The Polish tennis player appeared on the TV Program Fakty po Faktach on December 7 to talk about her case, where she revealed how much she spent to clear her name. The former World No.1 said “I spent about $70,000 on a lawyer, €15,000 on expert opinions and tests. On top of that, there was also the loss of the financial prize for Cincinnati, but – to be honest – it didn’t matter to me. The most important thing was to prove my innocence.”
The case has got everyone talking. In the most recent episode of Serving Aces, released today, Alexandra Stevenson and Hugues Laverdiere discussed the case and Swiatek’s subsequent one-month ban. They further debated as to why the doping organizations should form better rules so that the players and the public aren’t left confused.
On Iga Swiatek’s financial revelation, Stevenson said, “She’s number 1 in the world. Obviously, she can afford $ 70,000, but what about somebody else that isn’t one in the world? How are they going to afford that? That’s way too expensive. She said and obviously I’m gonna pay it because I’m innocent. So he is going to pay it and she is gonna do it. How much did Sinner pay?
“I am sure that Sinner paid way more $70,000. How much did Sharapova pay? Simona Halep has come out and said ‘this is so unfair’. Look how long her ban was. But then WADA came out and said Swaitek’s ban and Swiatek’s did is opposite of what Halep did. It’s confusing to the players, the whole Tour, the world, the fans,”
Case in point, Nicolas Jarry and Barbora Strýcová. Jarry, an ATP player who is ranked 89th, failed the doping test at the David Cup finals in 2020. He was served an 11-month ban even though the International Tennis Federation (ITF ) ruled that he “bore no significant fault or negligence for his violation.” Similar to Swiatek, he had also ingested a contaminated pill which led to him testing positive. Barbora Strycova faced a similar situation as well, where she was handed a 6-month ban for doping via contamination.
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