Emma Raducanu disclosed that she was afraid about passing a drug test prior to the Australian Open, so she declined to apply an antiseptic spray to bug bites.
The British tennis player, 22, said that while her hand and ankle swelled, she declined the treatment in case the contamination resulted in a positive drug test.
At a pre-tournament press conference on Friday, Raducanu told reporters: “I think we’re all quite cautious about what we use and what we take on board.
I was severely bitten by anything yesterday, such as ants or mosquitoes, for instance. I suppose I have an allergy.
“They flared up and swelled up really a lot.”
“Someone was giving me this natural antiseptic spray to try to ease the bites,” she said.
“I refused to accept it. I was reluctant to spray it. With my hand and ankle swelling, I was essentially left there.
“I didn’t want to take the chance, so I was thinking I was just going to tough it out.
“Clearly, we are worried about it. All of us are in the same situation.
“I believe it just comes down to how we handle the controllables as best we can. It will be quite difficult to attempt to show if something uncontrollable occurs.
‘I’m a dangerous opponent for anyone’
Raducanu has been practicing at Melbourne Park this week after missing her planned warm-up tournament in Auckland last week due to what she described as a back problem.
She claimed that a spasm sustained when training in London was the cause of the issue.
“I got a spasm one morning as I was warming up and bending over to tighten my laces. “That’s what it was,” she said.
“Clearing took a long time. They are not new to me. Usually, they settle in a few days. However, this one bothered me for a few weeks. I was unable to play in Auckland and had to miss a significant amount of training prior to my departure.
