Serena Williams criticizes 'unreasonable' anti-doping protocols before Wimbledon return

Serena Williams is playing professional tennis again. Which means having to make some sacrifices.

Ahead of her first singles match in nearly four years at Wimbledon, the 23-time Grand Slam champion spoke to reporters and addressed her feelings about dealing with the sport's anti-doping protocols.

Advertisement

Williams is not a fan:

"It's grueling. 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."

The 44-year-old Williams is hardly the first tennis player to complain about the limitations these protocols have placed on their lives. Seemingly every top player has a story of some inconvenience they've incurred by a tester's surprise appearance.

The system requires the top 100 singles players in the world to provide the International Tennis Integrity Agency with a one-hour window they will be available for testing every single day. It also requires them to keep the ITIA updated on their whereabouts for possible testing outside of that window, down to their hotel room number. Players face significant sanctions if they fail to make themselves available for tests, such as when American player Jenson Brooksby got an 18-month ban — later reduced to 13 months — for missing three tests in the span of a year.

There was also the recent case of former Wimbledon champion Markéta Vondroušová, who just received a four-year ban for outright refusing to submit to a drug test at her home last December. In that matter, she blamed an "acute stress reaction" that clouded her judgement, but an ITIA executive noted Vondroušová signed a form confirming her refusal then left to walk her dog. ITIA rules dictate that a refusal to submit to a test is considered just as bad as a positive test.

Advertisement

In response to Williams' complaints, the ITIA noted the rules have been the same for a while 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.

In order to start playing elite tennis again, Williams 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.

Incidentally, this is why Williams' denials that she was making a comeback after re-entering the testing pool were greeted with some skepticism. No one would put themselves through this kind of stuff on a lark, especially with Williams having complained about anti-doping protocols before her first retirement.

Advertisement

Williams is set to begin her Wimbledon singles campaign against 20-year-old Maya Joint on Tuesday and will begin playing doubles with her sister Venus on Thursday against the duo of Solana Sierra and Camila Osorio.

Click here to read article