Serena Williams is back in women’s singles at Wimbledon for the first time since 2022, and the comeback carries more than tennis scores. She said the anti-doping process almost kept her from returning because the daily whereabouts rules made ordinary travel feel risky.
Williams on Wimbledon return
“It’s grueling,” Williams said on Sunday about the anti-doping process. She added, “They changed the rules now,” and, “I didn’t know some of the rules.”
Her point was blunt: “So apparently if you miss a test outside of your window, it still counts as missed.” She also said, “I’m like, I guess I can’t go pick up my kids,” before laying out the bigger burden on a player who travels widely and keeps a busy schedule.
Williams enters Wimbledon as a wild card entrant. She is also playing in the doubles event with Venus for the first time since 2016, giving this return a second layer beyond her singles comeback.
ITIA whereabouts rules
The International Tennis Integrity Agency requires players to provide daily whereabouts for no-notice testing. Under its system, if a tester cannot reach a player during the allocated hour, it may count as a strike, and three failures could lead to a charge. If contact happens outside that hour, it is not considered a strike.
The ITIA said there have been no changes to the whereabouts rules in the last few years and said the system is there to protect players, not to trip them up. It also said players with questions can contact the agency directly or through their agents.
That response leaves the practical issue in place for Williams: she has to fit testing windows around travel, work and family time, the same schedule she said made her think hard about coming back. Marketa Vondrousova, the 2023 Wimbledon champion, also showed how steep the penalty can be, having been suspended for four years for refusing an anti-doping test. Frances Tiafoe beats Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-4 Tennis Scores Today
Serena Williams and Venus
Williams’ return is tied to Wimbledon in a way it has not been since 2022, when she last played women’s singles there. The doubles pairing with Venus also puts the sisters back on the same tournament stage for the first time in years, while the anti-doping rules remain the condition she says made the move feel harder than it should have been.
The immediate question now is how Williams manages the whereabouts requirement through the tournament and beyond. For a player trying to combine competition with travel and family life, that schedule is now part of the story at Wimbledon, not just the draw.
