Fissette clears the air over Swiatek's doping scandal

Former world number one Iga Swiatek’s coach Wim Fissette has hit back at negative comments directed towards the player after the recent doping scandal. The 23-year-old is already regarded as one of the best players currently playing in women’s tennis, along with the likes of Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka.

Swiatek has been recently involved in a doping scandal after being tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine in an out-of-competition test. Following the positive result, the reigning world number two was handed a one-month ban. The decision received widespread criticism from a certain quarter of the tennis community, including some current and former players who demanded equal treatment for all players who are involved in such incidents.

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Former world number one Simona Halep, who was handed a three-year ban after testing positive in her doping test in the past, expressed surprise about why such a decision was taken in private. In contrast, he case was made public from day one.

"I stand and ask myself, why is there such a big difference in treatment and judgment?", she wrote in a post on her official account on the social media platform Instagram. "I can't find and I don't think there can be a logical answer. It can only be bad will from the ITIA, the organisation that has done absolutely everything to destroy me despite the evidence ... It was painful, it is painful and maybe the injustice that was done to me will always be painful."

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Iga Swiatek, on her sanction: "I would have preferred it to say 'not guilty', but it's nothing more than paperwork".

Swiatek’s coach Fissette has been recently quoted in a report where he hit back at those negative comments pointing towards the five-time Grand Slam winner. "There will always be people who will be negative, but I think that anyone who has read all the documents that Iga has provided and shown to the whole world, sees what happened,” he said. “And should understand that it was just bad luck. It can happen to any player. I think that those people who are negative about the case, we should ask a few questions about Iga's report and thus check whether they have actually read it.”