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Iga Swiatek Shakes Up PR Team Amid Doping Controversy

Iga Swiatek has changed her public relations manager after almost four years.

Pat Benson

Iga Swiatek has changed her public relations team after almost four years.
Iga Swiatek has changed her public relations team after almost four years. / IMAGO / NurPhoto

WTA World No. 2 Iga Swiatek continues to make changes to her team in the last few months of 2024. After almost four years, Swiatek has parted ways with her Public Relations Manager, Paula Wolecka.

According to a statement from the Polish public relations agency PRoto, this was a previously planned change in Swiatek's management team. Additionally, Daria Sulgostowska became Iga's new Public Relations Manager.

Wolecka released a statement saying, "Almost four years of cooperation with Iga was an unforgettable adventure for someone passionate about sports, and at the same time a completely unique professional challenge.

I will remember with particular warmth all the charity and social projects that made this joint work bring about a positive change in the world. I wish Iga and the entire team good luck in further development, and I myself am creating a place in my professional life for something new, outside the PR industry."

Meanwhile, Sulgostowska said in a statement, "Joining the team of Iga Swiatek, a person who sets sports and social standards, is an incredible distinction. As someone who has always been passionate about sports, especially tennis, and who also deals professionally with communication, I appreciate and greatly respect the image work done by the entire team so far.

I treat being a part of it as an expression of trust, for which I am very grateful. I took on this new challenge with great joy, with the aim of further developing not only Iga's unique personal brand, but also promoting the values ​​that accompany it and that it represents."

Sulgostowska is a tennis coach, she is also a member of the board of the Polish Tennis Association, where she is responsible for international cooperation, and is a member of the Gender Equality Tennis Europe Committee.

The shake-up comes amid the biggest public relations crisis of Swiatek's young career. Last Thursday, news broke that Swiatek had received a one-month doping ban after a positive drug test in August before the Cincinnati Open.

Swiatek and her team quietly worked behind the scenes with the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) and Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for months to sort through the situation.

Swiatek missed the entire Asia Swing of the 2024 WTA season due to a provisional suspension and used the opportunity to shake up her coaching staff. In early October, Swiatek abruptly parted ways Tomasz Wiktorowski after the three most successful years of her career.

A few weeks later, Swiatek hired Naomi Osaka's ex-coach, Wim Fissette. The five-time Grand Slam champion returned to the court in November for the WTA Finals and then the Billie Jean King Cup finals.

Swiatek has already served 22 days of the suspension while the process was ongoing. She has just eight more days to serve and will be eligible to play in the first Grand Slam of the new season, the Australian Open, which starts on January 12, 2025.

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Pat Benson
PAT BENSON

Pat Benson covers the sneaker industry for Sports Illustrated's FanNation. Previously, he has reported on the NBA, authored "Kobe Bryant's Sneaker History (1996-2020)," and interviewed some of the biggest names in the sports world. You can email him at 1989patbenson@gmail.com.

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