There might be some awkwardness at this year's World Tennis League after Iga Swiatek and Nick Kyrgios were placed on the same team.
The 2024 World Tennis League will run from December 19th to December 22nd. It is the most high-profile tournament played each year during the off-season as players prepare for the events before the Australian Open.
Although many top players competed at the World Tennis League in 2022 and 2023, the 2024 line-up is particularly outstanding. Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, Jasmine Paolini, Kyrgios, and Stefanos Tsitsipas are among the players committed to competing in Abu Dhabi.
Kyrgios was initially put on a team with Paolini, Tsitsipas, and Paula Badosa. That would have created a potentially interesting or problematic dynamic since Kyrgios and Tsitsipas had one of the most heated matches seen in recent years at the 2022 Wimbledon Championships.
On Wednesday, the World Tennis League moved Kyrgios to a team containing Swiatek, Hurkacz, and Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova. Casper Ruud swapped to join Paolini, Tsitsipas, and Badosa.
However, a bombshell story about Swiatek broke the next day. The four-time French Open winner received a one-month ban after testing positive for the banned substance trimetazidine from an out-of-competition sample she gave on August 12th.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency handed Swiatek a provisional suspension on September 12th. Ten days later, the Pole appealed, explaining that a non-prescription medicine had been contaminated with trimetazidine.
Testing done by the Sports Medicine Research and Testing Laboratory proved that Swiatek's explanation was correct. Thus, her provisional suspension was lifted before she was eventually handed the one-month suspension.
Swiatek released a lengthy video explaining the details of the case and the emotional toll it has taken on her. In 2025, the world No. 2 hopes to move on from it and focus on playing the sport she loves.
However, some players were enraged by Swiatek's doping scandal. Kyrgios was among them, arguing on social media that players can say they didn't know about the substance entering their system to get away with anything.
"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.'"
Kyrgios' argument might be somewhat flawed since the International Tennis Integrity Agency does not simply take players' words at face value. For instance, Swiatek would have been in more significant trouble if experts had not scientifically proved her explanation of what happened.
The Australian was and remains also one of the most vocal critics of Jannik Sinner after he tested positive for the banned substance clostebol. His case is still ongoing after the World Anti-Doping Agency appealed the decision to clear him.
Kyrgios's words about Swiatek's case might make the World Tennis League reconsider changing the teams again. The former WTA world No. 1's doping case became public the day after the league moved Kyrgios to another team, which is unfortunate timing.
Hopefully, Swiatek's doping case will not sour the atmosphere at the World Tennis League, even though her one-month punishment was not lengthy.