Emma Raducanu has admitted tennis players are ‘apprehensive’ after high-profile failed drug tests sent shockwaves through the sport.
The 2021 US Open champion opened up on the issue after men’s world No 1 player Jannik Sinner and world No 2 women’s player Iga Swiatek failed drug tests in stories that have been the talk of tennis locker rooms around the world in 2024.
Sinner tested positive for a banned substance twice in March but was absolved of fault or negligence by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA).
The ITIA accepted Sinner’s explanation that clostebol, an anabolic agent that can aid muscle growth, had accidentally entered his system via a product one of his team had used to treat a small wound.
That decision was met with criticism in the tennis world and now Sinner’s agony will continue into 2025 after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) appealed against the ITIA decision and called for a one to two-year ban for the Italian.
There is an expectation in many quarters that Sinner will face a suspension at some point in 2025, but Swiatek’s case appears to be over after the product she took to help her sleep was proven to be contaminated.
The five-time Grand Slam champion was ranked world number one when she provided a sample containing the angina medication trimetazidine in an out-of-competition test on August 12.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) accepted it was caused by contamination of the regulated non-prescription medication melatonin, manufactured and sold in Poland, which Swiatek took for jet lag and sleep issues.
Swiatek’s level of fault was therefore considered to be at the lowest end of the range for ‘No Significant Fault or Negligence’.
Now Raducanu has given her views on the doping stories, as she admits there is an air of concern among leading players after small traces of banned substances threw the careers of Sinner and Swiatek into turmoil.
“I think in general, not just me but a lot of the players I know, we’re quite apprehensive,” she said.
“Everything we take, we are very aware of the situation and how easily things can be contaminated. And there are certain supplements that I may want to take but I can’t take them because they’re over-the-counter and they’re not batch-tested (pre-tested for prohibited substances).
“To batch test something is £1,000 for one little thing, so it’s very expensive. For the things that you really, really need to take, then it’s obviously worth that, but you just have to cut out a lot of things that you wouldn’t necessarily take.
“I’m very careful with what I drink, what I eat. If I leave my water around, I’m very on edge about it. But it’s just part of the sport. We’re all in the same boat.”
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Oliver Niggli, director of WADA, added a new layer to this story when he about the Sinner and Swiatek cases during an interview with L’Equipe, as he hinted the players may be victims of improved technology after minuscule amounts of the banned substances were found in their systems.
“Today there is a problem of contamination,” said Niggli. “There are no more (doping cheats) than before, but laboratories are more efficient in detecting infinitesimal quantities of doping substances. We will have to open a working table to understand how to manage this situation.
“The quantities found are so small that it is possible to become contaminated by doing even trivial things.
“I understand the public, who thinks we are naive and that we believe everything. But the reality is different. There is a problem.
“If we wanted to simplify our lives, we could impose new thresholds and not find all these cases. But the real question is: Are we ready to accept microdosing? Where do we stop?
“With thresholds, we wouldn’t have seen all these cases. What we need to understand is whether we are ready to accept microdosing and where it is right to stop. A working table will be created precisely for this type of reflection.”
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