Two much dope talk!

World No. 1 Sinner and No. 2 Swiatek’s failed drug tests last year are main talking points in build-up to Aus Open

It’s a topic that shadowed tennis in 2024 and is still a talking point as the 2025 Grand Slam season opens at the Australian Open on Sunday — the doping cases involving Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek.

Both spent much of last year at No. 1, and Sinner still will hold that spot at this Australian Open, one of two major trophies he won over the past 12 months.

Negative comments

Swiatek, a five-time Slam champ and the woman leading the WTA rankings most of the past three seasons, is currently No. 2 behind Aryna Sabalenka. “Obviously, there will be some negative comments You’re not going to avoid that,” Swiatek said. 

Most current players prefer to remain silent when asked about the cases, but there are those who have spoken, including 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic, raising questions about whether Sinner and Swiatek were treated the same as other players facing similar circumstances and why their situations were kept under wraps for months.

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“I sit and wonder, Why such a big difference in treatment and judgment. I can’t find, and I don’t think there can be, a logical answer,” was two-time major champion Simona Halep’s reaction to Swiatek’s punishment. Halep initially was banned for four years after testing positive for the banned drug Roxadustat at the 2022 US Open. She had that penalty reduced to nine months on appeal, although she already had been off the tour longer than that. 

No one has been louder about the subject lately than Nick Kyrgios, the 2022 Wimbledon runner-up, who missed nearly all of the past two seasons due to injuries. “It’s been handled horrifically in our sport. Two World No. 1s, both getting done for doping, is disgusting for our sport. It’s a horrible look,” Kyrgios said at the Brisbane International.

Sinner in top form

Sinner dominated last year, and there’s little reason to think that won’t continue. In 2024, he went 73-6 with eight titles, including at US Open, and led Italy to the Davis Cup. He heads into the Australian Open on a 14-match winning streak. Hanging over it all is this: Two positive tests for a trace of an anabolic steroid in March were made public in August; the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) felt he shouldn’t be suspended because the exposure to Clostebol was considered accidental — the result of a massage from a trainer who used the substance after cutting his own finger. The World Anti-Doping Agency was not convinced about the exoneration and thinks a ban of one to two years would be appropriate. Its appeal, lodged in September, is still pending, and a final determination is expected after the Australian Open ends.

Meanwhile, Swiatek accepted a one-month suspension in November after testing positive for banned heart medication TMZ. She failed an out-of-competition test in August, and the ITIA accepted her explanation that it was caused by the contamination of a nonprescription medication, melatonin, she was taking for jet lag and sleeping issues. Swiatek missed three tournaments, although the real reason wasn’t revealed at the time — and finished serving her punishment after the season was done.

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