“I wouldn’t be comfortable if I’m living alone and someone comes at 8 or whenever" - Ajla Tomljanovic blasts the ITIA over treatment of Vondrousova

Marketa Vondrousova's lengthy ban from the sport following missing a drugs test has received a whole lot of question marks and sympathy towards her. After numerous kind and heartwarming messages, Ajla Tomljanovic has come out and spoken in the Czech's defence.

Vondrousova had been reached at her home on the 3rd December 2025 by a female doping control officer. This was out of the agreed hours for testing, with each player having to allow them to collect a sample as part of the WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency).

The 2023 Wimbledon champion had been mostly away from the court in this time struggling really badly with injuries which had dampened her tennis career and halted any promising progress up the rankings.

Following this refused drugs test, she was suspended, and later banned for a whopping four years. She will be unable to step onto the court until 2030, a long time in the future for the 26-year-old who may see the best years of her tennis career sail by.

She responded with a lengthy social media statement which shared her stunned emotions about the length of the ban while talking through the whole situation and her innocence in all of this. Her mental health had also been suffering in recent times as she shed more light onto this. A range of WTA talents including Coco Gauff, Ons Jabeur, Paula Badosa and Eva Lys shared messages of support underneath that post.

Aussie player Tomljanovic was not happy with this decision made. She highlighted how awkward it must have been for Vondrousova, who was about to walk her dog that evening, to have a stranger come outside her door at that time in the night.

“I wouldn’t be comfortable if I’m living alone and someone comes at 8 or whenever,” Tomljanovic said. “Overall, I can count on one hand good experiences with these people. I think they’re always out to get you. They’re not very nice.

“It’s kind of a disgrace what’s happened to Marketa. It’s really sad that we’re part of a sport where I think that if you’re … like the treatment isn’t equal. Equality is what we strive for. It’s just insane."

She pestered Vondrousova to appeal the length of this decision while continuing to lament the ITIA. “I hope she appeals. I hope it gets better, but it’s never good when the first ruling is a four‑year ban. I just think that the whole ITIA, they’re so cocky. They’re almost out to get you even if you are doing nothing wrong.”

Currently competing at the Eastbourne Open, Tomljanovic was disgusted when she found out the news after her first round win over Elisabetta Cocciaretto. “I saw that after my match and I was just so angry," she recalled. "She doesn’t deserve that. And it’s never really going to change because these people … I’ve spoken to a guy that’s in a position of power – you can see that he just hates almost … He just wants to get anyone for anything. It’s awful.”

Former world number one and fellow Czech player Karolina Pliskova took a more blunt view on the situation. The 2021 Wimbledon finalist was interviewed by the Guardian back in April of this year while Vondrousova was provisionally suspended.

She relieved no sympathy for her fellow countrywoman stating that the rules are the rules. “I’ve been on tour for maybe 15-20 years, so I think everybody experiences this kind of situation where they just knock on your door, but we all know the rules, so..."

She tried to come up with some reasons to why she did not take the drug test. “For me, this is quite clear. Maybe for somebody [else] not. I know she’s maybe a bit younger, maybe she wasn’t in the mood. I don’t want to say too much because I already said it in [my] podcast and it didn’t go [down] well. But for me, this would never be an option not to give the test.”

Pliskova, who recently lost in the final of the Nottingham Open, will be among the top WTA talents making the trip to Wimbledon in the coming days with the third Grand Slam of the year set to commence. For Vondrousova, she will always be a Wimbledon champion, but time will tell before she next gets to compete at SW19.