“It just sucks” - Andy Roddick makes his feelings known on Iga Swiatek's 'unfortunate' doping controversy

Andy Roddick recently shared his thoughts on Iga Swiatek's doping controversy. Swiatek tested positive for trimetazidine in August ahead of the 2024 Cincinnati Open.

This prohibited substance was found in Swiatek's system due to contamination from a regulated non-prescription melatonin medication. She was provisionally suspended but after appealing to the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), she was ultimately found to have 'No Significant Fault or Negligence.' Despite this, she still received a one-month suspension.

During a recent episode of his podcast, "Served with Andy Roddick," Roddick expressed that he wouldn't term Iga Swiatek testing positive for trimetazidine "doping" because the positive test was accidental, caused by contaminated melatonin pills.

“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,” Roddick said [4:47].

The former US Open champion described the situation as "unfortunate" for the World No.2 and simply stated that it 'sucks.'

“It's just unfortunate for her [Swiatek] 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,” he added [5:47].

Roddick mentioned that organizations like the ITIA and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) aim to prevent performance enhancement through drug use. He noted that if the scientists in the independent tribunals have determined that the prohibited substance did not enhance performance, then the public should not be concerned.

“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. Now if we’re foreseeing simply, if we're seeing all the scientists are telling us in the independent tribunals with people that know a lot more about all this c*ap, the people that knew what Clostebol was six months ago or four months ago, those types of people are saying well, it didn't enhance performance at all then why the f*ck do we care?” Andy Roddick said [6:36].

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Iga Swiatek after testing positive for trimetazidine: “It was a blow for me, this whole situation made me very anxious”

Iga Swiatek speaking to the media [Source: Getty]

Iga Swiatek took to social media to express her shock and disappointment over the positive test for the prohibited substance trimetazidine. She expressed that the news came as a "blow" and "shock" to her and the whole ordeal made her "anxious."

“It was a blow for me. I was shocked and this whole situation made me very anxious. At first, I couldn't understand how that was even possible and where it came from,” Iga Swiatek said.

Swiatek mentioned that neither she nor any member of her team had ever heard of trimetazidine before her positive test.

“It turns out testing revealed historically lowest levels of trimetazidine, a substance I've never heard about before. I don't think I even knew it existed, I have never encountered it, nor did people around me,” she added.

Iga Swiatek will miss playing for Poland at the 2025 United Cup due to her one-month ban. She is expected to kick off her 2025 season at the Australian Open, which is scheduled to take place after the United Cup.