Iga Swiatek says she felt she was “treated like a liar” during the doping investigation process and admits she was hit so hard by the entire situation that she couldn’t take a racket for two weeks and feared that everyone would change their opinion about her and leave her.
After the Pole was informed on September 12th that one of her samples from August came back positive for a banned substance, she was left in absolute shock and instantly started panicking at home.
However, no one knew at the time what was happening as the ITIA decided to give her a silent provisional ban.
In the next few weeks, Swiatek was able to locate the medication that caused a failed doping test and prove that it was contaminated.
Her appeal was successful – she returned to action just in time for the WTA Finals – before the investigation determined that she bore no significant fault or negligence and ultimately received only a symbolic one-month ban.
In the end, it turned out pretty well for Swiatek.
But it doesn’t change the fact that it was very traumatizing for the Pole and she admits she is not sure if she could deal with a similar situation ever again.
Swiatek: It was terrible, chaotic, I don’t know if I would be able to go through this again
“It was terrible. Honestly, I don’t love tennis that much to feel this bad. If it would 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,” the 23-year-old explained during her appearance on Caroline Garcia’s podcast Tennis Insider Club.
“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 … it didn’t hit my ‘athlete’ side, it hit like my personal side because I thought everybody would turn their backs on me.
“I had no idea what happened, 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 you know two years or three months or something else. It was really tough… I don’t want to go through this again.”
Also, Swiatek said that while she knew she didn’t do anything wrong, the prosecutors weren’t that convinced so even when she was telling the truth, she felt like they didn’t really believe her.
Meanwhile, after her suspension expired in the offseason, the world No. 2 kicked off her 2025 season at the United Cup, where she and Poland lost to the United States in the final.
Tennis World USA