The new Wimbledon champion accepted a one-month suspension last year after a positive test for trimetazidine, despite having deemed to have had no significant fault or negligence, because it stemmed from contamination through the use of sleep medication, and she admitted the treatment she received from fans and the stigma surrounding the ban took a toll.

She told The Times newspaper: “There wasn’t a month where I wouldn’t be judged, and that translated on to the behaviour of audience members.

"In Madrid, we had supporters shouting toward my box that I should fire somebody, so it really wasn’t easy.

“I would venture out on to the court in a sense trying to prove that everything is fine, instead of playing for myself and taking joy in tennis.

“Reading that I’m falling apart, ‘diagnoses’ of depression, calls for my team to be fired, were all a bit too much.”

Iga credits working with psycologistt Daria Abramowicz - who she first worked with in 2019 - and their almost daily conversations for helping her to finally move on.

She said: "Failures on clay, including in Rome, where I totally underperformed, were a cold shower, allowing me to shake it off and understand that dwelling in the past is not the way forward.

“I knew that I’m not thinking about tennis while on court the way I should, that my thoughts are chipping away at my confidence, making it so that I’m sometimes fighting myself, not the opponent.

“Before the Wimbledon final, I would fall asleep thinking about raising the trophy. She helped me with my expectations before tournaments.”

During tournaments, the sportswoman takes time out with Lego and books.

She said: “Reading is how I rest. Often, during tournaments, that’s all I do.”