The coach of Iga Swiatek believes the tennis player shouldn’t have been given any form of suspension after failing an anti-doping test earlier this season.
Wim Fissette has called for a reform of the guidelines concerning a player testing positive for a small trace of a banned substance. Swiatek failed an out-of-competition test after the heart medication trimetazidine (TMZ) was detected in her sample. As a result, she was provisionally suspended from the sport for 22 days before successfully appealing against that decision after proving the source of her failed test was a contaminated medication called melatonin which is manufactured in Poland and is used to treat jet lag. A tribunal concluded that Swiatek had ‘No Significant Fault or Negligence’ but issued her with a one-month suspension which included the 22 days she was provisionally suspended.
News of Swiatek’s positive test wasn’t made public until after a hearing. According to the current rules, if a player makes a successful appeal within 10 days of being informed of their positive test, their case isn’t made public until the tribunal has conducted its investigation.
“I don’t think she should have been suspended at all,” Fissette said of Swiatek’s suspension during an interview with Rzeczpospolita.
“But even if it had come to that, the opportunity to work with someone like Iga was an obvious decision. I had no doubts.”
The Belgian was formally announced as Swiatek’s coach in October which was during the same time as her positive test. Fissette has a wealth of experience after previously working with Kim Clijsters, Angelique Kerber and Naomi Osaka who all won at least one Grand Slam title whilst working with him. Given his experience in the sport, he argues that there needs changes made to anti-doping rules to help prevent ‘innocent’ players from being placed in a ‘bad light.’
“There is a difference between taking a drug to improve results and detecting something extremely small in the blood,” he said.
“The technology today is simply very precise. The situation (with a contaminated drug) that Iga experienced could happen to anyone. The rules need to be changed.
“Tennis players have to be careful even about what they eat or who they shake hands with. It shouldn’t go that far. We have to catch those who take something and are not “clean”. We don’t want those who are innocent to be in a bad light.”
It is not the first time a figure in the sport has spoken out about this subject. During a recent interview with the AFP news agency, Russia’s Andrey Rublev said there needs to be ‘more understanding‘ when it comes to what he describes as ‘super strict‘ anti-doping rules. At the time, Rublev was speaking about Jannik Sinner’s ongoing case. The men’s world No.1 failed two drugs tests but managed to successfully appeal against his provisional suspension after the ITIA concluded he bore ‘no fault or negligence’ as it was a substance used by his former physio that contaminated him. However, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is appealing against this verdict because they view these findings as ‘not correct under the applicable rules”.
WADA is currently in the process of updating their 2027 World Anti-Doping Code and International Standards Process which will come into effect on January 1st that year. Section 10.5 mentions that there will be an ‘elimination of the Period of Ineligibility where there is No Fault or Negligence.’ Meanwhile, section 10.6 outlines ways an athlete’s Period of Ineligibility based on No Significant Fault or Negligence can be reduced, taking into account their degree of fault. These changes could have a big impact on cases similar to Swiatek and Sinner in the future. The code will be formally published next month after receiving approval from the relevant parties.
Swiatek is scheduled to begin her 2025 season at the United Cup in Australia.
