Iga Swiatek ‘gained respect and appreciation’ after ‘powerful’ statement about failed drug test
Iga Swiatek has been praised for the way she dealt with her positive doping case with former world No 9 Andrea Petkovic stating she “handled it the best of all the players”.
Five-time major champion Swiatek failed a drug test at the Cincinnati Open in August and the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) informed her about the positive test for trimetazidine the following month.
The Pole missed three tournaments in Asia as she was provisionally suspended before the ITIA released its full verdict in November as they found the player bore “no significant fault or negligence”.
She was hit with a one-month suspension and, with most of it served during October, she was cleared to return to competitive tennis.
As soon as the news was made public, Swiatek issued a video on social media to give a full explanation as she revealed that a supplement she had been taking was contaminated, along with a full timeline of events.
She added: “This whole thing will definitely stay with me for the rest of my life, it took a lot of strength – returning to training after this situation nearly broke my heart.
“I admit this situation hit me hard because all my life I strived to have a career that could be an example for generations to come, a career that’s going to be fair in a sense, that will show I was fair and will embody all the values a top athlete should stand for.”
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This was in contrast to the Jannik Sinner doping controversy as the world No 1 tested positive for a banned substance in March, but the public was only informed in August when the ITIA cleared him of any wrongdoing and decided not to suspend him.
Former French Open semi-finalist Petkovic says she has newfound respect for former world No 1 Swiatek.
“I think Iga Swiatek handled it the best of all players with her videos, speaking right down the barrel, in her language where she feels most comfortable with the translation of course and subtitles,” the German said on the Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast.
“I was really moved by [it] because you could see the stress, the distress, the relief that it’s over and just explaining right down the barrel as if she was looking into your eyes.
“I thought that was really powerful from her and I have to say she really gained by respect and appreciation about what she did there. I think that’s really hard.”
