A 26-year-old former Wimbledon champion has been handed a four-year ban from professional tennis for refusing a doping test. Czech player Markéta Vondroušová, the 2023 Wimbledon champion and 2020 Olympic silver medalist, failed to submit a sample after a Doping Control Officer arrived at her home for an out-of-competition test around 8 p.m. in December 2025, instead signing a refusal form, the International Tennis Integrity Agency said. During a hearing before an independent tribunal that ultimately handed down the suspension, Vondroušová said that stress and poor mental health had affected her decision-making, alongside concerns for her safety, claiming the tester did not clearly identify herself, according to The Athletic. However, the tribunal concluded that Vondroušová, who attained a career-high ranking of world No. 6, offered “no compelling justification” for refusing the test. “I have never doped. I have never had a positive test,” Vondroušová wrote in an Instagram post after the ban was announced. “Just three days after the incident that ultimately changed my life, I was tested again. The result was negative. Just like every test before it.” Vondroušová’s ban expires June 21, 2030, meaning she will be nearly 31 years old when she is allowed to compete again.
Read it at The Athletic
