Djokovic 21 times, Nadal only 14: Who were the most-tested players for doping in 2021?
After Simona Halep tested positive for a banned substance, many tennis fans are wondering how often are ATP & WTA players tested during a calendar year.
A tennis players can be tested for doping in a variety of different ways. The test can be conducted from player's urine or blood and it can also be done in-competition or when players are out-of-competition.
In 2021, there were a total of 6636 tests out of which 3621 were done in-competition while other 3015 were done out-of-competition. Also, 4581 tests were done by testing player's urine while only 2055 were blood tests.
Tests are usually done randomly but some players can get tested more while others won't need to prove that they are not cheating so often. Last year, no ATP player needed to do more than 27 tests, but the situation was different on the WTA Tour.
Barbora Krejcikova, who lifted her maiden Grand Slam title at last year's Roland Garros, was the most-tested player last year as she had to undergo a doping test a total of 36 times. 11 out of those were in-competition and 25 out-of-competition.
Current world no. 1, Iga Swiatek did also a big number of tests, when she was checked a total of 29 times while Jelena Ostapenko got checked 30 times.
On the ATP Tour, Ricardas Berankis (27) and Andrey Rublev (26) were the most-tested players. But some players from Top 10 of the ATP Rankings got tested quite often too.
Novak Djokovic finished last season as world no. 1 and the Serbian was tested 21 times. His closest competitors in the rankings were tested for a similar number of times as Daniil Medvedev had 20 tests, Stefanos Tsitsipas 22 and Alexander Zverev 21.
On the other hand, his biggest rival in a Grand Slam titles race, Rafael Nadal (last year's world no. 5) was tested only 14 times, the least from Top 10, while Roger Federer had 12 tests.
Women's year-end no. 1, Ashleigh Barty was tested 18 times, no. 2 Aryna Sabalenka had 22 tests and third Garbine Muguruza only 15. Year-end no. 10 Ons Jabeur had to go through the least tests as she was tested only 10 times.
According to data that Tennis-Infinity.com acquired from ITF' Anti-Doping Programme, the most tested players are as follows:
Most-tested players in 2021:
| ATP | WTA |
|---|---|
| Ricardas Berankis (27) | Barbora Krejcikova (36) |
| Andrey Rublev (26) | Elizaveta Koklina (35) |
| Hyeon Chung (25) | Jelena Ostapenko (30) |
| Jan-Lennard Struff (25) | Iga Swiatek (29) |
| Dusan Lajovic (23) | Jessica Pegula (23) |
| Gianluca Mager (23) | Katerina Siniakova (23) |
| Albert Ramos-Vinolas (23) | Anna Blinkova (22) |
| Felix Auger-Aliassime (22) | Sara Errani (22) |
| Miomir Kecmanovic (22) | Danka Kovinic (22) |
| Karen Khachanov (22) | Aryna Sabalenka (22) |
| Pedro Martinez (22) | Kateryna Baindl (21) |
| John Millman (22) | Daria Kasatkina (21) |
| Reilly Opelka (22) | Bernarda Pera (20) |
| Casper Ruud (22) | Shelby Rogers (20) |
| Stefanos Tsitsipas (22) | Arantxa Rus (20) |
| Novak Djokovic (21) | Maria Sakkari (20) |
| Alexander Zverev (21) | Nina Stojanovic (20) |
| Daniel Evans (21) | Jil Teichmann (20) |
| Marcos Giron (21) | Martina Trevisan (20) |
| Yannick Hanfmann (21) | Marketa Vondrousova (20) |
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