Victoria Azarenka calls for major changes in anti-doping protocols, tennis scheduling

ROME, Italy— Victoria Azarenka shook her head as she walked out of a press conference at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

“I'm surprised I didn't have any non-match related questions,” she said. “Everybody else gets asked and I don't get asked. I mean, I have opinions.”

The weekend leading up to the tournament had been consumed by hot topics ranging from anti-doping to player safeguarding, and the former No. 1-turned-WTA Player Council stalwart was feeling left out of the loop.

Azarenka got her crack at the sport’s latest hot topics at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, starting with the return of ATP world No. 1 Jannik Sinner from a three-month anti-doping suspension.

“I really like Jannik, personally,” she opened on Wednesday after a first-round victory over Camila Osorio. “I think he’s a great guy. He’s always been very sweet to me. He seems like a pretty humble person. I don’t know him too well, but it’s hard for me to be too critical in a personal sense.

“In terms of professional, I think there are discrepancies, where I don’t believe all players are treated the same. It’s not only his case. I think there are a lot of different questions in terms of how things were conducted.”

A player committee member of the International Tennis Integrity Association (ITIA), Azarenka is up to date on all current anti-doping cases, including the recent decision regarding Australian doubles champion Max Purcell, and feels the current system is too reliant on the structure set up by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to adapt as she feels is necessary to fit a tennis-specific landscape.

I just want to see our sport grow, honestly...This sport gave me so much in my life, and I want to see it grow, become bigger, keep being a dominant sport for women. There’s a lot of sports coming up and giving us competition. We need to keep making those strides forward too. Victoria Azarenka

“We’re still under the WADA umbrella, which makes it harder to implement some of the rules,” explained Azarenka. “Otherwise, we’d have to take ourselves out of the Olympic pool, which I don’t necessarily think a bad idea.

“We’re often asked, ‘How do you feel about [the system]?’ How I feel about it doesn’t really matter. It’s more about how the rules applied: Are they applied the same way? Is there a modification that needs to be made? I think that’s the conversation that we should be having, more about the things that can be done better.”

The two-time Australian Open champion, who has been struggling with injuries since last season, conceded that the legal element of anti-doping cases further complicate—and sometimes obscure—the issue, citing the secrecy surrounding Sinner’s positive tests for the banned substance Clostebol.

“If you talk about Jannik Sinner’s case, people will ask why nobody knew,” said Azarenka. “Well, there’s a legal aspect to it; I understand that. But, you know, it’s a little bit on the edge.”

Sinner was successfully able to overturn the provisional handed down by the ITIA before they were made public. Though the ITIA initially found Sinner bore No Fault or Negligence for the presence of Clostebol in his sample, WADA appealed the ruling and Sinner served his suspension between the Australian Open and Roland Garros.

Though she praised the ITIA’s efforts to educate players—the organization offers in-person workshops at tournaments—she argued for transparency over bureaucracy.

“I think overall, there has to be better integrity from the organization, personally. It’s a big problem is that we’re under WADA and WADA only has specific windows when they look to make changes to their rules.

“I don’t think I have all the answers, but there are valid questions that could be asked and see if it makes sense.”

My concern is less for me and more for younger players because it’s going to be a lot harder for them to have a career as long as I’ve had, to play 20-plus years on tour. Victoria Azarenka

A meditation on anti-doping and corruption gave way to Azarenka’s broader wishlist of what she’d change in the sport. A pro for over two decades and a mom to eight-year-old son Leo, she took a blue-sky approach in the mixed zone and outlined everything from prize money to scheduling to marketing the sport and its players.

“My concern is less for me and more for younger players because it’s going to be a lot harder for them to have a career as long as I’ve had, to play 20-plus years on tour,” she said, taking a stand against the influx of two-week 1000-level tournaments and best-of-five-set scoring. “From that end, I also think there should also be a conversation about how differently the balls have changed and evolved over the years, surfaces as well.

“When it comes to scheduling, we need more predictability to sell product for players to prepare, for fans to watch and business to distribute,” she added.

“I just want to see our sport grow, honestly. I really want our sport to do well. This sport gave me so much in my life, and I want to see it grow, become bigger, keep being a dominant sport for women. There’s a lot of sports coming up and giving us competition. We need to keep making those strides forward too.”

With only 15 minutes on the mic, Azarenka was forced to table numerous other issues, but could make a return appearance at the pulpit should she win her second round against No. 26 seed Magdalena Freçh.