A tearing Emma Raducanu was reduced to shrinking behind the referee's seat at the Dubai Open after she had seen a man who had previously 'fixed behavior' in the direction of her sitting in the stands.
Raducanu's rained encounter with Karolina Muchova was only two games old when the 22-year-old approached the chair referee, Miriam Bley in Germany, in visible need.
She seemed to offer a few short explanations before she withdrew behind the referee's chair, where she was comforted by her Czech opponent, while Bley Tournament officers called to warn them about the problem.
The WTA, the administrative body of the women's game, later issued a statement that revealed that the man was removed from the stands and would be excluded from attending future WTA events pending further investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident.
“On Monday, February 17, Emma Raducanu was approached in a public area by a man who showed fixed behavior,” said the statement.
Emma Raducanu was left sad and in tears after she was repeatedly approached by a man at the Dubai Open
The former British No1 communicated with the referee after she seemed to notice that someone had watched the match
While Raducanu sheltered behind the referee's chair, her opponent Karoline Muchova walked her way to comfort her
'This same person was identified in the first pair of rows during the Emma game on Tuesday on the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships and then ejected. He will be banned from all WTA events pending a threat assessment.
'The safety of players is our top priority and tournaments are advised on best practices for security for international sporting events.
'The WTA actively works with Emma and her team to guarantee her well -being and to offer all the necessary support. We continue to work together with tournaments and their security teams worldwide to maintain a safe environment for all players. '
Although no details have yet been revealed about the identity of the man, it is clear that there is no connection between the last incident and an earlier case involving a delivery person from the northwest of London who in February 2022 after repeatedly a restrictive order of Five years received visiting the Raducanu house.
After that episode, Raducanu said that the actions of Amrit Magar, who held around her house, left unwanted gifts and cards and owned the veranda stable, felt her unsafe in her own house and 'constantly looked over her shoulder'.
“Since all this has happened, I have felt crossed,” Raducanu said in a statement at the time. “I feel very scared when I go, especially when I'm alone.”
“That is why I feel that my freedom has been removed from me. I constantly look over my shoulder. I feel sharp and worry that this could happen again. '
The player fought and returned to see the game, but could not go back after losing the first set
Amrit Magar, 35, received a five -year home ban and sentenced to a community order of 18 months in 2022
Magar visited the Raducanu family house for the first time in November 2021 with a bouquet of flowers and a note, but said he was a delivery person who dropped off someone else's gifts
Raducanu's first meeting with Muchova, a former French Open -Finalist who is ranked so high as eighth in the world, was originally planned for the court one in Dubai's Aviation Club Tennis Center before the bad weather forced a switch to Court Two.
The court is sandwiched between two others, with spectators behind the basic line instead of on either side of the court. That means that Raducanu, who then lost 7-6 (8-6), 6-4, would be aimed directly of the man from one end, while he was aware of his presence behind her to the other.
Although Raducanu could continue after a short delay, comparisons will inevitably be drawn with similar incidents with high -profile female players.
The most notorious of those involved Monica Seles, a former world NR.
Her attacker, a 38-year-old German named Günter Parche, went his way past security personnel before he put a knife in the upper back of Seles. He was motivated by the desire to see Steffi Graf, the German rival of Seles, recover in no. 1.
Seles, who was 19 at that time, had gathered eight Grand Slam titles by the time of the incident, but would add one more before her retirement in 2008.
But although the incident is generally considered as having changed the course of tennis history, it did very little to change the feeling of security among players.
In September 2001, a 34-year-old German husband named Albrecht Stromeyer Serena Williams started in Stalken, after her about tournaments in Europe and the US before he was finally arrested by the police during the US Open of the following year.
The American former world no. 1 was later hunted by another man, Patenema Oudraogo, who was 40 when the police arrested him when he tried to enter a gated complex in South Florida, where Williams lived at the time in 2011.
Raducanu's second round loss against Muchova came because the player wanted to build an important run during the Swing in the Middle East after two disappointing first round outputs.
The player received a wildcard access to both the Abu Dhabi Open and the Qatar Open, but was eliminated in Straight Sets by former Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrusova and the Australian Open -opponent Ekaterina Alexandrova.
