In November the WTA Tour’s World number two tested positive for trimetazidine, a heart medication known as TMZ.

This came after the ATP Tour’s World number one Jannik Sinner failed two drug tests after the steroid clostebol was found in his system back in March.

What did Jessica Pegula say about Iga Swiatek’s doping ban?

Iga Swiatek failed an out-of-competition drug test in August and was given a one-month suspension that lasted from September 12 to October 4.

She missed the Korea Open, China Open and Wuhan Open, and also forfeited her prize money of $158,944 from reaching the Cincinnati Open semi-finals, the tournament after her failed test.

Swiatek is set to return to the action at the United Cup, which commences on December 27 in Australia.  Plenty have had their say on the incident, including one of Swiatek’s rivals Jessica Pegula.

“I don’t know, it seems like they [ITIA] investigated it and she had her reasoning,” Pegula told reporters in New York. “I mean you have to trust that they’re doing their job, that they’re coming to the right conclusion.

“I think it’s just frustrating for people on the outside – or even for some players – that it just seems so hit or miss with how people get punished.

“I’ve been explained to why it happens. But at the same time, it’s like: ‘Yeah, but how does this vary so deeply?’ And I think that can be frustrating. But how it was explained to me, it seems pretty cut and dried almost – and the explanation made sense.”

Iga Swiatek shared her reaction to her positive drug test

Swiatek has since conducted an interview with Polish media outlet TVN24, where Swiatek expressed how she reacted to her positive drug test.

“My reaction was very violent. It was a mixture of incomprehension and panic. There was a lot of crying,” the French Open champion said.

“We get a notification by email and by text message when there is a problem or when we need to complete something in the documents. I opened the email and thought it was a notification that players automatically get when they have to do something.

“But this time it turned out that the email was much more serious. Generally, I wasn’t able to read it to the end, because I was already drenched in tears.

“My managers said that my reaction was as if someone had died or something serious had happened to my health. I’m glad I wasn’t alone, because I was able to hand them the phone and show them what happened.”

Related Posts