Iga Swiatek has shared her immediate reaction to the most devastating news she has received as a tennis player.
The 22-year-old enjoyed another successful season in which she claimed five titles and won her fourth French Open crown in five years.
However Swiatek did lose her World number ranking to Aryna Sabalenka as the Belarusian claimed the Australian Open and US Open titles.
Aryna Sabalenka ascended back to the top of the WTA Tour rankings in October, during a period Swiatek was away from the tour.
She said this was due to changes in her team and while did replace coach Tomasz Wiktorowski with Wim Fissette, the exact reason why she did not play during the Asian swing has now emerged.
How did Iga Swiatek react to her positive drug test?
The tennis world was rocked in November when it was announced that Iga Swiatek had tested positive for trimetazidine, a heart medication known as TMZ.
She 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 has since conducted an interview with Polish media outlet TVN24, to express how she felt after she was informed of her failed drug test.
“My reaction was very violent. It was a mixture of incomprehension and panic. There was a lot of crying,” the World number two 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.”
The ITIA responds to the second high profile tennis doping case in 2024
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) has responded to the second case of doping in professional tennis within a matter of months.
Jannik Sinner tested positive for the steroid clostebol in March and was cleared of any wrongdoing in August, but that ruling has since been appealed by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
Following Swiatek’s case, who was also cleared of any wrongdoing or negligence, ITIA chief executive Karen Moorhouse responded to the incidents and does not think the integrity of tennis is under threat as a result.
“These are not cases of intentional doping. We’re dealing with inadvertent breaches of the rules. “So I don’t think this is a cause for concern for tennis fans,” she said.
“I think the fact that we’re being clearly open, transparent, and it shows the breadth and depth of our anti-doping program.”
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