NEW DELHI: Ex Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova was punished with a four-year ban for refusing to take an anti-doping test at her home in December 2025. The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) said an independent court had found the Czech player guilty of an anti-doping rule violation. Her suspension will last until June 21, 2030, although she has the option of appealing the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport.Vondrous, who made history by becoming the first unseeded woman to win Wimbledon in 2023, said the incident happened during a difficult time in her life and linked her actions to struggles with mental health.“It’s very difficult for me to talk about it, but I want to be transparent with you about my mental health,” Vondrous said. “The recent incident with doping control happened because I reached a tipping point after months of physical and mental stress.”The 26-year-old previously said she refused the test due to “mental stress” and fear when the testing officer “rang my doorbell late at night without properly identifying himself”.According to the ITIA, Vondrous “failed to submit a sample when notified by a Doping Control Officer (DCO) during an attempted out-of-competition test at her home at approximately 8:00 p.m. on December 3, 2025.”Vondrous was represented by lawyer Howard Jacobs, who previously helped Simona Halep reduce her own four-year ban. The Czech star now joins a list of leading players linked to doping cases in recent years, including Halep, Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek.The decision comes just days before the start of Wimbledon.
