Serena Williams has criticised the sport’s drug-testing rules that require players to submit their day-to-day whereabouts to anti-doping officials, arguing the system is “unprofessional” and played a part in her delaying a return to competitive tennis.
The 44-year-old American will begin her first singles match since 2022 when she takes on Australia’s Maya Joint in the Wimbledon first round on Tuesday. It marks a significant step up from her earlier comeback appearances, after she returned to action following four years away from the sport.
Williams’ time away had turned into a busy return on the doubles circuit, with appearances at Queen’s Club and in Berlin, before she chose to take on the singles challenge at the All England Club. She will not only feature in the singles draw, but will also line up alongside her sister, Venus, in the women’s doubles.
While the decision to pick up a racquet again has reignited attention around her game, Williams says the off-court demands connected to anti-doping compliance have added stress to her comeback.
To be cleared to compete on the women’s tour, she had to be included in the testing pool months before she was allowed to officially return. Under tennis’ “whereabouts rules,” players must provide a location and specific time window when they can be tested for each day of the year.
Williams’ frustration centres on the consequences of missing that information or being unavailable during a designated period. She says that a refusal to provide the required details, or failing to update whereabouts three times within a 12-month span, can result in sanctions. She also pointed out that players may be subjected to random testing at any moment.
Now that she is back in the sport, the former world No. 1 believes the rules have evolved since her previous spell on tour and she was not fully aware of how some elements would be applied. Speaking to reporters at Wimbledon on Sunday, she described the demands as exhausting and highlighted how a missed test could be recorded even if it falls outside a player’s declared window.
“It’s gruelling. 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,” Williams said. “I’m like, I guess I can’t go pick up my kids.”
She added that, while she accepts the need for anti-doping measures, the way the whereabouts requirements are enforced is unreasonable. “It’s unprofessional. I hate it. It’s necessary, but I think a lot of the 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,” she said.
Williams argued that the system should be adjusted to make compliance more practical for athletes’ day-to-day lives. “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.”
Her comments arrive just days after the International Tennis Integrity Agency issued a four-year ban to former Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova.
