Serena Williams is playing professional tennis again. Which means having to make some sacrifices.
Ahead of her first singles match in practically 4 years at Wimbledon, the 23-time Grand Slam champion spoke to reporters and addressed her emotions about coping with the game’s anti-doping protocols.
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Williams is just 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 needs to be a distinct strategy to make it cheap, as a result of that is simply unreasonable. That was a giant motive why I did not need to come again both, as a result of it is simply so laborious. My life is busy. I run an organization, I run a VC firm, I journey the world, I’ve youngsters. It’s like I might be in so many alternative cities, so many alternative occasions.”
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.
Serena Williams has not enjoyed her time with tennis’ anti-doping protocols, just like every other player in the sport.
(Tim Clayton by way of Getty Images)
There was additionally the current 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 response” that clouded her judgement, however an ITIA government famous Vondroušová signed a type confirming her refusal then left to stroll her canine. ITIA guidelines dictate {that a} refusal to undergo a take a look at is taken into account simply as dangerous as a optimistic take a look at.
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In response to Williams’ complaints, the ITIA famous the foundations have been the identical for some time 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 succeed in a participant throughout their allotted hour, then it might be a ‘strike,’ and three failures might result in a cost. If a tester is unable to succeed in a participant outdoors of their allotted hour, it’s not thought of a strike,” the ITIA mentioned of the whereabouts guidelines.
In order to begin enjoying elite tennis once more, 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, for this reason Williams’ denials that she was making a comeback after re-entering the testing pool have been greeted with some skepticism. No one would put themselves by means of this sort of stuff on a lark, particularly with Williams having complained about anti-doping protocols before her first retirement.
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Williams is set to begin her Wimbledon singles campaign against 20-year-old Maya Joint on Tuesday and can start enjoying doubles together with her sister Venus on Thursday towards the duo of Solana Sierra and Camila Osorio.
Williams has thus far performed two doubles matches in her shock comeback, winning her debut alongside Victoria Mboko at Queen’s Club before withdrawing due to an injury to Mboko, then shedding in her first match at Berlin alongside Karolína Muchová.