Iga Swiatek and Jannik Sinner doping cases expose trust issues for tennis

Tennis’ biggest drugs problem may not be the drugs themselves. Instead, it revolves around trust.

Mere months after revelations that men’s world No.1 Jannik Sinner twice tested positive for clostebol, the sport is reeling again after five-time grand slam champion Iga Swiatek took to Instagram to reveal she, too, had failed a drugs test.

Iga Swiatek is the latest big-name tennis player to fail a drugs test. Credit: AELTC/Getty Images

Like Sinner, Swiatek received a provisional suspension before appealing inside 10 days, meaning the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) did not immediately divulge her result.

The World Anti-Doping Agency does not mandate announcing provisional suspensions, leaving it up to sporting bodies to decide whether to do so. Tennis actually does, except when there is an appeal in those circumstances.

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