/USTA
Few opponents are afraid Iga Swiatek.
Five-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek has shared her biggest scare after being suspended for a month after testing positive for the banned substance trimetazidine (TMZ) in an out-of-competition sample in August.
Pegula: The Swiatek Case Stirs Faith and Frustration
Swiatek says he was afraid of possible community backlash and isolation after his suspension.
But the World No. 2 reports that he has received positive support since news of his suspension broke.
“I think their response has been much better than I thought. I think people, most of them, understand, and those who read the documents and realize how the system works, they know that I am not wrong and I am wrong. It has no effect on what is happening,” Swiatek told the press at Team Poland’s United Cup press.
“But in general, the reaction in Poland basically, because this is mainly what I learned, it was good, you know, it supports me. I appreciate that a lot, because even if I remember the swing in China and nobody knows why, it was not like that. So after my case, the information about my case was released, you know , I was afraid that most people would turn their backs on me, but I feel support, and it’s good.
In the announcement of Thanksgiving Day, International Tennis Integrity Agency accepted that Swiatek’s assertion that his HIV test was due to the contamination of an unauthorized controlled drug (Melatonin), which was sold in Poland by the player for jet lag and sleep problems.
According to ITIA, Swiatek’s error rate was considered to be at the very low end of the ‘No Significant Error or Negligence’ range.
Swiatek, reinstated on Dec. 8, skipped the Asian swing and was stripped of the prize money he earned from his run to the semifinals of the Cincinnati Open. Cincinnati was the race the Pole played right after his good TMZ test.
When asked at the United Cup if he is afraid that WADA will appeal his case as it happened in the case of the men’s world number 1 Jannik Sinner, Swiatek said that although he does not expect an appeal, “I have no influence on what will happen.”
Because she was suspended, missed the Asian swing and later lost her world No. 1 ranking to Aryna Sabalenka, her Cincinnati winner, Swiatek said she doesn’t expect WADA to appeal her case.
“I don’t think there is a reason, because I didn’t play three tournaments,” said Swiatek. “I was suspended for a long time, and I lost No. 1, you know, because of that. I also know how the process worked, and I gave all possible evidence and there is not much, honestly, to do more. So I don’t know, there is no need to make a complaint from our point of view.”
A statement from the WTA:The WTA welcomes the decision of the International Tennis Integrity Association (ITIA) – which runs the Tennis Anti-Doping Program (TADP) – to issue a one-month suspension to Iga Swiatek, following the detection of contamination…
— wta (@WTA) November 28, 2024
Reigning champion Roland Garros called his experience “a fair process” and said he hoped the ITIA would “treat every player the same way.”
“So I don’t expect an appeal, but I have no influence on what will happen,” Swiatek said. “But I can say from the processes I went through and the way they treated me from the beginning, that it seemed right to me. I was able to provide the source quickly. That’s why the case was closed, you know, very quickly.
“But anyway, I didn’t play the tournaments, and I’m kind, I got a good one, a little, symbolic, but it’s over now. So I think, in my opinion, it was a fair process, and I trust the ITIA. that whatever offense they do, they will treat every player in the right way the same and in the right way.”
