Iga Swiatek’s Doping Scandal Prompt Strong Defense From Ex-WTA Pro With a Perfect Lance Armstrong Reference

All’s well that ends well. After days of making the headlines for all the wrong reasons, Iga Swiatek’s doping controversy is finally behind her. The Pole has been cleared of all the charges after serving her 1-month ban. While some were in favor of Swiatek being let off of a harsh penalty, some felt that there was bias in her case. However, former WTA star, Alexandra Stevenson, was the latest expert to side with Swiatek.

During the December 9th episode of the Serving Aces podcast, Stevenson sat down with Hugues Laverdière to discuss topics ranging from the current season to the controversies that went by. Among them was Swiatek’s doping case and her one month drug ban. While talking on this, the former WTA star defended Swiatek by giving an example of Lance Armstrong, the American former professional road racing cyclist.

She said, “If you think about if you’re really cheating at the highest level, you’re going to know how to not test positive. That’s it. Look at Lance Armstrong, right?” For context, Armstrong’s case was a major doping scandal in the history of sports. In 2012, the American cyclist was found guilty of taking performance-enhancing drugs and was banned for life. Additionally, he was also stripped of seven Tour de France titles and one Olympic medal. Later, he confessed to taking the banned substances.

She added, “So think of the players that actually might be taking something, but they’re not going to test because they know how to cycle in and then cycle out. So exactly this Swiatek test, come on, melatonin. First of all, I want to know she’s saying this melatonin is like she takes it all the time. Why is Iga having so much trouble sleeping, and why is she taking melatonin all the time?”

Laverdière added, “I think she is like a little anxious…stuff in life, you can see..on the court. We can feel it. She is a confident tennis player, but as a person maybe she is like concerned about stuff.” Stevenson added, “Well, I take melatonin, I wake up the next morning and i m so tired.” She humorously added, “so I m impressed she can take melatonin, and like go out and win matches the next morning. That knocks you out.”

Amid this doping controversy, Swiatek found it difficult to cope with the situation. As a result, her emotions were all over the place and she shared harrowing details of her reaction to the news about failing the doping test.

Iga Swiatek couldn’t control her emotions amid a failed doping test

Swiatek’s blood sample was found to contain an extremely low level of the banned substance, trimetazidine. While she did admit her innocence, Swiatek was banned for 1 month by the ITIA. Subsequently, she accepted the punishment but had to go through tough times.

Revealing details about it, she said, “I had a very violent reaction. It was a mix of disbelief and panic; I cried a lot. I couldn’t read the email to the end because I was already in tears. The people with me said that my reaction was as if someone had died.” Swiatek was notified about her failed doping test via Email and she found it tough to read it.

Nonetheless, Swiatek was grateful to have earned enough money to spend on her defense. “I was fortunate enough to have already earned a lot of money and could spend it on my defense without a second thought. I know many athletes do not have these opportunities,” she stated.

After days of uncertainty, the doping controversy is finally behind Swiatek. She can now concentrate on her on-court activities and will look to give it her all during the Australian Open Down Under, which is coming up in a few weeks.