Ex-Wimbledon champ handed four-year suspension for refusing doping test

Former Wimbledon champion Markéta Vondroušová has been handed a four-year suspension for refusing an anti-doping test, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) announced. The agency stated that Vondroušová declined to take a test in December 2025.

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We recognise this is a significant ban.

An independent tribunal imposed the maximum four-year ban for a first offense after a hearing this month. ITIA chief executive Karen Moorhouse emphasized the importance of the anti-doping system, noting that refusing a test should not place a player in a better position than testing positive. The ruling follows a framework that sets a four-year ban as the starting point for refusing a test.

Vondroušová attributed her refusal to "mental stress" and fear, explaining that the testing agent arrived "late at night without properly identifying themselves." The Czech player made history in 2023 as Wimbledon's first unseeded women's champion, defeating Ons Jabeur in the final. She also reached a career-high ranking of world number six that same year and was a finalist at the French Open in 2019.

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You can't have an anti-doping system where a player is in a better place by refusing to take a test than they would by taking a test and testing positive.

In an Instagram post in April, Vondroušová shared her perspective on the missed test, citing "months of physical and mental stress" that led her to a "breaking point." The ITIA confirmed that Vondroušová "did not submit a sample when notified by a doping control officer during an out-of-competition test attempt at her home" on December 3, 2025, and instead signed a refusal form.

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So that feeds into the structure of the doping rules that provides for a starting point in the four-year ban for refusing to take a test.

"I have never doped. I have never had a positive test," Vondroušová stated on Instagram following the ruling. She highlighted her history of undergoing numerous anti-doping controls throughout her career with a "clear conscience." Vondroušová also noted that she was tested again just three days after the incident, with the result being negative, as were all previous tests. Her ban is set to expire on June 21, 2030, and she has the option to appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland. Vondroušová, currently ranked 122nd, has not competed since January.

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mental stress