I cried as if someone had died: Swiatek on positive dope test

Former world number one Iga Swiatek has opened up about reaction after hearing the news of testing positive in a doping test. The 23-year-old is already regarded as one of the best players currently playing in women’s tennis in the singles category, along with the likes of Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka.

Swiatek has been in the news recently for wrong reasons. The reigning world number two recently handed a one-month ban after testing positive in a doping test for banned substance trimetazidine (TMZ). That decision received criticism from some quarters of the tennis community who demanded a more uniform reaction for all players who are involved in such controversies.

Swiatek was recently quoted in a report, where she talked in detail about her reaction after hearing the news of her positive dope test. The five-time Grand Slam winner, who won one major title in 2024, stated that she cried like someone died. She also went on to state that she was lucky to be not alone during that phase, which started after she received an email informing her about the development.

"My reaction was very violent,” she said. “It was a mixture of incomprehension and panic. There was a lot of crying. My managers said that my reaction was as if someone had died or something serious had happened to their health. I am glad that I was not alone, because I could give them my phone and show them what happened. It was an email. We get notifications by email and text message when there is a problem or when we need to fill in something in the documents. I opened the message and thought it was a notification that players automatically receive when they need to do something. But this time it turned out that the email was much more serious. Generally, I was not able to read it to the end, because I was already in tears.”