Rising British tennis star in Wimbledon ‘poisoning plot’
Exclusive: Scotland Yard opens investigation after complaint from player’s parents
SCOTLAND YARD is investigating allegations that a British tennis player was deliberately poisoned while competing at last month’s Wimbledon Championships.
Gabriella Taylor, 18, had to withdraw from the girls’ tournament midway through her quarter-final match after being struck down with a mystery illness.
The Metropolitan Police has launched a criminal investigation amid fears that the player was deliberately poisoned in an attempt to destroy her tournament chances. It was initially thought she had contracted a virus while playing overseas or was suffering from food poisoning.
But after four days in intensive care, doctors diagnosed a rare strain of leptospirosis, a bacteria that can be transmitted through rat urine, prompting her parents to call in the police.
Police officers will investigate whether she could have been the subject of a malicious plot by a rival player or coach on the junior circuit.
Miss Taylor’s parents contacted detectives who have visited the family home in Southampton to speak to the player. They also took away drinks bottles for forensic examination.
Officers have also told Miss Taylor’s parents that they intend to travel to Spain to visit the training camp where their daughter has been based.
Other players, coaches and staff at Wimbledon could now be interviewed by the Metropolitan Police as part of the investigation.
Last night, Miss Taylor’s parents, Paul and Milena, spoke of their fears that their daughter had been deliberately targeted either at the All England Club, where Wimbledon is held, in the London borough of Merton, or at the National Tennis Centre in Roehamp- ton, where Miss Taylor was staying during the tournament.
Mrs Taylor said: “She was staying in a completely healthy environment. 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 were often left unattended in the players’ lounge and someone could have taken the opportunity to contaminate her drink.”
Mrs Taylor added: “Before the tournament she was in very good shape physically. She was totally healthy and playing very well.
“She was full of confidence and was looking forward to getting the title; that was her dream. Everything was going well.
“She got to the quarter-final, but then the next thing she is lying in intensive care close to death. When the infection team explained what it was we could not believe it.”
Leptospirosis is a bacteria which is usually spread by animals and in most cases only causes mild flu-like symptoms. But some strains, including the one Miss Taylor is thought to have contracted, can be far more serious and in rare cases lead to fatal organ failure.
As the bacteria has an incubation period of up to a fortnight, any potential evidence in Miss Taylor’s water bottle could no longer be present.
Mrs Taylor said that as a professional athlete, her daughter was conscious of what she ate. A Wimbledon spokesman confirmed that the teenager had not dined at the players’ facilities during the tournament.
The spokesman said: “The All England Lawn Tennis Club has not been approached about the investigation, which is a police matter.
“There is no record of Miss Taylor using her catering pass to eat on site at the Championships in 2016.”
Asked who she thought might have wanted to harm her daughter, Mrs Taylor said: “That is not for me to say. I just want the police to investigate it fully and it will be up to them how to proceed.” A spokesman for Scotland Yard said: “Merton police are
investigating an allegation of poisoning with intent to endanger life or cause GBH.
“The allegation was received by officers on August 5 with the incident alleged to have taken place at an address in Wimbledon between July 1-10.
“The victim was taken ill on July 6. It is unknown where or when the poison was ingested. The victim, an 18-yearold woman, received hospital treatment and is still recovering.
“There have been no arrests and enquiries continue.”
Miss Taylor has now returned to her training camp in Marbella where she is gradually getting back her strength before resuming her promising career.
Currently ranked 381 in the world, she had been making rapid improvement and was hopeful of taking the Wimbledon Girls Singles’ title when she was struck down.
Her mother said: “What happened to Gabriella has opened our eyes to a world we did not know existed. In the past we have been very naive but from now on we will be extra careful and make sure we know exactly what she eats and drinks when she is on the tour.”
She added: “Gabriella is very, very disappointed. It is going to take her a very long time to recover from this physically and mentally. She almost died.”
Miss Taylor had been playing in her last junior tournament before stepping up to the senior circuit. She had complained of feeling ill earlier in the tournament but had shaken off the symptoms to progress to the quarter-finals.
However, during the match against Kayla Day, of the United States, she was seen walking gingerly around the court, constantly putting her hand to her stomach as she struggled between points. Eventually, after losing the first set 6-4 and with the score at 1-1 in the second, she conceded the match.
Leptospirosis is also known as Weil’s disease – doctors told Miss Taylor’s parents that the strain she had contracted was very rare in Britain.
‘It is going to take her a very long time to recover from this physically and mentally. She almost died’