Raducanu turns down insect bite treatment over doping fears in Australia
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Emma Raducanu says the chance of ingesting a contaminated substance is a notable concern on the minds of tennis players at a time when Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek continue to navigate the fallout of two of the most high profile anti-doping cases in the history of the sport.
![[Iga Swiatek]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/88b426b1556ce5068e5c5078c5d53022a052f214/133_181_2873_1723/master/2873.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Speaking at her pre-tournament press conference at the Australian Open before her first round match against the 26th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova on Monday, Raducanu said players must “manage the controllables” as well as they can. She had suffered a significant insect bite the previous day but declined the antiseptic spray she was provided because she did not want to risk taking a banned substance.
“I got really badly bitten by I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” said Raducanu. “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. 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. We’re all in the same boat. I think it’s just how we manage as best as we can the controllables. If something out of our control happens, then it’s going to be a bit of a struggle to try and prove.”. Sinner, the world no 1 and Australian Open title favourite, still does not know the date of his appeal hearing with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas). Sinner was initially found to bear no fault or negligence and he received no suspension in August after testing positive for the banned substance clostebol. Sinner had successfully argued the substance had entered his body by contamination through his physio, Giacomo Naldi, but the ruling was subsequently appealed to Cas by the World Anti Doping Agency (Wada).
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