The doping controversy surrounding Iga Swiatek has divided the tennis world into two halves. While some have backed the Pole amid massive criticism, some feel that she was let off even after testing positive for a banned substance. However, weeks later, the controversy refused to die down as former World Number 1, Simona Halep, made a staggering revelation that highlights the biases of the authorities in the decision-making.

A couple of years back, Halep also tested positive and was banned for a period of four years. Although her punishment was reduced to nine months, it cast a dark shadow on her career. On the contrary, Swiatek faced just a month’s ban and missed a handful of tournaments. While the reason cited by the authorities was that Swiatek’s sample contained extremely low levels of the banned substance, Halep believed that Swiatek was let off because she was a high-profile player.

Feeling the injustice of being treated differently to Swiatek, Halep, during an interview with The Telegraph, said, “The woman player – I don’t want to give name, you know about who I’m talking about – she had the three-week suspension, then she played two events, and then she gets again suspension. What is this? I mean, I don’t understand. So I feel it is not fair.”

However, this isn’t the first time that Halep spoke on Swiatek’s doping controversy. Last week, she took to social media and slammed the ITIA for the biases in decision-making in her and Swiatek’s case. She said, “I have always believed in good, I have believed in the fairness of this sport, I have believed in kindness. The injustice that was done to me was painful, is painful, and maybe will always be painful. How is it possible that in identical cases that happened at about the same time (of the season), ITIA has completely different approaches, to my detriment?”

Amid the doping controversy, Swiatek found the support of American legend, Andy Roddick. He called out the critics who termed Swiatek’s failed tests as ‘doping.’

Andy Roddick backs Iga Swiatek amid the doping controversy

Earlier today, Swiatek was cleared of doping charges after her suspension ended. The ITIA, in its statement, had said that she carried “no significant fault or negligence,” after she was suspended for just 1 month. Meanwhile, Andy Roddick was upset at the level of attention the case had been getting as Swiatek’s sample contained only a minute trace of the banned substance and it couldn’t be termed as doping, according to him.

Roddick revealed, “I can’t call it doping. It’s like taking a melatonin for jet lag at 2:30 in the morning in Cincy and having… think about how many things had to go wrong for Iga Swiatek to get popped for melatonin and something that was contaminated. It’s just unfortunate for her obviously. A negative test in Paris at the Olympics, negative tests in New York. So this isn’t some ongoing thing. It just sucks. It just sucks ’cause the headlines people will say, the dumbest people in our sports, ‘Ah, doping!’”

With the doping controversy behind her now, Swiatek would look to put her focus back on the court now. Swiatek would aim to reclaim the top spot in the WTA rankings with a positive start to the 2025 season.