Former Wimbledon champion Markéta Vondroušová has been suspended for four years for refusing an anti-doping test.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) made the announcement, saying Vondroušová refused a test in December.
The maximum four-year ban for a routine first offence was reached by an independent tribunal following a hearing this month.
“We recognise this is a significant ban,” ITIA chief executive Karen Moorhouse said.
“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.
“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.”
Vondroušová cited “mental stress” and fear when the testing agent “rang my door late at night without properly identifying themselves”.
The Czech became Wimbledon’s first unseeded women’s champion when she beat Ons Jabeur in the 2023 final.
She reached a career-high ranking of number six the same year.
Vondroušová also reached the French Open final in 2019, losing to Ash Barty.
Markéta Vondroušová refused to be tested last December. (Getty Images: Clive Brunskill)
The 26-year-old detailed her reaction to the missed test in an Instagram post in April.
“It is very tough for me to talk about this, but I want to be transparent with you about my mental health,” Vondroušová wrote.
“The recent doping control incident happened because I reached a breaking point after months of physical and mental stress.”
The ITIA said 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.
She instead signed a refusal form.
“I have never doped. I have never had a positive test,” Vondroušová wrote on Instagram after the ruling was released.
“Throughout my entire career, I have undergone countless anti-doping controls and have always stepped onto the court with a clear conscience.
“Just three days after the incident that ultimately changed my life, I was tested again. The result was negative. Just like every test before it.”
Vondroušová is the latest high-profile tennis player involved in a doping case after Simona Halep, Jannik Sinner and Iga Świątek.
Sinner accepted a three-month ban in a settlement with the World Anti-Doping Agency at the start of last year.
Świątek took a one-month suspension at the end of 2024.
Halep, Sinner and Świątek each proved they were not entirely responsible for their positive tests.
Vondroušová’s ban expires on June 21, 2030.
She can appeal the decision to the Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Ranked 122 in the world, Vondroušová has not played since January.
AP
