Female Tennis Player May Have Been Poisoned With Rat Urine at Wimbledon

Police believe female tennis player Gabriella Taylor may have been poisoned with rat urine at Wimbledon in July.

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The girls’ junior tennis circuit is "fiercely competitive," according to the Daily Telegraph. How competitive? Well, the Telegraph is reporting that Scotland Yard is currently investigating the suspected poisoning of up-and-coming tennis star Gabriella Taylor at the junior girls’ tournament at Wimbledon in July. And some of the details surrounding their investigation are absolutely insane.

The 18-year-old Taylor was forced to withdraw from a quarterfinal match at the junior girls’ competition at Wimbledon with what she thought was food poisoning. However, her condition eventually got so bad that she was forced to spend four days in the ICU at a local hospital:

Despite her lengthy hospital visit, doctors couldn’t figure out what was wrong with Taylor. That is, until they finally diagnosed her with Leptospirosis, a disease that can be fatal and that is often transmitted through—are you ready for this?—rat urine. It’s a very rare disease that is usually only spotted in animals, and in fact, it’s so rare that her family doesn't believe she caught it accidentally. There are a bunch of theories floating around right now—as the Telegraph points out, there are some investigators who believe a crime syndicate may have poisoned Taylor to prevent her from winning her quarterfinal Wimbledon match—but it’s still unclear what happened to her. Taylor’s mother is obviously very suspicious about the circumstances surrounding her daughter’s illness and feels foul play may have had something to do with it.

"She was staying in a completely healthy environment," her mother told the Telegraph. "For her to get ill in these circumstances, with rat urine, was just impossible. The bacteria the infection team found is so rare in Britain that we feel this could not have been an accident. Her bags with her drinks in [them] were often left unattended in the players’ lounge and someone could have taken the opportunity to contaminate her drink."

There is, of course, a chance that the strain of bacteria that causes Leptospirosis could have found its way into Taylor’s system accidentally. But police are currently on the case trying to get to the bottom of it. In the meantime, Taylor has finally returned to the tennis court:

But there’s absolutely no way this ordeal won’t haunt her for weeks, months, and even years to come.

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