Andy Roddick has defended Iga Swiatek over her ban for failing a doping test as he criticised punishing players in cases where performance could not have been enhanced.
It was announced on Thursday that Swiatek had tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine in August, shortly before the Cincinnati Open.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) announced in a statement that Swiatek had received a one-month suspension as it was deemed she carried “no significant fault or negligence.”
Swiatek was provisionally suspended from September 12 to October 4, which means the 23-year-old Polish star had already served 22 days of her ban on the day the news emerged.
Therefore, the five-time Grand Slam champion and world No 2 will be able to compete at her next two scheduled events: the United Cup and the Australian Open.
Iga Swiatek News
Swiatek & Sinner to Sharapova: 7 Grand Slam champion doping scandals
The 5 women with the longest winning streak on the WTA Tour in 2024: Iga Swiatek out in front
Speaking on the Served with Andy Roddick podcast, Roddick weighed in on Swiatek’s doping case.
“I can’t call it doping. It’s like taking a melatonin for jet lag at 2:30 in the morning in Cincy and having… think about how many things had to go wrong for Iga Swiatek to get popped for melatonin and something that was contaminated,” the 2003 US Open winner said.
“It’s just unfortunate for her obviously. A negative test in Paris at the Olympics, negative tests in New York. So this isn’t some ongoing thing. It just sucks. It just sucks ’cause the headlines people will say, the dumbest people in our sports, ‘Ah, doping!’
“I’ve taken melatonin before. Who’s to say ours weren’t contaminated and are we going to continue to clutch pearls about one billionth of a gram of something or contaminated melatonin that didn’t have any performance enhancement.
“What are we trying to solve with the ITIA and then to WADA, what are we trying to solve for? Performance enhancement. We want to stop performance with drugs.
