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Aryna Sabalenka breaks silence on arch-rival Iga Swiatek’s doping controversy, criticises fans for ‘overreacting’
WTA World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka shared her opinion on arch-rival Iga Swiatek's doping controversy.
Controversy hit women’s tennis recently as Iga Swiatek finished serving a one-month doping ban. The Polish star had tested positive for a prohibited substance in an out-of-competition sample in August, but her defence was accepted by the ITIA. The ITIA accepted Swiatek’s defence that the result was positive due to contamination of a regular non-prescription medicine melatonin, which was manufactured and sold in her native country Poland. Swiatek received support from many current players, but also got some mixed reactions.
World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka broke her silence on the doping controversy in a diplomatic manner. Speaking to The National, she said, “People are really used to overreacting before figuring stuff out, so I don’t want to leave any comments. I believe in clean sport and nothing else I can add.”
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Sabalenka overthrew Swiatek from the No. 1 spot in September this year, and has been in that position since then.
The banned substance which Swiatek reportedly consumed was trimetazidine. She was handed a low penalty, and missed three tournaments. Going into 2025, she will look to retain her no. 1 spot from Sabalenka, but it will be a tough task.
She has held that position for a total of 125 weeks, which puts her in seventh position on the all-time list for number of weeks spent as No. 1. She has clinched the French Open title four times, and is also a US Open champion.
She also bagged bronze at the Paris Olympics this year. She is the only tennis player representing Poland to win a major singles title. In total, she has bagged 22 singles titles, which also includes the 2023 WTA Finals. She has won the French Open at four of her six appearances at the grand Slam event, having never crashed to a defeat before the fourth round.
