Emma Raducanu joined the list of players reacting to the recent doping case of the WTA's World No. 2 player, Iga Swiatek.
When the unpleasant news broke out that Swiatek tested positive for trimetazidine (TMZ), her colleagues on the WTA Tour already knew that for the following months, they would have to face questions about what they thought about it.
Naturally, if such a successful player tests positive, many media outlets are interested in the opinion of fellow players, but most of the time, those players don't want to get too involved in such conversations for various reasons.
Still, almost every high-profile WTA player faced the question in the past couple of weeks, and Raducanu didn't avoid it either in an interview during her off-season training.
The British player is currently preparing to return to action, and she also had some time to help local communities with some charity work. She will start her season at the ASB Classic in Auckland, but before flying to Australia and then New Zealand later this year, she spoke to British media, as per The Telegraph.
She was asked about Swiatek's case, but unlike some of her colleagues, Raducanu chose not to comment on the length of the suspension or the process behind it.
Instead, she explained how easily contamination can happen and how she also, as an athlete, tries to be very careful with what she puts in her body.
"Not just me, but a lot of the players I know, we're quite apprehensive. Everything we take, we are very aware of the situation and how easily things can be contaminated."
Raducanu explained that while she would maybe like to take more supplements than she does at the moment, she might not take some because they are not batch-tested, and she wants to avoid possible contamination.
"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. To batch-test something, it costs a grand 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."
On top of that, the British sensation tries to be careful with everything she eats and drinks. Anytime she leaves her drink behind, she doesn't really want to drink it, unaware of whether it might have been contaminated in some way in the meantime.
"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."
Raducanu's comments highlight how challenging the life of an athlete can be, as they have to deal not only with injuries, personal challenges, rowdy crowds, and hateful comments on social media but also the difficulties of trying to avoid contamination.
