Iga Swiatek Slams Polish Media For Treatment During Provisional Ban Absence
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Iga Swiatek did not hold back in her evaluation of the Polish media. She claims hurtful rumors were spread about her absence from last year's Asian swing on the WTA Tour.
After losing to Jessica Pegula in the US Open quarterfinal, Swiatek did not play again for nearly two months. The 23-year-old eventually made a comeback at the WTA Finals, being eliminated in the round-robin stage despite winning two of her three matches.
Swiatek was vague about why she was absent from the WTA tour during that period of almost two months. She described it as "personal reasons," which can mean many different things and is often used to avoid revealing the true cause.
The four-time French Open champion split with her coach of close to three years, Tomasz Wiktorowski, during that spell away from playing matches. He was replaced by Naomi Osaka's former coach, Wim Fissette.
Some thought that disruption in Swiatek's coaching team was why she stepped away from the WTA Tour. It also gave her some time to work with Fissette and get to know him before returning to the intensity of professional tennis.
Another possible explanation was Swiatek being burnt out. The Pole repeatedly criticized the length of the tennis calendar throughout 2024, and needing to take a break after those complaints seemed plausible.
However, no one could have predicted that Swiatek's absence was caused by being provisionally suspended after testing positive for the banned substance clostebol from an out-of-competition sample submitted in August.
Swiatek successfully appealed the provisional suspension after further testing proved her explanation that melatonin tablets she purchased had been contaminated with the prohibited substance.
The world No. 2 accepted a one-month suspension, most of which she had already served provisionally. That news was made public on November 28th, and Swiatek returned at the start of the current season without restrictions.
Last year's French Open winner played great tennis at last week's United Cup but lost her singles match in the final against Coco Gauff. Swiatek caused controversy in that contest by taking a medical timeout at 4-6, 4-5 down despite admitting afterward she was not injured.
Swiatek is undoubtedly happy to be back. However, on an episode of Caroline Garcia's Tennis Insider Club Podcast, she revealed the rumors that Polish media sources had spread about her absence from the Asian swing before her doping case was made public.
"I think, honestly, now I had the toughest situation with media and how they approached me in Poland because abroad, like, there was nothing. I didn't play China swing this year, obviously because of my case, now everybody knows that, but before, they didn't."
"And, abroad, nobody said a word about it. Like, it was fine for them that I maybe took time off. But in Poland, it got crazy. Like, media, they diagnosed me with mental health disorders like I suddenly had depression."
"I was burned out. I was, you know, firing everybody from my team. Like, suddenly they wrote these articles, like clickbait titles as well, that there's something wrong with me because I didn't play two tournaments."
"After we announced that I have this case, everybody suddenly understood, you know, but during this time when they didn't know, it was tough because I was literally battling my toughest battle that I ever had, and not feeling well."
"Polish media was kind of after me, why I didn't play two tournaments. So, so the hate was, was big and, everybody's, like, instantly judging. I think they are writing stuff that they would never say to our faces. So, now I guess it's part of the job. It shouldn't be that way."
