Iga Swiatek not proud of Indian Wells ball boy incident

Swiatek has not reached a final this year, with her last title coming at the French Open last June.

She added she was “not comfortable explaining myself” but wanted to share her perspective “to stop the speculation and baseless theories”.

“When I’m highly focused and don’t show many emotions on court, I’m called a robot, my attitude labelled as inhuman,” she said.

“Now that I’m more expressive, showing feelings or struggling internally, I’m suddenly labelled immature or hysterical.

“That’s not a healthy standard – especially considering that just six months ago, I felt my career was hanging by a thread, spent three weeks crying daily, and didn’t want to step on the court.

“Today, after everything I’ve been through, I’m still processing and coming to terms with those experiences.”

Swiatek tested positive for the heart medication trimetazidine (TMZ) in August, when she was world number one.

The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) accepted the test result was caused by contamination.

She missed three tournaments during her ban, with Aryna Sabalenka ultimately replacing her at the top of the world rankings in October.

Swiatek will be the second seed at the Miami Open, which begins on Tuesday.