Iga Swiatek offered some empathy for Jannik Sinner after the Italian received a three-month doping ban but the Pole also underlined that she didn’t fear she would have the same fate.
In August, the ITIA cleared the top-ranked player of any responsibility for his failed doping test and he didn’t get any suspension.
But after the WADA lodged an appeal in that ruling and the two parties got a CAS court date for April, the Italian tennis star found himself in danger of still getting banned.
And exactly that happened then the WADA announced on Saturday that they and the three-time Grand Slam champion settled on a three-month suspension.
“I don’t wish for any player for these kind of things to happen… I hope he (Jannik) is going to be over it soon and he will just get back to tennis,” Swiatek said in Dubai.
Swiatek: I knew the WADA wouldn’t make the same move in my case
After being provisionally suspended for 22 days between September and October, the Polish five-time Grand Slam winner accepted a one-month ban in November.
Some thought it was a very minimal suspension and that the WADA should intervene and seek a lengthier ban.
The WADA didn’t go that route.
In Dubai, Swiatek was asked if she feared that the WADA would appeal the ITIA’s ruling in her case just as they did in Sinner’s.
“No. Because as I said, every case is different. There’s no reason to compare and put these two things beside each other. So yeah, it was totally different from the beginning,” the Pole explained.
“Also we provided, like, all the documentation really precisely. We did all we needed and we followed the instructions, so there was no space and no point for WADA to appeal even, I would say.
“So yeah, I was pretty sure that I’ll be done with it because my case was just a contamination. I found the source. That’s it.”
Tennis World USA