Iga Swiatek Controversy Makes Now World No.268 Confess Going into $200,000 Debt For Proving Innocence in 19-Month Doping Ban

Iga Swiatek has stunned a majority of the tennis world with the ITIA suspending her for a period of 30 days this year for testing positive for a banned substance in an out of court sample in August 2024. The debate amongst the tennis community is mainly about different players getting different treatment for possibly the same or a similar offence. The World No.268 women’s player from Great Britain, Tara Moore penned down her thoughts by talking about her ordeal when it came to dealing with the ITIA.

Moore was suspended in June 2022 for a period of 19 months because anabolic steroids boldenone and nandrolone were found in one of her out of competition samples. It was only in January 2024 when she was allowed to play at the Australian Open 2024 since it was revealed that the contamination of the sample was due to meat.

However, a lot of damage was done not just to Moore’s confidence and rankings but also her finances. In her latest tweet, Moore prayed that no innocent player should have to go through a $200,000 debt to clear their name from such accusations.

Moore revealed that she has joined hands with Novak Djokovic-led PTPA for helping those players who need representation in such cases, but might lack the resources to do so.

This is a shocking revelation since Moore’s overall career prize money earnings is a mere $622,124. She has been on the WTA Tour for almost 8 years now. It has been a struggle for her to compete.

But with that 19-month ban, Moore could only make $68,000 approximately from playing on court in the last 3 seasons. With tennis being an expensive sport, the Brit had to work hard to fight her case and eventually succeeded.

So it isn’t a surprise that Moore is aligned with the PTPA, whose mission is to give lower-ranked players a fighting chance to play tennis professionally as making money off the court is extremely difficult and is not just based on performances.

Moore is also fearless, taking on the establishment on social media for the way doping cases are handled, especially that of Swiatek.

Moore also expressed shock at Swiatek being allowed to play during suspension

From Moore’s recent tweets, the thought is that the likes of Iga Swiatek and Jannik Sinner, have the funds and as a result, the personnel to defend their respective cases. Being big names, the process is much simpler for them.

Moore has also slammed the WTA and the ITIA for allowing Swiatek to play in the recent Billie Jean King Cup despite being ‘suspended’. The belief here is that the governing bodies are perhaps trying to protect such players so that the sport doesn’t suffer.

Swiatek might not be the favorite on the women’s tour anymore, despite being proven innocent apart from the 30-day suspension. But Moore’s comments are set to ruffle more feathers and put pressure on governing bodies being more accountable in such cases.