“Other players tend to receive harsher punishments”: Karolina Pliskova critiques doping rulings involving Sinner and Swiatek

Former world No. 1 Karolina Pliskova has shared her thoughts on the doping cases of Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek, criticising the inconsistent verdicts handed out in such situations, particularly when involving high-profile players like the Italian and the Pole.

The 2-time Grand Slam finalist, who has been balancing her tennis career with coaching duties at her academy, recently worked with teenage sensation Brenda Fruhvirtova and her Swiss friend Jil Teichmann.

As the tennis world was shaken by the doping revelations surrounding Sinner and Swiatek, Pliskova opened up about her approach to avoiding contamination or unintentional doping. “It’s terribly unpleasant to go through something like that. You probably need to be extremely careful about what you consume,” she stated.

“I only took some vitamins, but these substances can likely be found in all kinds of meats or drinks nowadays. I always preferred to avoid taking anything I didn’t know about, even if it meant suffering a bit.”

Pliskova, however, voiced her disapproval of how the ITIA handled both cases. The former world No. 1 found it odd that verdicts in such cases seem inconsistent, especially when two of the year’s most prominent cases resulted in minimal penalties.

“I think we’ve seen two different approaches here. Players who aren’t exactly No. 1 or No. 2 in the world tend to receive harsher punishments than the top players. That shouldn’t be the case. We can talk about it here, but nothing will change,” Pliskova remarked.

Pliskova played her last tournament at the US Open in late August, where she reached the second round. However, she was forced to retire after just a few points against the 5th seed Jasmine Paolini due to injury. Since then, she has not returned to official competition.

Unfortunately for the Czech, her comeback will have to wait a few more months, as she confirmed she will miss the Australian Open and the WTA 1000 events in Dubai and Doha. “I thought I’d be playing in three months and heading to Australia, but now I don’t see that happening at all. But I’ll be happy to return in March,” Pliskova told Czech outlet Livesport.cz.