Emma Raducanu has shared details about a stalking incident last month, which left her deeply affected.
The unsettling event took place during her match against Karolina Muchova at the Dubai Open when a man was removed from the venue for his behaviour. He was given a restraining order and banned from attending future tournaments.
This unfortunate incident left the 22-year-old athlete visibly shaken. Raducanu has not competed since the event but is now gearing up for the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.
Raducanu said: “I was obviously very distraught… I saw him in the first game of the match and I was like, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to finish’…I literally couldn’t see the ball through tears. I could barely breathe.”
She added: “I was playing Karolina, who’s top 17 in the world or something. I’m like, ‘I need to just take a breather here,’ and then the first four games kind of ran away from me… I was not on the court, to be honest, and I’m not really sure how I regrouped…I think that was a pretty good effort for me to carry on playing in that match, in that scenario. I finished the match, and I even had chances in the first set, but, yeah, it was a very emotional time.”
The unnamed man has been following Raducanu from one country to another this year, tracking her through tournaments in Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Doha, and Dubai. Though he has been banned from Indian Wells, Raducanu, the British No. 2, will be accompanied by additional security throughout the event to ensure her safety. She will also be accompanied by security at all times when she is out in public.
She shared: “There were two instances… It was the second one that I just got freaked out by… The first one was more like a normal fan approaching you, except for the fact that he told me he followed me everywhere…And then he kind of watched me in the coffee shop for a while. The second incident was really worrying.”
After these difficult weeks, Raducanu will find it a relief to focus on playing tennis again.