Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek capped off a trophy-filled 2024 not with celebrations but with a battle to salvage their reputations after receiving light sanctions for failing drug tests, sparking widespread controversy.
The tennis community was rocked by these revelations, with many expressing outrage over how the cases were managed by the authorities.
Both players and commentators criticized the anti-doping regime for what they perceived as a glaring case of favoritism, arguing that Sinner and Swiatek, who were both world No. 1 at the time of their positive tests, had been given special treatment.
Sinner, after testing positive twice for trace amounts of the anabolic steroid clostebol in March, faced sleepless nights worrying about a potential career-halting ban. He was eventually exonerated by an independent tribunal that accepted his claim of accidental contamination.
Yet, as he steps into the 2025 season, Sinner faces the shadow of a possible two-year suspension, with the World Anti-Doping Agency appealing the decision to the sport's highest court.
"It's in the head a little bit," Sinner admitted. "The most important thing is the people who are around me, who know me as a human being, trust me.
"That's also why I kept playing at the level I did. I was emotionally a bit down, a bit heartbroken. Sometimes life gives you difficulties, and you just have to deal with it."
Sinner captured his first two Grand Slam titles at the Australian Open and U.S. Open to split the majors with Carlos Alcaraz.
Sinner also won the ATP Finals trophy before masterminding Italy's successful Davis Cup defense.
Triumphs in Rotterdam, Miami, Halle, Cincinnati, and Shanghai meant Sinner had more titles than his six defeats, but the doping saga put an asterisk on a stunning season in which he sparked a seismic shift atop the men's game to shut out Novak Djokovic.
'Stress, anxiety'
On the women's tour, Swiatek dazzled with five titles, including her fourth French Open trophy, but was leapfrogged to the top ranking by Australian Open and U.S. Open winner Aryna Sabalenka and ended the season with a month-long ban.
The Pole tested positive for trimetazidine, but authorities accepted it was caused by contamination of her sleep medication, melatonin, prompting 2019 Wimbledon champion Simona Halep to slam doping authorities after she had to battle to have her own ban reduced from four years to nine months.
"Both me and my team had to deal with tremendous stress and anxiety. Now everything has been carefully explained, and with a clean slate, I can go back to what I love most," Swiatek said.
There were pleasant surprises, too, as Barbora Krejcikova won her second major at Wimbledon, Zheng Qinwen bagged Olympic gold, Coco Gauff wore the WTA Finals crown in its new home of Riyadh, and Jasmine Paolini led Italy to Billie Jean King Cup glory.
Golden games
Perhaps no triumph meant more to a player than Novak Djokovic winning Olympic gold. The 37-year-old recovered after tamely losing to Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final to outlast the Spaniard in the Paris Games showpiece.
The victory reduced the Serb to an emotional wreck on the Roland Garros clay, and once he managed to come up for air, he described the feat as his "greatest achievement."
With a career Grand Slam in the bag, the 24-time major champion will now look to eclipse Margaret Court's haul under the guidance of old rival and new coach Andy Murray, who ended his glorious career in Paris after an emotional farewell at Wimbledon.
There were more tears as 22-time major champion Rafael Nadal joined Murray in retirement, leaving Djokovic as the last active member of the "Big Four" that also included Roger Federer.
Nadal will be confident that the sport is in good hands, as heir apparent Alcaraz cemented his spot in the all-surface elite with magnificent French Open and Wimbledon wins to emerge as Sinner's main challenger.