Police investigate Wimbledon poisoning

British police have launched an investigation into a report that a British junior player at Wimbledon was poisoned before a match.

The allegations suggest that Gabriella Taylor, who had to quit the event on July 6, fell ill from a bacterial infection known to be spread through rat urine.

The 18-year-old player was treated in a Southampton hospital intensive care unit for four days for the infection leptospirosis, usually spread by animals.

London’s Daily Telegraph on Thursday quoted her mother Milena Taylor as saying experts had told her the infection was so rare “that we feel this could not have been an accident”.

Police say they are awaiting more medical opinions and that no arrests have been made in the case.

Taylor owned a No.381 ranking and is now back on court training.

She had been forced to quit a junior quarter-final against American Kayla Day. There have been suggestions Taylor could have been targeted by a rival or perhaps an international betting syndicate.