Alexander Zverev lashes out at anti-doping authorities after incident involving his 4-year-old daughter

Alexander Zverev has made his frustrations clear about the strict anti-doping rules. The German recently narrated an incident involving his young daughter, accusing the authorities of taking players’ freedom away.

Zverev has arrived in the Spanish capital for the 2025 Madrid Open after his glory in Munich. Ranked No. 2, he is the top seed at the event, given World No. 1 Jannik Sinner’s absence. Sinner is presently serving the final few days of his three-month ban, which he received after an agreement with the WADA over his transdermal contamination from March last year.

Before his campaign in Madrid, Alexander Zverev was quizzed on whether players were now more alert about antidoping contamination in light of Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek’s cases. The German responded by noting that players have continued to follow the protocols unchanged. He, however, wasn’t pleased with the testing process itself.

"It is an annoying process; I have to be honest," Zverev said in his press conference.

The World No. 2 explained that while players make their availability clear with the authorities daily, at times they are forced to alter their personal plans and make themselves available outside of the specified hours.

"We have to be at a certain place every single day, where we give our details of where we’re gonna be for an hour of the day. But at the same time, if they show up not in the hour we gave them, you still have to come back to that place," Alexander Zverev claimed.

The three-time Grand Slam finalist revealed that he was faced with such a situation in December last year while picking up his four-year-old daughter, Mayla, who was three at the time.

"In December I was picking up my daughter from the airport at Nice. My slot is at 7 or 8 AM. And they came at 9 PM and they called me, ‘You have to come back.’ I’m like, ‘I can’t — I’m picking up a three-year-old child.’"

"They’re like, ‘No, you have to come back. It doesn’t matter what happens,” Zverev added. “They’re taking the freedom of life away a little bit."

Tennis players receive strikes if they fail to show up for anti-doping tests. Missing three tests within a year can result in a suspension. Mikael Ymer and Jenson Brooksby were two such players who were slapped with 18-month suspensions for whereabouts failure in recent years.

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Alexander Zverev on anti-doping test process: "I think that’s wrong; that system can change"

Zverev pictured at the 2025 BMW Open in Munich - Image Source: Getty

Alexander Zverev urged the anti-doping authorities to comply with their rules and show consideration toward tennis players.

"If you want to come within the hour, that’s fine because that’s the rule. But then after that, you have to give us the freedom of living," he said in the aforementioned press conference.

"Just because you decided to show up at a random time and not at the time slot that you’re given, doesn’t mean that I have to completely change my plans and leave everything and all of a sudden be available to you. That’s not right in my opinion," he added.

The 28-year-old opined that the system was in need of reform.

"The anti-doping system cannot decide for you that you have to leave everything and all of a sudden comeback. I think that’s wrong. That system can be better and that system can change a little bit."

As a seeded player in Madrid, Alexander Zverev has received an opening-round bye. The two-time champion starts his campaign against Roberto Bautista Agut in the second round on Friday.