Marketa Vondrousova reveals acute stress reaction after doping control incident: ‘I reached a breaking point’

Marketa Vondrousova has revealed an acute stress reaction to a doping control incident (Reuters)

Former Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova opened up about her mental ​health battles on Friday, revealing she suffered an Acute Stress Reaction during a doping control incident.

Vondrousova, who won the Wimbledon title in 2023, said the December incident occurred because she had "reached a ⁠breaking point after months of physical and mental stress."

In December, Vondrousova described a “serious intrusion into my privacy” from a doping control officer who arrived at 8:15 pm demanding an immediate test.

Tennis players are required to log their whereabouts for an allotted hour each day with anti-doping authorities so they can be tested outside of competition, although tests can also occur outside these set windows.

“It is very tough for me to talk about this, ⁠but I want to be transparent with ​you ⁠about my mental health,” 26-year-old Vondrousova wrote on Instagram. “The recent doping control incident happened because I reached a breaking point after months of physical and mental stress.”

“For a long time, I've been dealing with injury, constant pressure and ongoing ⁠sleep issues that left me feeling exhausted and fragile. It slowly wore ​me ⁠down more than I probably ‌realised at the time.

“Years of hateful messages and threats have affected how safe I feel in my own space. When someone rang my door ‌late at night without properly identifying themselves or ‌following protocol — I reacted as a person who felt scared.

“In that moment, it was about feeling safe, not about avoiding anything.”

Vondrousova has not played a tournament since the Adelaide ⁠International in January and withdrew from the Australian Open citing a shoulder injury. However, she is on the entry list for the Madrid Open, which runs from 21 April to 3 May.