- Emma Raducanu revealed that she was bitten by jumping ants on Thursday
- His hand and foot became swollen, but he refused to treat them with antiseptic spray.
- She took this approach after Sinner and Swiatek tested positive for drugs last year.
After overcoming a back spasm caused by tying her shoelaces and battling an attack of jumping ants, Emma Raducanu is ready to take part in the Australian Open.
The 22-year-old appeared confident ahead of her first round, but revealed that she had to seek medical attention the day before after an encounter with one of Australia's many native species.
“These jumping ants stung me very badly,” said Raducanu, who will face 26th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova on Tuesday. 'I had an allergic reaction, my hand and foot swelled and I had to come to the place to see the doctor and get some remedies. But now I'm fine.'
After last year's furor over failed doping tests by Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek, Raducanu refused to use a spray to alleviate his symptoms.
“All of us are pretty sensitive to what we wear,” he said. 'Someone was giving me this antiseptic spray to try to relieve the bites. I thought: I'm going to hold on because I don't want to take the risk.”
Raducanu also clarified that the back 'problem' that forced her to leave the Auckland Open two weeks ago was a spasm that occurred while she was lacing her tennis shoes before practice.
Emma Raducanu was bitten on her hands and feet by jumping ants on Thursday
He refused to treat the bites with antiseptic spray for fear of contamination.
Raducanu decided not to use a spray after Jannik Sinner (left) and Iga Swiatek (right) tested positive for drugs last year.
Despite these setbacks, Raducanu is ready to travel to Melbourne and early reports indicate that her partnership with fitness coach Yutaka Nakamura is going well.
The 52-year-old Japanese has been hired with the mission of keeping Raducanu on the court more frequently and eliminating annoying injuries.
“Yutaka has been a really good addition,” said the world number 60. 'It has helped me a lot in terms of microdosing physical exercises here and there, tapering and managing my loads. I'm someone who's always going to want to try harder, train harder, so sometimes having him help me has been helpful.
'I already feel a difference when I enter the court, as if I were quite reactive and explosive. I think that's because my warm-ups aren't necessarily warm-ups, they're more like a training session. I feel ready to go when I'm on the court.
'Building a body is an ongoing process. It's not something you put a timeline on. But I trust his work and I trust his judgment.'