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Iga Swiatek is ready to mount a challenge at the Australian Open, unconcerned about her doping scandal that casts a shadow over her grand slam campaign.
Iga Swiatek has declared herself primed to mount another Australian Open assault.
Any concerns about Swiatek's form were allayed after the world No.2 carried Poland to a quarter-finals berth at the United Cup with wins in the women's singles and mixed doubles against Czechia in Sydney.
Swiatek may have arrived under the glare of a doping scandal following a one-month suspension, but the 23-year-old showed no signs of any off-season rust at Ken Rosewall Arena on Wednesday.
First defeating Karolina Muchova 6-3 6-4 to level the tie following Hubert Hurkacz's 7-5 3-6 6-4 loss to Tomas Machac in the men's singles, Swiatek joined forces with Hurkacz to finish off the job and secure a 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 triumph over Muchova and Machac.
Team Poland's triumph on New Year's day ensures Swiatek will have at least one more singles match under her belt ahead of the AO.
Before her emphatic 6-1 6-0 drubbing of Norway's Malene Helgo earlier in the week, Swiatek had not played a tour match since her November exit from the WTA Finals.
Still, the tennis ace is confident she wouldn't have needed more game time had Poland been knocked out in the group stages.
Asked what their preparation looked like for the AO, Hurkacz first answered: "Me, definitely, I need some matches, so thank you Iga for collecting all the points for team Poland".
Swiatek then replied: "Well, I don't need extra matches but I'll keep pushing for you."
The five-time grand slam champion was slapped with the one-month suspension in November after returning a positive test for the angina medication trimetazidine, which the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) accepted was caused by contamination of a medicine she was taking for jet lag.
Believing her doping run-in was an open-and-shut case, Swiatek has turned her attentions back to the court.
"To play well in a grand slam, you have to take care of everything," Swiatek said.
"The tournament is two weeks long, so it's not like you can really peak at one point.
"Physically for sure, you need time after this event to recover a bit and to start the tournament fresh.
"But also, when we go to Melbourne, we need to get used to the conditions, the pressure of the grand slam, for sure. It's the first one this year.
"We need to get back to this feeling and remember how it was dealing with them.
"There's a lot to work on."
