Marketa Vondrousova Appeals Four-Year Anti-Doping Ban to CAS

Former Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against a four-year ban imposed after she refused an out-of-competition anti-doping test. CAS confirmed to BBC Sport that it has received the Czech player’s appeal, but said no hearing date has been set.

The International Tennis Integrity Agency charged Vondrousova after a doping control officer was denied entry to her home on 3 December 2025. According to the BBC’s report, the officer arrived at 20:00 to conduct a test. The 27-year-old was handed the sanction in June, and her suspension is scheduled to end on 21 June 2030.

Vondrousova has said she was at breaking point following months of physical and mental stress when she declined the test. She also said she feared for her safety because the officer did not properly identify themselves or follow protocol. She later went outside to walk her dog and signed a refusal form.

A tribunal did not accept those explanations as grounds to excuse the refusal or reduce the penalty. The BBC reported that the tribunal found no compelling justification for Vondrousova’s decision. Tennis players are required to provide their whereabouts for a designated hour each day so anti-doping authorities can conduct tests away from competition.

After the ban was announced, Vondrousova said she had never doped or returned a positive test and had undergone many anti-doping controls during her career. Her appeal now places the case before sport’s highest international arbitration body, although the timing of the next stage remains uncertain because CAS has not scheduled a hearing.

The case interrupts the career of a player who made history at Wimbledon in 2023, becoming the first unseeded woman to win the singles title. Vondrousova is also a former French Open finalist and Olympic silver medallist, and reached a career-high ranking of world number six. She has not competed since reaching the second round of the Adelaide International in January and has fallen to 153rd in the WTA rankings, according to the BBC.