"It can drive you crazy" - Andrey Rublev unhappy with constant anti-doping policy changes

With several tennis superstars feeling the wrath of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in recent months, Russian tennis star Andrey Rublev has opened up on his state of stress due to the always-changing rules.

High-profile names like Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek have received suspensions after testing positive for banned substances. American tennis player Jenson Brooksby was previously suspended from the ATP tour for missing three tests. The 24-year old was initially served with a 18-month ban before winning an appeal to reduce it to 13 months. The ban was subsequently backdated to when the third missed test allegedly happened.

Prior to the start of the 2025 Madrid Open, Rublev admitted he recently forgot to change his schedule on one of WADA's forms. This could have led to him not being in a specified location should the governing body decide to randomly test him, causing him to potentially have a strike against his name.

"It’s an issue that scares me," said Rublev. "We have to write down in a schedule where we’ll be at every hour of the day. If you forget or aren’t there, it’s one of three mistakes. It’s not fair. This makes you live in a constant state of stress. For example, yesterday I forgot to adjust my schedule because I came to Madrid. Luckily, nothing serious happened."

Furthermore, the defending Madrid champion stated he was now very cautious about taking medication or eating certain foods that could contained banned substances without him knowing.

"Over the years, I’ve become wary of taking medication," he added. "If I feel sick, I avoid taking anything. In my case, I’m lucky to be able to talk to doctors, but that’s not the case for everyone. The doubts even extend to food; there are prohibited substances even in meat. It can drive you crazy."