Coco Gauff firmly believes that Iga Swiatek's confidence has not dropped in the aftermath of her doping case ahead of the Australian Open.

Swiatek served a one-month suspension towards the end of the 2024 season after being found of "no significant fault" for a positive drug test, which occurred in August 2024.

She initially served a three-week suspension after her positive test for TMZ, which was overturned on appeal, and then served one more week to complete her ban in November.

The Pole successfully argued that she had accidentally been contaminated with the substance, due to a factory error through the melatonin medication she had taken.

Upon her return to action, Swiatek was beaten 6-3 6-4 by Gauff at the WTA Finals, an event the American would go on to win for the very first time in Saudi Arabia.

Gauff has since beaten Swiatek again at the United Cup, downing the five-time major winner 6-4 6-4, to help the United States defeat Poland in the final.

Those triumphs were just the second and third for Gauff over the Pole, who had previously won 11 of their 12 meetings beforehand.

Many have questioned if Swiatek was playing with the same level of belief in the aftermath of the controversy, but Gauff insists she is still operating at a high level.

"I wouldn't say she's dropped her confidence," Gauff said. "For me, I don't know her personally well, but just from the interactions that we've had, I definitely don't think anything she did was intentional.

"I feel like I don’t think she was maybe – I mean, like I found out with the rest of the world. I don't think she is not confident in herself.

"She's playing great tennis. The match we played, I just happened to be a little better that day, maybe won a few points. It could have easily gone the other way.

"I think she's fine. I don't know her well enough to tell you if she feels some type of way about it. I can just say from what I see I think she's doing fine.

"She's still No. 2 in the world and playing amazing tennis. She's always going to play amazing tennis, so, yeah, I think she'll be fine."