Emma Raducanu of Britain declined treatment for an insect bite before the start of the Australian Open this weekend out of concern that she would accidentally consume a contaminated product.
Prior to her match against the 26th-seeded Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova in the first round of the competition, the former US Open Champion admitted that she was getting cautious due to recent high-profile doping instances.
Raducanu said: “I got really badly bitten by I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess… They flared up and swelled up really a lot. Someone was giving me this antiseptic spray, natural, to try to ease the bites. I didn’t want to take it. I didn’t want to spray it.”
She added: “I was just left there with my swollen ankle and hand. I was like: ‘I’m just going to tough it out because I don’t want to risk it.’ It’s obviously a concern on our mind.”
High-profile doping scandals
Last year, men’s world number one Jannik Sinner shocked the tennis community when he tested positive for the illegal drug clostebol. He was exempted from a ban after an independent tribunal hearing found he had not been at fault or negligent. The tribunal accepted his explanation that he had been inadvertently contaminated with the drug during a massage by his physiotherapist.
The women’s five-time Grand Slam winner Iga Swiatek also tested positive for a prohibited substance called trimetazidine, which was an ingredient for her sleeping drug melatonin. She was also exempted from a lengthy ban when the tribunal accepted this reasoning.
Raducanu stated that every player needs to be careful. She said: “We’re all in the same boat. I think it’s just how we manage as best as we can the controllable… If something out of our control happens, then it’s going to be a bit of a struggle to try and prove.”
Source: CNA