Tennis really didn’t need that. Shaken by a first case of doping and suspension concerning his world number 1 among men Jannik Sinner, Iga Swiatek, the queen of the little yellow ball for women for three years now, also finds herself under the spotlight spotlights. The four-time winner of Roland-Garros was suspended for one month for testing positive for a banned substance, trimetazidine.
“Our sport is cooked,” lamented Nick Kyrgios on social networks. Since the announcement of his suspension, reactions have multiplied. “Don’t tweet… Don’t tweet… Don’t tweet…” Corentin Moutet suggested to his fans. Between the opacity of controls and suspensions, and the unfairness in case-by-case treatment, the yellow ball finds itself, in fact, facing the same problems as when the Sinner case was revealed.
An affair hidden from the general public
Controlled on August 12, three days before her entry into contention in Cincinnati, the Pole was provisionally suspended from September 12 to October 4, in the greatest secrecy. The 23-year-old player cited muscle fatigue, personal problems and a change in her staff to justify her withdrawals during this time. “I was not able to express myself on the issue for two or three months. Now, I can and I want to be transparent,” explained the world number 2 on her social networks upon the announcement of her definitive one-month suspension of which she must only serve eight days.
This secret takes shape in the very functioning of tennis in its fight against doping. The little yellow ball has decided to have its own institution, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), which meets the rules of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) but without directly depending on it. Established in 2021 at the initiative of the tournament organizations (ATP, WTA, ITF and Grand Slams), the ITIA has decided to set its own rules in its Tennis Anti-Doping Program (TADP).
“It’s the only sport where there is a body specific to a discipline,” Jean-Pierre Verdy, director of controls at the French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD) from 2006 to 2015, told us last August. It’s a separate sport but no one says anything. Tennis is an anomaly. We close our eyes to the beauty of this sport but the hidden side is terrible. »
Result: any player who has appealed his provisional suspension within ten days of his notification has the right, if his appeal is accepted, to have his suspension not made public. Iga Swiatek was therefore able to resume competition at the WTA Masters and the Billie Jean King Cup without anyone having the slightest knowledge of the events. Intriguing.
An “unfair” suspension thanks to its status
If the timing of the announcement of his suspension may be surprising, three months later – almost exactly like Jannik Sinner – the positive test, it is the lightness of the sanction which raises questions. Iga Swiatek was able to benefit from the leniency of the ITIA by proving contamination of melatonin, a substance she took to better recover from jet lag. For some, his status as world number 1 at the time would have influenced the leniency of the authorities towards him.
“I wonder why such a difference in treatment and judgment. I cannot find and I do not think that there can be a logical answer,” regretted Simona Halep, suspended for four years for a positive test. The Romanian had seen her sanction reduced to nine months by also proving the same hypothesis of contamination. “I have suffered, I am suffering and perhaps I will always suffer from the injustice done to me. How is it possible that in identical cases happening around the same time, the ITIA has completely different approaches to my detriment? », asks the 33-year-old player, who has fallen back to 877th in the world.
“It’s not fair that Halep and other players have had very long bans for similar things. (…) Guys like Ymer (suspended for three no-shows) are still suspended even though he has never tested positive,” added Denis Shapovalov on his X account (ex-Twitter).
The German Eva Lys, 133rd in the world, took the example of her friend Tara Moore, suspended 19 months before seeing an independent court also accept the thesis of contamination by an infected piece of meat in America from the South: “Why wasn’t Tara Moore suspended for a month?” I’m starting to come to the conclusion that not everyone goes through this process on an equal footing. »
“There are a lot of lower ranked players who are not treated the same as those at the top of the rankings. I’m not saying that everyone is innocent, I’m saying that everyone deserves equal opportunities,” the German proclaimed on her social networks.
there are alot of lower ranked players, that are not getting the same treatment as „higher ranked“ players. im not saying someone is/ or is not innocent, im saying that everyone deserves equal opportunities.
— Eva Lys (@evalys_) November 28, 2024
In short, a slew of complaints about the handling of the case. But the matter might not end there, if the World Anti-Doping Agency decides to get involved. “WADA will carefully examine this decision and reserves the right to appeal,” warned a spokesperson for the world body, which has 21 days to do so from receipt of the complete file. In the event of an appeal, as it has already done for Sinner, WADA would once again confront tennis with one of its scourges: its incomprehensible fight against doping.
