Richard Pagliaro | Monday, June 22, 2026
Photograph credit score: Rob Newell/CameraSport
Marketa Vondrousova’s refusal to take a drug take a look at was improper. However her four-year suspension is ”ridiculous” ESPN analyst Patrick McEnroe instructed Tennis Now.
The 2023 Wimbledon champion Vondrousova was hit with a four-year ban for refusing an anti-doping take a look at in December of 2025, the International Tennis Integrity Agency announced today.
Below anti-doping guidelines, “when a participant refuses a take a look at should be the identical as if they’d examined optimistic. That is to make sure that anybody who’s doping can’t serve a shorter ban just by refusing to be examined,” the ITIA mentioned.
Requested his response to Vondrousova’s ban throughout an ESPN Zoom name with the media in the present day to advertise the community’s Wimbledon protection beginning on June twenty ninth, Patrick McEnroe instructed Tennis Now’s Chris Oddo the four-year ban is “approach too harsh.”
“4 years is ridiculous. I imply, that’s approach too harsh,” Patrick McEnroe instructed Tennis Now in the present day. “I imply, two I may see. Even that to me could be harsh. One yr, okay, you’re going to get it. However 4 years, actually?
“I’m certain she’s interesting it. She ought to get punished, however 4 years is approach too excessive.”
The four-year ban has evoked outrage in some, who query how world No. 1 Jannik Sinner was given a decreased three-month suspension after failing a doping take a look at, whereas Vondrousova, who didn’t fail a take a look at, was hit with a four-year ban.
World No. 1 Sinner served a three-month suspension that banned him from tennis from February 9-Might 4th, 2025 to settle his case, the World Anti-Doping Company introduced final yr. WADA had appealed Sinner’s case to the Court docket of Arbitration for Sport with the Italian Davis Cup hero dealing with the prospect of a one yr or extra suspension if the enchantment was profitable.
Sinner twice examined optimistic for the banned steroid clostebol in “low ranges” the Worldwide Tennis Integrity Company introduced in August days earlier than the beginning of the US Open. Two-time Australian Open champion Sinner was not suspended and permitted to play as a result of an impartial tribunal dominated he was at “no fault” for the steroid contamination in his system. The three-month suspension meant Sinner didn’t miss a serious on account of his optimistic take a look at.
In an Instagram put up in the present day, Vondrousova mentioned she’s by no means failed a doping take a look at.
“I’ve by no means doped,” Vondrousova mentioned. “I’ve by no means had a optimistic take a look at. All through my total profession, I’ve undergone numerous anti-doping controls and have at all times stepped onto the court docket with a transparent conscience.
“Simply three days after the incident that finally modified my life, I used to be examined once more. The consequence was adverse identical to each take a look at earlier than it.”
Final yr, Grand Slam king Novak Djokovic known as Sinner’s case “unusual” and mentioned most gamers he’s talked to don’t consider the decision was truthful.
“Jannik may have a three-month suspension as a consequence of some errors and negligence of some members of his group, who’re engaged on the tour,” Djokovic instructed the media in Doha in February of 2025. “That is additionally one thing that I personally and plenty of different gamers discover unusual.
“I’ve spoken to a number of gamers within the locker room, not solely in the previous couple of days but additionally within the months earlier than.
“Most of them usually are not happy with how the entire course of has gone and don’t assume it was truthful. Many consider that there was favoritism.”
Pointing to the actual fact each Simona Halep and Britain’s Tara Moore have been hit with harsher sentences of their doping instances, Djokovic mentioned many gamers see a double normal within the system.
“Simona Halep and Tara Moore and another gamers which might be perhaps much less recognized which have been struggling to resolve their instances for years, or have gotten the ban for years,” Djokovic mentioned
