Williams is back to play professional tennis, but that means making a few sacrifices. Ahead of her first singles match at Wimbledon, Williams spoke to the media, expressing her feelings about dealing with the anti-doping protocols.
“It’s gruelling. They changed the rules now. I didn’t know some of the rules. So apparently if you miss a test outside of your window, it still counts as missed. I’m like, ‘I guess I can’t go pick up my kids.’ It’s unprofessional, I think. I hate it. I think it’s necessary, but I think a lot of this stuff, if I want to go places outside of my window, I should be able to go without having it count as a missed test.
“There has to be a different way to make it reasonable, because that’s just unreasonable. That was a big reason why I didn’t want to come back either, because it’s just so hard. My life is busy. I run a company, I run a VC company, I travel the world, I have children. It’s like I could be in so many different cities, so many different times.”
She’s not the first player to express her displeasure about the limitations these protocols bring. According to the system, the top 100 singles players are required to provide the International Tennis Integrity Agency with a one-hour window each day when they are available for testing.
Further, they’re required to keep the ITIA updated on their whereabouts in case testing is needed outside the allotted time. If players fail to make themselves available for these tests, they face significant
sanctions. For example, American player Jenson Brooksby received an 18-month ban — later reduced to 13 months — for missing three tests over the span of a year.
Recently, the 2023 Wimbledon Champion, Markéta Vondroušová, has received a four-year suspension after refusing to submit to a drug test at her home last December. Vondroušová claimed the reaction as an “acute stress reaction”, but an ITIA executive noted she signed a form confirming her refusal, then left to walk her dog.
According to the rules, refusing a test warrants the same consequences as testing positive for banned substances.
Responding to Williams’ complaint, ITIA noted the rules haven’t changed in a statement to the Associated Press. The ITIA, in response to Williams’ comments, told The Associated Press that the rules have been the same for years.
“If a tester is unable to reach a player during their allocated hour, then it may well be a ‘strike,’ and three failures could lead to a charge. If a tester is unable to reach a player outside of their allocated hour, it is not considered a strike,” the ITIA said of the whereabouts rules.
For Williams to start playing again, she had to re-enter the anti-doping test pool last September and go through six months of clean testing before being cleared to play again. Serena is scheduled to start her Wimbledon singles campaign against 20-year-old Maya Joint on Tuesday. She will then play doubles with her sister Venus on Thursday against Solana Sierra and Camila Osorio.
