MELBOURNE, Australia — Self-described “control freak” Iga Swiatek is taking new precautions — including keeping samples of the extra drugs she takes in case she needs to be tested at some point — before she The aftermath of a doping case described Friday as “probably the worst time of my life.”
Jannik Sinner, another player who was once ranked No. 1 in the world and tested positive in 2024, said before the Australian Open that he was the defending champion but that he had not been informed by WADA When his innocence will be appealed. Tried in court.
“I know as much as you know,” Sinner said in response to a reporter’s question at a news conference Friday. “We’re at a stage where we don’t know many, many things.”
Although he has repeatedly expressed his confidence in the final result, the 23-year-old Italian admitted that he also has this idea ahead of the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, which starts on Sunday (Saturday ET).
“Yes, of course you would consider that,” Sinner said. “I’d be lying if I told you I forgot.”
Neither he nor Swiatek, the five-time major champion, spent months last season knowing what was going on behind the scenes or that they were failing the test.
Sinner twice tested positive for trace amounts of anabolic steroids during a match in March; those results — and the fact that he was cleared by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) — were not available until August, just before the U.S. Open. It was soon announced that he had finally won the competition. He was exonerated as the ITIA accepted his explanation: that a trainer exposed Sinner to a banned substance by massaging him shortly after using cream on his injured finger.
Swiatek failed an out-of-competition drug test in August, but news of her month-long suspension was not known until late November after she missed three games without revealing why. When ITIA announced her case (ITIA admitted her sample was contaminated with a tainted sleep aid), she had only one week left to serve, which was during the offseason.
On Friday, Swiatek described the initial period of her absence for personal reasons as “pretty chaotic,” saying, “Of course, it wasn’t easy; it was probably the worst time of my life.”
“Things got pretty awkward. Like we chose to say ‘personal reasons’ in the first game because we honestly thought the suspension would be lifted soon. It was obvious from the start that something was tainted because I The amount of this substance in the urine is very low, so it must be contaminated,” Swiatek said.
“Yeah, we started with ‘personal stuff,'” she added, “because I still need time to sort everything out.”
Swiatek said she was worried about how other players would react when the season started.
“Besides me not being able to compete, that’s the worst thing for me: what people are going to say. Because I always try to be a good role model, show my integrity, show good behavior,” she said. “Not having control of this case does scare me a little bit. But I mean, in the locker room, the girls are great.”
