BENGALURU - As Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek prepare for the new season after a year in which they fell foul of doping rules, positive drug tests due to contamination are a genuine fear for many of their fellow professionals.
Russian former world number five Andrey Rublev echoed Raducanu’s comments, saying he was “super afraid” to ingest anything he was not absolutely sure about.
London-based academic Andrea Petroczi, who is involved in research on anti-doping, said surveys showed increasing concerns among elite athletes around the world about doping violations caused by contamination.
The star duo spent small fortunes on quickly proving how the banned substances had entered their systems but other players, many of whom do not have huge financial resources at their disposal, are understandably jittery.
Many athletes take precautions, Petroczi said, including meticulously checking medications, avoiding any unnecessary treatments, relying on third-party tested supplements and recording batch numbers of supplements and medicines.
Some go as far as maintaining logs and avoiding certain foods in specific countries, but they understand that even the highest levels of vigilance cannot completely eliminate the risk of contamination or environmental exposure.
“Importantly, it’s also crucial to acknowledge that the resources and strategies required for this level of vigilance aren’t universally accessible,” added Petroczi, a professor of public health at Kingston University.