Serena Williams slams 'grueling' Wimbledon rules ahead of comeback aged 44
Mia Williams
Featured Image Credit: Robert Prange/Getty Images
Tennis star Serena Williams has made her Wimbledon comeback this year aged 44, but has opened up about the 'unprofessional' rule she 'hates' ahead of the tournament.
It's clear that the star missed her life as a professional tennis player, after returning to the iconic sport this year following a four-year-long break.
She returned to Wimbledon on June 9 as fans turned out in their hundreds to support her comeback, after she temporarily retired in 2022 to prioritize her family.
Writing for Vogue at the time, the athlete said: "Believe me, I never wanted to have to choose between tennis and a family. I don’t think it’s fair.
Advert
"If I were a guy, I wouldn’t be writing this because I’d be out there playing and winning while my wife was doing the physical labor of expanding our family."
She added: "I’m here to tell you that I’m evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me."
But after returning to the court earlier this month, the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion opened up about the strict rules that players are made to follow prior to the tournament, which made her 'busy life' much more difficult.
"It’s grueling," she admitted, while speaking with The Athletic.
"I didn’t know some of the rules, so apparently like if you miss a test outside of your window, it still counts as miss, and like, so I guess I can’t go pick up my kids."
Under the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) rules, athletes must submit to testing whenever requested by a doping control officer, even if the request falls outside their designated testing window.
However, if an officer is unable to locate an athlete outside that window, it does not count as a missed test or result in a penalty - which Williams highlighted when she criticized the current protocols as 'unprofessional'.
The mom-of-two said: "My life is busy, I run a company, I run a VC company. I travel the world.
"I have children, so 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, I always have been very clear about what I do."
She noted that 'getting in the routine' will prove more difficult for her now, as well as 'learning the new rules'.