Just like Maria Sharapova and Simona Halep, Polish tennis star, Iga Swiatek has now been rattled by a doping controversy! Iga Swiatek tested positive for a banned substance (Trimetazidine) in August this year. She even incurred a provisional suspension on September 12, which was successfully appealed on September 22. However, on October 4, the provisional suspension was lifted and her ineligibility period will end tomorrow (i.e. December 4). We’ve seen mixed reactions from the tennis world on this, and guess what? Recently, American tennis legend, Serena Williams took an indirect dig at these WTA stars over their doping saga. What did she say?

In Iga Swiatek’s case, the ITIA accepted that it was caused due to the contamination of regulated non-prescription medication melatonin which is manufactured and sold in Poland. According to several reports, Swiatek took that for jet lag and sleep issues. Hence, her level of fault was considered to be at the lowest end of the range for “no significant fault or negligence.” After seeing this, we’ve seen players like Simona Halep highlighting the difference in treatment. For those who are unaware, Halep received a nine-month ban after testing positive for the banned substance (Roxadustat) at the 2022 US Open.

Even during that time, we saw Serena Williams couldn’t pass up the opportunity to make a comment about the suspension of her former rival, Simona Halep. She took to her X account, and wrote,  “8 is a better number.” Perhaps, that was a reference to the 2019 Wimbledon women’s singles final where Halep denied Serena Williams an eighth title. What did Williams say recently about these doping controversies on her recent IG Live? Well, the tennis legend was sharing a few lines on the hate she has received over the years, but then she jumped to that part. Williams said, “You know it’s so funny my whole career has been built around hater and I got so used to it that I actually laugh.”

She further went on to add, “But when I was growing up it wasn’t necessarily the public. It was actually the press that would say a lot of awful things that ‘Serena cheats, ‘Serena uses all kinds of stuff that other people aren’t using.’ People that just get caught all the time and you know I never did this stuff but it was a really different world.” Do you know, in 2018 Serena Williams accused anti-doping authorities of discrimination over how often she has been singled out for random dope testing?

However, in 2016 when Maria Sharapova announced that she tested positive for meldonium, a blood flow-promoting med that she had been taking for 10 years for various health issues, Serena Williams said Sharapova “showed a lot of courage” in taking responsibility for her failed dope test. She even added, “I think most people were happy she was upfront and very honest and showed a lot of courage to admit to what she had done and what she had neglected to look at in terms of the list at the end of the year.”

Will she issue any similar statement on Iga Swiatek‘s recent doping controversy? Time will tell! However, we’ve already got quite a lot of reactions coming in on this topic from the tennis world. Let’s take a look at some of these interesting comments.

Serena Williams’ former coach shares her thoughts on Taylor Fritz’s comment on “biased” reactions from the tennis world regarding these doping issues

Apart from Simona Halep, Canadian tennis star, Denis Shapovalov also looked a bit surprised with just a one-month ban for the world number 2! Another tennis star, Tara Moore directly put up a question mark by asking, “HOW WAS SHE ALLOWED TO PLAY WHILST BEING SUSPENDED?” Then others like Yevgeny Kafelnikov called out for a lifetime ban on players who failed dope tests. Aussie superstar, Nick Kyrgios also didn’t look too pleased with Iga Swiatek pleading her innocence on the doping saga.

However, American tennis star, Taylor Fritz took a different route! He recently shared his frustration with the biases in the tennis world. “What drives me CRAZY about these situations (in terms of going on X) is not the actual cases themselves…It’s tough to know exactly what happened/all the details in all of these specific instances, so the speculation talk isn’t really my favorite thing to do,” said Fritz.

He further added, “If it’s a rival of the player you support that tests positive then you are on team ‘let’s call them a doper/cheater/disgrace them as much as possible,’ and if it’s your fav player that it’s about then it’s ‘innocent no questions asked.'” After seeing this reaction from Fritz, Serena Williams’ former coach, Rennae Stubbs responded to him saying, “This is really well said Taylor!” What are your thoughts on these reactions from the tennis stars? Share your view on Serena Williams‘ recent indirect jibe at the Sharapova, Halep, and Iga as well!