Iga Swiatek Answers Why She Did Not Reveal Provisional Suspension In Doping Case
News
Iga Swiatek has revealed why she elected not to be transparent about her provisional ban for testing positive for a banned substance when it happened.
After losing to the eventual runner-up Jessica Pegula in the US Open quarterfinal, Swiatek did not compete again for almost two months. She eventually returned at the WTA Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
It was revealed on November 28th that Swiatek accepted a one-month suspension after testing positive for the banned substance trimetazidine. The positive test was from an out-of-competition sample she submitted in August.
Swiatek received a provisional ban on September 12th for the positive test. She had it lifted 22 days later, on October 4th, after further testing proved that melatonin tablets she bought were contaminated with the prohibited substance.
There have been many different reactions in the tennis world since the story became public. Former French Open winner Ilie Nastase was among those angry about the case, claiming that Swiatek received a short ban because she is Polish.
However, two of Swiatek's biggest rivals have been quite supportive. World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka said that many people jump to conclusions without knowing all the facts in the case and that no one will ever know for sure what happened.
Coco Gauff defended the four-time French Open champion's integrity when asked about the case. The American said Swiatek definitely did not mean to take a prohibited substance, and it was clearly accidental.
Nonetheless, some question why Swiatek did not reveal the truth during the investigation. The world No. 2 had the option to keep it private because she appealed within ten days but could have been open about it if she wanted to.
Swiatek answered that question while speaking to the media before the Australian Open. The Pole said the first three weeks when provisionally suspended were stressful and spent trying to find the source of the contamination.
"Like first three weeks, I would say, were pretty chaotic. There was no way to have any answers to the questions. We just focused on finding the source. But I got to say, yeah, for sure it wasn't easy."
"It was probably like the worst time in my life. And the fact that I had no control over this whole situation and I had no chance to avoid it, yeah, it made it even worse because I'm a control freak a little bit.”
A reporter mentioned that Swiatek said the tournaments she missed while suspended were due to "personal reasons." The five-time Grand Slam winner answered that she assumed the ban would be lifted soon and she needed time to figure things out.
“After, yeah, it got pretty awkward. Like we chose for the first tournament to say 'personal reasons' because we honestly thought the suspension is going to be lifted soon. From the beginning it was obvious that something was contaminated because the level of this substance in my urine was so low that it had to be contamination, you know?”
“Yeah, I mean, since we didn't know what’s going to happen because we had no control over ITIA's decision, we also couldn't make any, like, logical plan. We started, yeah, with 'personal issues' because I needed also time to figure everything out.”
