Iga Swiatek received a one-month suspension for testing positive for a banned substance, but some of her colleagues weren't happy with that decision.
There were multiple high-profile doping, or contamination, cases in the past in tennis. Former World No. 1 on the WTA Tour, Maria Sharapova was suspended for two years, with her doping being later reduced to 15 months.
Simona Halep, who is another former World No. 1 player, received a four-year ban, which was later reduced to nine months, but not by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), but by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), as she had to fight for her case in court.
Swiatek, on the other hand, received "only" a one-month suspension for her case, which was a contamination of non-prescription sleeping pills that she has been using throughout her tennis career.
The player and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) were able to prove the contamination, and the player appealed the suspension within 10 days, which is why she was able to get away with a much less significant ban than some of her colleagues in the past.
But again, like in Jannik Sinner's case, there was no mention of the positive test in recent months, leading many journalists and fans to question the integrity and transparency of the system.
On top of that, during the period when she was banned, Swiatek explicitly gave different reasons for withdrawals from tournaments than a doping ban, including a "coaching change."
That, along with the short length of the ban, enraged many tennis players, including Tara Moore, who herself had to go through a doping case, as she was suspended in June 2022.
In her case, however, it took 19 months before she was allowed to compete again, which is why she was enraged by the lack of transparency and also called out "corruption."
"I took 19 months off as I had to make a 'change to my team' too guys. Let’s not forget, mine was also contamination, and 2 other people also tested positive yet ITIA are appealing my case. Why is no one seriously looking into the corruption of the organisations that govern us?"
Another player, who like Moore, was vocal also when ATP's No. 1, Jannik Sinner, tested positive was Nick Kyrgios. The Australian player once again voiced his thoughts on social media.
"The excuse that we can all use is that we didn’t know. Simply didn’t know. Professionals at the highest level of sport can now just say 'we didn’t know.'"
Denis Shapovalov, who was also a critic of Sinner's doping case, had his say as well, even though the Canadian's response was a bit shorter: "1 month ban eh." However, he got a bit more elaborate when responding to one of the comments.
"That doesn’t make it fair that players Halep and others had a crazy long bans for similar things. I’m glad it’s changing because the doping rules are unfair. But guys like Ymer are still suspended and he’s never even tested positive."
Benjamin Lock, who is a player ranked 337th in singles on the ATP Tour, was also bewildered to learn that Swiatek received "only" a one-month suspension.
"1 month ban. It’s not even April fools day. Don’t play with us like that. Two number 1s in the world failing drug tests in the same year is wild."
At the end of the day, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but as one of the commenters that Shapovalov responded to stated, all players must probably only hope that they won't have a case of contamination in their careers, as the problem might not be the length of Swiatek's ban and Sinner's lack of suspension, but the inconsistency across the cases.