Iga Swiatek opens up on 'terrible' doping case ahead of 2025 Australian Open tilt - 'They treat you like a liar'
By Oli Gent
Published 06/01/2025 at 18:34 GMT
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Iga Swiatek, the current world No. 2, was banned for one month late last year after she tested positive for trimetazidine, a banned substance, back in August. Since then, she has served her suspension and is eligible to play at the upcoming Australian Open. The Pole, however, revealed the negative emotions that the case has caused, ahead of her latest Grand Slam tilt in Melbourne.
Swiatek admits she ‘pushed myself to the limit’ in victory over Rybakina
Video credit: TNT Sports
Iga Swiatek says she feels she has been treated "like a liar" by those assessing her doping case.
The current world No. 2 was suspended for a month after she tested positive for a banned substance - trimetazidine - back in August 2024, and she served her suspension in November and December.
Now back on the WTA Tour, she is eligible to play at the upcoming Australian Open - live on Eurosport and discovery+ - a Grand Slam she has yet to win.
Swiatek, a five-time major champion, told the Tennis Insider Club podcast of the feelings she had experienced after being heavily scrutinised following news of her positive test that came to light in November.
"It was terrible," Swiatek said.
"Honestly, I don’t love tennis that much to feel this bad. If it [were to] happen to me a second time, I don’t know if I would be able to go through this a second time because it was terrible, honestly.
"I couldn’t go on court for two weeks because I felt it was because of tennis that I am in this place. I felt it hit me much deeper than... my ‘athlete’ side. It hit my personal side because I thought everybody would turn their backs on me."
Swiatek was informed of her positive test in September, but she successfully appealed the initial suspension imposed by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA).
That meant that her positive test could not become public knowledge under the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme Rules, and during her provisional suspension, Swiatek missed the Asian hard-court swing - the Korea Open, China Open and Wuhan Open - citing "personal reasons".
She returned to play in the Billie Jean King Cup and the season-ending WTA World Tour Finals in Riyadh.
It was revealed in the ITIA's statement that Swiatek's positive test had stemmed from "the contamination of a regulated non-prescription medication (melatonin)", which the Pole said she used to help her with "jet lag and sleep issues".
"I had no idea what happened," Swiatek explained.
"At the beginning, I didn’t have a source right on. We had to send supplements to the labs and wait for the results. It was so chaotic, I didn’t know if it was going to be, two years or three months or something else.
"It was really tough. I don’t want to go through this again."
Swiatek, a four-time French Open champion, said that the people that were prosecuting her were treating her "like a liar".
"You can be at peace with yourself that you didn’t do anything wrong, but no one actually treats you like that, especially the people that are prosecuting you," the Pole said.
"They want to find that even when you are telling the truth you feel like they treat you like a liar.
"But it’s the law and at the beginning it was hard for me to accept it, but my team told me from the beginning ‘don’t expect anything and don’t overthink what the outcome might be, because you literally have no control over this’.
"We just tried to find the source [of the contamination] and we found it, but it wasn’t that obvious. When we had it, we just went through it step by step, proving my innocence and, luckily, they made a pretty rational decision. In the beginning it was really scary.
"I fought so hard for everything the past few years and what if people are going to, in the head, take it away from me? What if they are going to look at me differently?
"I was home at the time and there were a lot of people coming to ask for autographs and take selfies with me. I was like ‘are you still going to be doing that in one month?'"
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'I got the shovel out!' - Gauff on victory celebrations as Team USA win United Cup
Video credit: SNTV
Swiatek kicked off her new year in the United Cup in Perth, where she led Poland to the final to face the USA.
Swiatek won all of her matches in the lead-up, including beating Great Britain's Katie Boulter and world No. 6 Elena Rybakina, and dropped just one set - in her encounter with Boulter.
In her final rubber, however, she was beaten by Coco Gauff.
Watch the 2025 Australian Open live on Eurosport and discovery+
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