It turns out that those positive tests maybe weren’t unfortunate after all
Iga Swiatek received a one-month ban after a positive test for the prohibited substance trimetazidine. Photo: Angel Martinez / Getty
On the few occasions I took myself out of the tour’s rat race and mixed with non-tennis folk, I would sometimes get a startling insight into their lack of understanding of the physical demands of professional tennis and the fine margins between players. ‘I guess steroids don’t really help much in tennis,’ they would say, ‘it’s more of a skill-based, touch sport.’ That is a naivety on a par with the soccer fans who argue that their sport is clean as ‘there is no drug to improve your first touch.’ The reality is that if you are on court slugging groundstrokes for four hours, day after day, there are some drugs that would certainly help you get to where you want to go.