Background and career
Varvara Petrivna Lepchenko (born May 21, 1986) is an Uzbekistan-born American professional tennis player. She played for Uzbekistan before relocating to the United States. Lepchenko won a singles title on the WTA Challenger Tour and 13 singles titles and one doubles title on the ITF Women's Circuit, she won all her 14 ITF titles in the United States. Lepchenko has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 19, achieved in October 2012.
She was provisionally suspended from the WTA Tour in 2016 after testing positive for the heart medication meldonium, although she was found to "bear no fault or negligence" by the International Tennis Federation. In 2022, Lepchenko was suspended from tennis for four years (backdated to August 2021), after testing positive for the stimulant adrafinil, and its metabolite, modafinil. In February 2023, her suspension was reduced to 21 months, and she started playing again in May of that year.
