Being included on the ITIA’s list, the organisation responsible for monitoring doping in tennis, is a prerequisite for her return to competition. However, the 44-year-old, a 23-time Grand Slam champion, ruled out a comeback in a message posted on Tuesday evening.
No coming back
The former player posted on her Instagram: “Oh my God! I can’t believe this. This frenzy is absolutely insane.”
“It is true that she is back on the doping watch list,” said Adrian Bassett, spokesman for the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), to AFP earlier in London, in response to media reports.
“Evolving” away from tennis
Serena has not competed since her third-round defeat at the 2022 US Open, the final of the four Grand Slam tournaments, at Flushing Meadows. She is still just one Grand Slam singles title short of the all-time record of 24, jointly held by Australian Margaret Court in women’s singles and Serbian Novak Djokovic in men’s singles.
After her three-set defeat to Australian Ajla Tomljanovic at the US Open three years ago, Serena stated that she did not wish to use the word “retirement,” preferring to say that she was “evolving” away from tennis.