Tennis expert calls out Iga Swiatek for blatant lie about failed drug test

The failed drug test issue in tennis is getting ugly. The sport struggles mightily with exactly how to handle tests overall, but especially in announcing the news of a failed test and then handling the pushback from inconsistent punishments. The International Tennis Integrity Agency makes the suspension decisions, but there is seemingly no rhyme or reason for how discipline is doled out.

The sport is eventually going to face a massive image problem. For instance, Iga Swiatek and Jannik Sinner both failed drug tests at various points in 2024, and both were found innocent of any intentional wrongdoing, but Swiatek was suspended for a month. Sinner was not disciplined. Why did they not get the same punishment if both were innocent?

There has to be a more streamlined approach to the way tennis handles suspensions. Simona Halep failed a drug test at the US Open in 2022 and was banned for four years. That seemed extreme for a player who had never been disciplined before.

Jason Goodall says Iga Swiatek provided tennis fans a "blatant lie"

What makes matters worse is that news of failed drug tests takes months to come out, and sometimes, such as with Swiatek, a player has already served a suspension before fans find out why they were truly missing tournaments. Maybe the player doesn't want to announce they have done something improper, but then we get lied to about why a player is not participating in events.

In the case of Swiatek, she missed three tournaments after the US Open and we were told it was because she wanted to get acclimated to working with a new coach. That was unusual, but not impossible. Instead, she missed those tournaments because she was serving a suspension for a failed drug test at the Cincinnati Open in August.

Speaking on the Tennis Channel, former player and current commentator Jason Goodall called a spade a spade and called for more clarity from tennis when a player is suspended. He addressed the Swiatek situation specifically, along with the Jannik Sinner situation.

Goodall said, "We've had a couple of high-profile doping cases this season with Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek, and the one thing that I didn't like was the lack of transparency in those two cases. We only learned about Sinner's before the start of the US Open, and that happened very early on in the season, in the spring. With Iga's, we were told she was having just a little bit of time with her coach, working on different aspects of her game. That wasn't the case. That was just a blatant lie."

Of course, things could get worse. Sinner was not initially suspended, but the World Anti-Doping Agency is appealing his being found innocent and wants the Italian to be suspended for a year or two. That hearing will take place at some point in 2025. The outcome could greatly affect how the sport is viewed.

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