Marketa Vondrousova has been told that her tennis career will effectively be over if she cannot overturn her four-year ban.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency charged the 26-year-old for refusing an anti-doping test in December 2025, meaning her suspension will run until 21 June, 2030.
The former Wimbledon champion claimed in April that she feared for her safety when the doping control officer tried to enter her home to conduct the test, before later adding that she was stressed and was suffering mentally.
The Czech player, who is set to appeal against the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, was hit with the sanction after a tribunal ruled that she provided “no compelling justification” for refusing the test.
Vondrousova – who passed a doping test three days later – protested her innocence, with the former French Open finalist subsequently receiving a groundswell of support from fellow tennis players.
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Now, ex-Wimbledon doubles champion Rennae Stubbs has admitted she is “devastated” for Vondrousova and a four-year punishment is “ridiculous”.
The Australian, who is now coaching Serena Williams, said on the latest episode of The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast, “Four years?! I just don’t know how I feel about this.
“I know Marketa, I’ve been around her a lot. She just seems the last person in the world to take anything to enhance her performance. Seriously.
“It feels so heavy. Four years is a life sentence in terms of a tennis player. Her reputation is just ruined. Her career is probably over. Four years is just a death sentence in a professional tennis world.”
The Olympic silver medallist has not been on the WTA Tour since January. If the ban remains in place, Vondrousova will be free to return to the sport when she is 30.
Earlier this week, ITIA senior director for anti-doping, Nicole Sapstead, said that a single female doping officer attended the Czech’s property last year.
She also suggested that Vondrousova‘s story did not hold up to scrutiny.
Sapstead said, “The player signed the refusal form outside. She left her apartment to walk her dog and made it clear to the doping control officer that she was refusing a test. The doping control officer asked her to sign the form to indicate as much.
“We ask our doping control officers to be as clear as possible when they’re engaging with players. It’s not for them to tell the player where a sanction may lay or (what could happen) if they choose to refuse.
“But what we do say is, please make it very clear that there are consequences, some significant consequences, if that individual refuses. So, yes, that was made very clear to the player. It was very clear that the player did not wish to engage with the process.”
The ITIA’s full reasoning will be released in “due course”.
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