Daily Times

World number two Iga Swiatek said on Friday she was ready to put a drugs scandal behind her, insisting there was no reason for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to appeal against her case.

The 23-year-old Pole tested positive for the heart medication trimetazidine (TMZ) in an out-of-competition sample in August when she was ranked number one. However, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) accepted that the violation was not intentional and she escaped with a one-month sanction that saw her miss three tournaments in Asia and lose her top ranking.

News of the saga only emerged in late November and she will play her first tournament since then at the mixed-teams United Cup in Sydney ahead of the Australian Open next month.

Swiatek said that, while the incident had been “mentally tough”, the public response had been generally positive, allaying fears that she would be ostracised.

“I think people, most of them, are understanding,” said the five-time Grand Slam champion.

“And the ones who read the documents and are aware of how the system works, they know that I had no fault and I had no influence on what was going on.

“I try to just go on with my life and focus on different things, focus on preparing for the season and on tennis, because this is the best thing you can do after a case like that,” she said.

Her case is similar to that of Italian men’s world number one Jannik Sinner.

He was exonerated by the ITIA for twice testing positive for traces of the steroid clostebol in March. But WADA appealed against the decision in September and he is awaiting the outcome.

Swiatek said she does not anticipate WADA will follow the same path with her.