Serena Williams claims 'discrimination' over frequent drug tests: "I'm the one getting tested the most"
Serena Williams is not holding back in explaining why she thinks she’s tested for doping more than any other top male or female tennis players in the sports industry. The mother-of-one took to Twitter to explain this. “It’s that time of the day to get ‘randomly’ drug tested and only test Serena,” she wrote on Tuesday (July 24). “Out of all the players it’s been proven I’m the one getting tested the most. Discrimination? I think so.” However, Serena looked at it with a positive outlook as she wrote in another tweet, "But I’m ready to do whatever it takes to have a clean sport so bring it on. I’m excited." The topic of Serena being tested more than other athletes came to light after Deadspin published an article which showed that she was tested for doping more than others.
The outlet found out that Serena had been tested five times this year (as of June). This was more than double the number of tests for other top American female tennis players. In fact, the outlet also found out that she had been tested more than any of the top five American male players this year. Serena decided to comment on this topic while appearing during a press conference before a match for Wimbledon earlier this month.
“I never knew that I was tested so much more than everyone else. Until I read that article, I didn’t realize it was such a discrepancy with me. ... It would be impossible for me to not feel some kind of way about that,” she said. “Tennis has given me so much. It’s such an amazing sport. I feel like equality, that’s all I’ve been preaching, it’s all about equality."
Serena added that she felt she was being pushed out: “If that’s testing everyone five times, let’s do it. Let’s be a part of it. It’s just about being equal and not centering one person out. Just due to the numbers, it looks like I’m being pushed out. Just test everyone equally.”
Serena's ex, Common (real name Lonnie Rashid Lynn) also agreed with what Serena had to say. When asked by TMZ if "As a black woman, do you think she's getting discriminated against?" he replied, "YES". "If they're testing her more than anyone else, it's a reason for that. And there's conscious and subconscious and I would say conscious is the fact that she's a black woman and they're looking for some reason to be able to take her down and discredit her ... but she's the queen!" he said.
He further added, "She's one of the greatest figures in sports EVER and leaders. She's an incredible human being. I don't know why they wanna bring her down. She does so much for the sport." Serena returned to competition this season after missing more than a year as a result of pregnancy.