Over the later half of 2024, the world of professional tennis became torn by twin doping controversies around the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and Association of Tennis Players (ATP) top seeded players, Iga Swiatek of Poland and Jannik Sinner of Italy. Both players were found to have “no significant fault or negligence.” However, the saga continues well into the new year, with prize money, top rankings, and the integrity of the entire sport resting on its outcome.

Iga Swiatek, former world number 1 (now number 2) on the WTA tour, faced accusations of doping in November. She had tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine (TMZ) in mid September, but appealed the result as TMZ was found to be an ingredient of her melatonin, as opposed to Swiatek intentionally consuming the drug. She was given a one month ban, serving 22 days in September into October, and the rest in November into December.

This ban, however, has had a massive effect on Swiatek’s professional tennis career. Not only did she have to forfeit her prize money from the Cincinnati Open (where she lost in the semi-finals to current no.1 Aryna Sabalenka), but she also had to miss three tournaments, which, in the world of tennis, can make or break your game. In Swiatek’s case, it broke her ranking: dropping from no.1 to no.2, without the opportunity to cinch any more points until the new year. This makes 2024 the first time since 2021 that Swiatek has not finished the year ranked no.1 on the WTA tour.

Jannik Sinner, ranked 1st in the world on the ATP tour, was the first to be accused, receiving an anti-doping sanction on August 20th of this year. In March, he had tested positive twice for less than one-billionth of a gram of Clostebol, an anabolic steroid, which led to him losing both the points and the money from the Indian Wells tournament. However, the legality of the claims became muddled by Closetbol’s banned status in the United States, but over the counter availability in Sinner’s home country of Italy. The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) found that Sinner had not knowingly used the substance and it was instead the result of cross contamination from Sinner’s physiotherapist. Sinner was cleared of any wrongdoing, and went on to win the US Open.

However, things soon took a turn for the worse. In late September, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) submitted an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). They are seeking a one to two year suspension for Sinner. A ruling has not yet been made, as the court hearing will happen after the Australian Open in January, where it seems Sinner is on track to defend his world number 1 ranking.

Both Swiatek and Sinner have remained pretty quiet about the status of their doping bans and the effects of it. But the rest of the tennis world has been in shambles over the sudden, shocking accusations against two top players. Some remain quiet, wishing to keep the topic of doping far away from the sport, but many are frustrated by the situations of Swiatek and Sinner, and the effects of it on other players on both the WTA and ATP tours.

Nick Kyrgios has been particularly vocal on the doping cases, calling into question the integrity, fairness, and overall truths of the situations. Kyrgios, who has not played professionally since 2023 due to injury, now returns to a different game: younger players, fast-paced gameplay, a renewed public interest in the sport.

Kyrgios, during a press conference at the Brisbane International, was asked about the doping cases of Swiatek and Sinner, and did not have kind words. While the case of Swiatek was more straightforward and cleanly wrapped up, that of Sinner is not. Kyrgios touched on Sinner’s story specifically, calling into question how such a random slip-up could have happened.

"I (pay) my team hundreds and thousands of dollars to be the professionals they are, to make sure that doesn't happen. So they knew it happened,” Kyrgios suggested. “Why did they wait five to six months to do anything about it? He kept his team for five months ... that doesn't make sense. … He had the [physiotherapist] on his team for five months, acting like nothing happened."

He continued with a brazen statement, one that is, while harsh, not entirely wrong. Kyrgios said, "tennis integrity right now, and everyone knows it, but no one wants to speak about it, it's awful."

The day after Kyrgios’ statements on the doping accusations, his doubles partner and tennis great Novak Djokovic was also asked about the situation. He agreed with some of Kyrgios’ critiques, but made it clear that his concern lies not with the stories of the players themselves. Instead, Djokovic’s critiques were of the handling of the situations by the WTA, ATP, and various anti-doping authorities. He touched on the lack of transparency and consistency from the ITIA, saying, “Some players with lower rankings waiting for their case to be resolved for over a year. I’ve been really frustrated ... to see we’ve been kept in the dark for at least five months.”

Djokovic continued, speaking about the lack of communication specifically regarding Sinner’s case, saying “The ATP hasn’t really talked in depth about it. Why have they kept that case away from the public? We see Simona Halep’s case on the WTA Tour, now Iga Swiatek’s case.”

Simona Halep, another top WTA player, faced a lengthy, at times incompetent, battle with the ITIA. It began with a positive test for roxadustat at the 2022 US Open. She was provisionally suspended while waiting for a hearing, during which Halep claimed she unintentionally consumed the substance in a supplement. In May of 2023, the ITIA charged Halep with a second offence, this one for “irregularities” in her athlete biological passport (ABP).

This was just the beginning for Halep, who would lose years of playtime fighting the accusations of the ITIA. Finally, in September 2023, after many delays of her hearing, Halep was suspended for four years by the ITIA, though they backdated it to October of 2022. It was a significant blow for the returning player, and she would spend much time in the CAS attempting to appeal the ban. It finally came in March of 2024, when the CAS reduced her ban to a meager nine months, which Halep had already served from October 2022 to July 2023. Halep got back on the court, but had lost nearly a year due to bureaucratic mishandlings. Countless tournaments gone by, points passed, damage done to an otherwise shiny reputation.

Many questions loom large over players, coaches, officials, and fans alike. Will Swiatek be able to reclaim her no. 1 ranking? Will Sinner return to the court? And most pressing: is the integrity of this distinguished and beloved sport really up in the air?

Tennis, it seems, is in a sort of limbo. The greats: Serena Williams, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, have all retired. Only Novak Djokovic remains as a reminder of a bygone golden era of the sport. Now, tennis waits for its next champions, and it seems two of them have been put on pause.