New Delhi: Emma Raducanu opened up about the difficult experience involving a male spectator who exhibited fixated behaviour toward her during her match against Karolina Muchova at the Dubai Tennis Championships.
The 22-year-old spoke about the incident when she was forced to alert the officials during mid-match to the presence of an individual in the stands who had bothered her earlier in the tournament. She looked uncomfortable after losing the first two games in her match against Karolina and approached the umpire’s chair in tears before the start of the third game.
After a discussion with the tournament director, security officials removed the male spectator and resumed the match. The World No.2 slipped 4-0 behind before making a comeback to send the first set into a tie-break but eventually fell to a 7-6 (6), 6-4 defeat.
WTA released a statement after the incident and stated that Emma was approached by a man in a public area who exhibited fixated behaviour and he was identified in the first few rows during her match on Tuesday and subsequently ejected. The statement further stated that the spectator will be banned from all WTA events pending a threat assessment.
The statement also added that player safety is the body’s top priority, tournaments are advised on security best practices for international sporting events and the WTA is actively working with Emma and her team to ensure her well-being and provide any necessary support.
‘Difficult experience yesterday but I’ll be OK’: Emma Raducanu
Raducanu thanked the fans for their support and said that it was a difficult experience yesterday but she’ll be ok and proud that she came back and competed despite what happened at the start of the match.
“Thank you for the messages of support. “Difficult experience yesterday but I’ll be OK and proud of how I came back and competed despite what happened at the start of the match. Thank you to Karolina for being a great sport and best of luck to her for the rest of the tournament” Raducanu said on Instagram.
The world no.2 Emma Raducanu opened up about the difficult experience involving a male spectator who “exhibited fixated behaviour” toward her during the Dubai Tennis Championships. Tennis Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
