WIMBLEDON, LONDON: The All England Lawn Tennis Club, Wimbledon organisers, took quick action when they learned that Emma Raducanu’s stalker had attempted to purchase tickets for this month’s tournament via the public ballot.
The stalker’s name was identified during a security screening, as tennis authorities had previously shared it following the incident in Dubai.
Wimbledon is dedicated to prioritising each athlete’s safety. The event’s chief executive, Sally Bolton, admitted: “We’re liaising with the tours, with the Met police, with other security agencies right through the year to think about the types of risks we need to look at and adjusting what we put in place.”
She added: “I would say to players should have confidence when they’re here, and if they are concerned on any basis they should come and talk to us about that because we can put bespoke arrangements in place.”
The incident in Dubai
At the Dubai Tennis Championships last February, Raducanu was approached by her stalker near the player’s hotel, handed her a letter and requested for a photo. The athlete then felt uncomfortable after encountering him at previous events.
Moreover, during her match, she once again saw him in the audience, which caused her to break down. Raducanu then hid behind the umpire’s chair, and the security removed the man from the premises, and the police issued him a restraining order.
Raducanu admitted at that time:“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.”
“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.”
She added: “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.”