Tennis star Naomi Osaka opens up on 'scary' 5am drug test wake-up call just days before beginning her French Open campaign
Former world number one Naomi Osaka revealed she endured a 'scary' 5am wake-up call to be drug tested on Saturday.
The Japanese star, who plays Paula Badosa in the first round of the French Open on Monday, was targeted by anti-doping control at the crack of dawn in Paris.
The testers, she said, often struggle to find her veins as they attempt to take a blood sample, sometimes leaving her arms bruised.
'I honestly don't know the rules about talking about anti-doping,' said the 27-year-old. 'Am I allowed to say whatever I want?
'I don't know. They're kind of scary. Yeah, for me, anti-doping is like - I don't have a great relationship with them, just because they always come and take blood and urine, which I don't know if that disgusts people to say, but whatever, and my veins are, like, very notoriously hard to find.
'One person once told me it was like a Japanese thing. I don't know if that's accurate. Yeah, so they come at 5am and 'stick' me multiple times.
'Usually they can't find my veins, so they have three attempts to find it. Sometimes they can't find it.
'They're like, "oops, sorry, let me try this arm, let me try this arm, let me try this arm". I always have to tell them "hey, my playing arm is my right arm, I prefer the left, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah".
'And today was kind of scary, because the last year I was here they also came at 5:00am, and the lady couldn't find my veins at all.
'I had huge bruises on my arms for a while. Thankfully it wasn't the same lady. No shade to her. And yeah, today was a success because luckily I had to use the bathroom when they woke me up, so...'
Britain's Emma Raducanu admitted she has undergone similar unpleasant experiences.
'Sometimes it feels like pin the donkey, because at 6am you're not very hydrated and everything,' she said.
'It's like you can't get any blood out, and they have however many attempts. That's a bit difficult, but I think we all have to go through it.
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