Pegula: Vondrousova Ban “Ruining Someone’s Career” Over Potential Misunderstanding

Richard Pagliaro | Monday, June 29, 2026
Photo credit: Rob Newell/CameraSport

Wimbledon—Former Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova was hit with a four-year ban for refusing a doping test.

Jessica Pegula asserts that severe punishment could potentially ruin the 2023 Wimbledon champion’s career.

In the aftermath of her 7-5, 6-3 Wimbledon first-round win over Darja Vidmanova on No. 2 court, Pegula was asked to assess Vondrousova’s suspension. Pegula, who held a third-set lead before bowing to Vondrousova 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 in the 2023 Wimbledon quarterfinals as the Czech went on to raise the Rosewater Dish, said the suspension does not make sense to her.

“it’s just really unfortunate. I feel like for Marketa, I don’t know the ins and outs of exactly what happened, it seems like there’s a lot of “he said, she said” kind of things going on right now,” Pegula said. “But I just think for something like that, for four years, you’re ruining someone’s career over something that
could have really just been a complete misunderstanding, and I just don’t think that’s fair. I think
the sentencing is so harsh.

“You know, I don’t know if she’s going to appeal it with CAS [Court of Arbitration for Sport] or what’s going on. I just think there has got to be a solution where we’re not just totally destroying someone’s career over something where she didn’t even test positive.”

The 2019 Roland Garros runner-up Vondrousova was hit with a four-year ban for refusing an anti-doping test in December of 2025, the International Tennis Integrity Agency announced earlier this month.

Under anti-doping rules, “when a player refuses a test must be the same as if they had tested positive. This is to ensure that anyone who is doping cannot serve a shorter ban simply by refusing to be tested,” the ITIA said.

Still, both players and fans point out the inequity in the cases of Vondrousova, who did not fail a doping test though refusing to take one is regarded as the same as failing a test, while world No. 1 Jannik Sinner served a three-month suspension after settling the World Anti-Doping Agency’s appeal of his case.

Pegula said those outcomes don’t make sense to her.

“So I don’t quite understand the difference between, yeah, that and then obviously what happened with Sinner and Iga. They justified what the rules were and why it was the way it was.

“It just doesn’t really make sense to me. I don’t think it makes sense to a person that’s just looking at it common sense-wise. I understand there should be some sort of punishment, because I know she’s refused to take a test, and that’s not good either. I just feel like there could be something that could be done to not just, like, ruin someone’s career like that.”