Iga Swiatek lost the World No.1 ranking to Aryna Sabalenka towards the end of the 2024 season. While the Pole claimed that she did not play in the Asian swing due to ‘personal reasons’, the real reason has now come out. Swiatek was provisionally suspended from playing tennis for one month between September 12 to October 4 due to taking a banned substance.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) announced on Wednesday that Swiatek tested positive for Trimetazidine (TMZ) in an out of competition sample which was taken in August 2024. As a result, the reigning French Open champion will have to return the prize money, i.e. $158,944 which she won as a semifinalist at the Cincinnati Open.
Swiatek also missed out on 2 tournaments during that period. This meant that she was eligible to play in the WTA Finals directly after the US Open. She will also be available for the Australian Open 2025 if she is fit.
However, the ITIA clarified that the sample was positive due to the contamination of a regulated non-prescription medication, i.e. melatonin. Upon being investigated, Swiatek said that she used the medication to combat jet lag and insomnia. The investigators were convinced that there was no harmful intention of doping as far as Swiatek is concerned.
Wow.
The ITIA announces that Iga Świątek has accepted a 1-month suspension after testing positive for the prohibited substance trimetazidine (TMZ) in an out-of-competition sample in August 2024.
ITIA investigation determines source was a contaminated regulated medication which… pic.twitter.com/cBJPkU2CBs
— José Morgado (@josemorgado) November 28, 2024
This ‘bombshell’ of an update has come after Jannik Sinner’s two separate doping tests came back positive a few months ago. Sinner is responsible for the word ‘Clostebol’ becoming famous in the tennis world. Clostebol is a banned substance, but is legally sold in Italy in drug stores as it helps in relieving muscular pain and inflammations.
Although Sinner’s samples had merely 0.00001% of Clostebol, Swiatek also testing positive in her drug samples, raises a huge question on what constitutes integrity in the sport. It also tarnishes the reputation of players, who could be innocent in the process.
To top all this, the stakeholders of the sport, especially the biggest ones, i.e. the fans, perhaps could feel cheated. When Sinner was accused of doping, only then was it revealed that he served a suspension from April 4-5 and April 17-20 for testing positive during the Rainbow Swing in March. Even with Swiatek, the fact that this news has come out much later, is quite a surprise.
Swiatek wasn’t transparent about Asian swing 2024 miss
Swiatek missed out on the Beijing Open and the Wuhan Open specifically. When asked about missing out on those, she brushed it off as personal reasons. However, it emerged soon that she split with her coach of three years, Tomasz Wiktorowski.
Swiatek claimed that she wasn’t satisfied with her performances on hard courts in 2024, which is the reason behind making such a big change. With this doping suspension, now the question is whether Wiktorowski and his staff had a role to play in Swiatek taking the medications and they have been punished as a result of it.
There is nothing to suggest that this is the case. But not many coaching splits are that sudden, especially when a player is No.1 in the rankings. Although Swiatek has moved on to Wim Fissette, this controversy is unlikely to die down soon.
In multiple media interactions in 2024, Swiatek also spoke about how the WTA Tour schedule is extremely demanding. It is making her so burnt out that she wouldn’t mind skipping some WTA 500 tournaments. That was considered by many as the reason behind Swiatek not playing at all in Asia as well, since she wanted rest and regroup after the US Open for the WTA Finals.
It seems that Swiatek was speaking the truth, but not the entire truth. Many have lauded her work ethic and consistency over the years. But these revelations could mean that she would have to work harder to win back the trust of many, with the 2025 season not being too far away.
