It’s been a tough week for 22-year-old Tennis star Emma Raducanu, who was moved to tears halfway via a match on Tuesday on account of a regarding incident involving a male spectator.
Throughout the opening phases of her match in opposition to Karolína Muchová on the Dubai Tennis Championships this week, the 2021 US Open champ grew to become visibly distressed and alerted the chair umpire to the presence of a person she noticed within the “first few rows” of the small sports activities venue. Because the match got here to a halt, Emma — who has beforehand been the goal of stalking — may very well be seen sobbing profusely and hiding behind the umpire’s chair earlier than being comforted by her opponent.
The person was eliminated by safety, and the match finally continued. Notably, the Girls’s Tennis Affiliation (WTA) subsequently issued an announcement explaining that this was not the primary time Emma had encountered the person — who had apparently “exhibited fixated conduct” in direction of her only a day earlier.
Offering extra context on Emma’s alleged encounter with the person on Monday, a supply informed the Telegraph that the suspected “stalker” had handed her a letter outdoors her resort. The next day at her match, one other insider informed the outlet Emma was left instantly shaken when she acknowledged him within the crowd after having seen him “quite a lot of occasions beforehand.”
The incident has reinvigorated wider issues in regards to the security of athletes in girls’s sports activities, notably at smaller tournaments like these. And now, Emma has issued an announcement in regards to the incident in Dubai, writing on her Instagram Story on Thursday: “Thanks for the messages of assist. Troublesome expertise yesterday however I’ll be okay and happy with how I got here again and competed regardless of what occurred at first of the match.”
In 2022, a 35-year-old man named Amrit Magar was given a five-year restraining order for stalking Emma following her US Open win in 2021. After making quite a few undesirable visits to Emma’s household residence in London, and even stealing an merchandise from their porch as a “memento,” Magar informed authorities he’d been “drawn” to the then-teenage tennis star “due to her high-profile standing.”
It appears Emma has since left Dubai, so we’re sending her nicely needs. We’ll hold you posted on any updates.
