As a result of the suspension, Swiatek, who describes himself as a “control freak”, has tightened his routines. Nowadays, she saves samples of medicine and preparations she takes – in case they need to be tested.
– Not having control over this case really scared me a bit, says Swiatek at a press conference ahead of the year’s first Grand Slam.
She was suspended for a month for testing positive for the banned substance trimetazidine, a substance commonly found in heart medicine. It later emerged that the former world number one ingested the substance via another medicine that had been contaminated.
– Right from the start it was obvious that something was contaminated because the level of this substance in my urine was so low that it must be contamination, says Swiatek.
Swiatek was temporarily suspended from September 12th but it was not announced until after the season in late November when there were a couple of days left on the suspension.
Stated “personal reasons”
The suspension was split on appeal into two rounds to allow her to play the WTA Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and the Billie Jean King Cup in Malaga in November.
Together with the team, the Pole pondered how to explain the drop-outs to the tournaments in Asia last fall.
– It was quite difficult. Like for the first tournament we chose to say ‘personal reasons’ because we honestly thought the ban would be lifted soon, says Swiatek.