LONDON (AP) — Coco Gauff says she was brought to tears by a “pushy” anti-doping tester. Serena Williams called the system ” exhausting“
Protocols designed to keep tennis free from doping are under the spotlight as players recount their experiences of using the system following a four-year ban until 2023. Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova – not for a positive test result, but for I refuse to take the test.
Players must provide a 60-minute time slot each day to be available for testing, plus the International Tennis Integrity Agency says that if a doping control officer “detects and notifies a player outside of that hour, he must take a test.”
Naturally, there is a need for communication between players and testers.
“I’m not going to lie, some of them can be persistent, make you feel like you’re doing something wrong,” seventh seed Gauff said after her first-round win at Wimbledon.
“She went out of my time slot one day. But the way she talked to me on the phone afterwards literally made me cry,” said the 22-year-old American. “I found out I was right and I didn’t have to do anything.”
Ahead of their first round match on Tuesday Ayla Tomljanovic described her dangerous calls.
“I’m very afraid of the system because it seems broken,” she said. “I’ve had a few instances where it was technical issues and when I spoke to the people in charge, they weren’t helpful – I don’t want to say they didn’t care – but they weren’t very helpful at all in explaining things or just showing any compassion when I wasn’t close to missing a test or getting a positive result.”
The Australian said she needed help with how the app worked.
“I was new to the whole system. And within a month I had two failures, and I knew that if I accidentally got a third one, I would be out for at least two to three years,” she said. “In a way, I’m not saying it’s not my fault, but it’s not to the point where you get banned and your name is tarnished. In that sense, I think there’s some work to be done.”
Williams who makes her Wimbledon returns on Tuesdaysaid the testing system was “a big reason why I didn’t want to come back either, because it’s so difficult.”
Vondrousova case
The 27-year-old Czech tennis player, who became Wimbledon’s first unseeded women’s champion when she defeated Ons Jabeur in the 2023 final, refused to take a test in early December 2025 after a doping control officer called her apartment’s intercom at 8pm.
This month, after a hearing before an independent tribunal, Vondrousova received a maximum ban of four years for the first offence.
ITIA published video explainer In this case, claiming that Vondrousova disputed the timing of the test that evening because it was outside her assigned time slot.
The agency noted, “If a player is located and notified by a DCO or DCO after hours, he must submit to a test.”
Vondrusova described the tester as “aggressive” and said the frequent calls to the intercom “caused a state of distress,” the ITIA video said.
The tribunal’s June 22 decision confirmed that Vondrusova refused the test and that the evidence “did not provide a compelling basis for doing so.”
The ITIA added that under World Anti-Doping Agency rules, “refusal to test may be subject to sanctions as severe as positive test results.” One explanation is that a doping athlete could simply refuse the test and get a lighter penalty.
Last year, the ITIA said it carried out more than 8,000 tests both in and out of competition “and received several complaints. We take all feedback into account and encourage players to share their views with us.” Other organizations, such as the United States Anti-Doping Agency, also test players.
Regarding possible changes to the system, ITIA noted that tennis follows WADA rules and processes, which “will be updated in 2027. As part of this process, WADA is consulting with athletes from around the world.”
“We understand that the system may seem complex,” ITIA said, “but it is designed to protect players, not confuse them. If players are ever unsure about a test, have questions, or want to provide feedback about their experience, we want to hear about it.”
Some players say that a 4-year ban is harsh.
Fourth-seeded Jessica Pegula said she didn’t know all the details of Vondrousova’s case, but “I feel sympathy for Marketa.”
“For something like this, over the course of four years, you ruin someone’s career over something that really could have just been a complete misunderstanding, and I just don’t think that’s fair. I think the sentence is that harsh,” Pegula said.
“I don’t quite understand the difference between this and obviously what happened with (Jannik) Sinner and Iga (Swiatek),” she said. “They explained what the rules were and why things were the way they were.”
Top Rated Sinnercurrent Wimbledon men’s champion, accepted ban for three months in an agreement with WADA in early 2025 following two positive doping tests he conducted the previous year. WADA challenges ITIA decision do not remove the sinner According to experts, it was an accidental contamination with a prohibited anabolic steroid – entering his body during a massage.
Swiatek, the current Wimbledon women’s champion. accepted a one month suspension in 2024 after testing positive for the banned substance trimetazidine, a heart medication. The ITIA accepted her explanation that the result was unintentional and caused by contamination in the over-the-counter melatonin medication Swiatek was taking for jet lag.
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