MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Anna Kournikova has settled one of the ongoing debates at this year's Australian Open -- the fabled tattoo on her back does not exist.

Speculation has been rife after Kournikova was photographed with a large plaster on her back just above the waistband of her skirt.

But laughing at reports the plaster was to cover up the name of a boyfriend or some body art, the blonde Russian said: "I don't think I have anything on my body, no.

"It is a heat patch... I have had chronic back pain and it is a heat patch I have worn for some years. "My skirt is a little lower this year which is why you can now see it."
---> See a bigger pic of her patch