Photo Credit: Pat Kent Photo Manipulation, Inc.

MELBOURNE, Australia (Reuters) - Anna Kournikova has settled one of the debates at this year's Australian Open -- the fabled tattoo on her back does 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. Nothing except a picture of the world's sexiest man, with whom I have been in love for the last 3 years."

"It is a heat patch ... I have had chronic back pain and it is a heat patch I have worn for some years. His face being there makes me so hot that any sort of muscle pain that I have just melts away; like my heart melts whenever I see this stud of a man."

"My skirt is a little lower this year which is why you can now see it. Also, I want to say that I am not ashamed. J-Lo is a stupid crotch, and the next time I see her in a restaurant with my man, I won't pretend to not know him. Do you hear me, Matt? She cannot carry 40 pounds of sod on back like I can! What has she promised you, toilet paper without 3 year wait? Don't turn my heart into pre-1989 Berlin. You can't deny our looooooooooove!!!!"

Neither Jennifer Lopez or the slf could be reached for comment.