Former world number three Maria Sakkari has revealed the anti-doping testing procedures used to ensure tennis players are clean are “scary” and “stressful”.
On Tuesday the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) banned former French Open and Wimbledon champion Simona Halep for four years for two separate breaches of the Anti-Doping Programme (TADP), and the discovery of a prohibited substance – roxadustat – at last year’s US Open as well as anomalies in her Athlete Biological Passport (ABP).
Speaking at the San Diego Open, a WTA 500 event where Sakkari is the third seed, she was asked whether she trusted the doping authorities.
“The way they are handling every situation with any athlete is just scary” she explained. “We are going to get to a point where we are not going to even be taking electrolytes. That’s how I feel. Thankfully I haven’t been in that position and I never want to be. I am being very careful with anything that has to do with supplements. But I don’t know what’s the process with how things are done behind closed doors. I don’t know who has a say [with what’s going on], I don’t know, it’s not in my knowledge.”
When asked about how things could improve, for example communication to players, she answered: “I would for sure improve the ‘Whereabouts’ App they have – it’s horrible, it doesn’t work well and it’s supposed to remind you every day about your timeslot but it doesn’t. They tried to improve it but it’s not working very well.”
Given how much professional tennis players travel globally, following them across international borders with accurate testing procedures is proving difficult and adding anxiety to some competitors.
“For us, we travel so much compared to other athletes and it’s just very stressful” said Sakkari. “I wake up almost every night to use the bathroom, and if that’s close to my timeslot, then I am just thinking ‘do I go, do I not go, do I wait until they come, it’s just something very stressful.”
But however hard and inconvenient the current testing processes are, Sakkari admitted that “it was good for the sport and sport in general, and that we have to keep it clean.”
Former world number one Halep has made it clear she intends to appeal the ban as she fights through ‘the hardest match of her life’, and she remains suspended from all tennis related activities until October 2026.
