Swiatek tested positive for trimetazidine, a banned metabolic agent, on August 12 ahead of the Cincinnati Open.
On November 28, it was announced by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) that Swiatek had received a one-month suspension as it was deemed she carried “no significant fault or negligence.”
The five-time Grand Slam champion also had to forfeit the 390 ranking points and $159,000 she earned for reaching the semi-finals in Cincinnati.
The ITIA accepted Swiatek’s explanation that the substance entered her body due to the contamination of non-prescription medication she had been using for jet lag and sleep issues.
The 23-year-old Pole was provisionally suspended from September 12 to October 4, meaning she had already served 22 days of her ban on the day the news emerged. She was forced to miss WTA 1000 events in Beijing and Wuhan during the suspension period.
The world No 2 returned to action at the WTA Finals in Riyadh at the start of November before ending her season at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in Malaga. Swiatek is now free to play as she has served the month’s suspension.
“Well, because she’s from Poland, that’s why it only took a month,” the two-time Grand Slam champion told Golazo.
“They don’t give up, they’re not suckers like us. That’s why. That’s the difference.
“We (Romania) are the third world, Poland is in the good world. She must have said it wasn’t intentional, right?
“It’s ugly [that] Halep should get two (four) years in the first instance, and the Polish woman one month…”
Halep was given a four-year ban from tennis in September last year after testing positive for the banned blood doping agent Roxadustat at the 2022 US Open.
In March, the Romanian’s ban was reduced to nine months following her appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
This allowed the two-time Grand Slam winner to return to tennis with immediate effect as she had already served more than nine months of her ban, having been sidelined since her positive test in August 2022.
