Serena Williams has made some controversial comments in her pre-Wimbledon press conference after she slammed the doping control rules in tennis.
After former Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova was banned for four years after missing just one doping test earlier this month, Williams has lashed out at the International Tennis Integrity Agency and their protocols after she re-entered the doping control pool in tennis last year.
Speaking to the media ahead of her first single match in almost four years following her shock comeback, Williams instantly created headlines with some explosive comments.
“It’s gruelling. They changed the rules now,” declared Williams
“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?
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“It’s unprofessional. I hate it. I think 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.
“I think that 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.
“I mean, my life is busy, I run a company, I run a VC company, I travel the world. I have children. It’s like I could be in so many different cities so many different times. But just getting that discipline of, like, reporting.
“Obviously, I don’t mind because I love and I always have been very clear about what I do. Just getting in that routine of, like, all right, first of all, learning the new rules, then just getting back and reporting every day.”
Williams also revealed when she decided to return to singles action, after playing two doubles tournaments in her comeback this month.
“I had until Monday to decide. I think it was like Sunday. I just wasn’t sure up until then. Honestly, I’m still not even sure, but we’ll see,” she added with a smile.
“I thought not every day Wimbledon holds a wild card for someone. I can name probably like a handful of people. I happened to be one of those people.
“I thought I should really take this opportunity. Who knows if I’ll ever make it here again. This could be it. I was like, What’s wrong with me, Serena? What are you thinking? Are you nuts?
“Like you really should do this. People live to be an athlete. I have this great opportunity to showcase what I do, what I do best, I suppose. Yeah, I think ultimately I was like that is pretty cool, so I should do it.
” I never thought I’d be back here sitting in front of this. We all know how I feel about this. So I never thought I would do this again (smiling). Yeah, all the above. When I revolved or evolved, I had never thought I’d come back.”
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