New Delhi: Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) has imposed a ban on a spectator who displayed fixated behaviour towards former US Open champion Emma Raducanu during her Dubai Tennis Championships match. The man’s psychotic behaviour left Raducanu terrified and she was spotted in tears after the clash.
The incident happened during Raducanu’s second-round defeat to Karolina Muchova at the Dubai Tennis Championships. The 22-year-old Brit after being terrified by the man’s behaviour hid behind the umpire’s chair two games into the match, which stopped the contest for a brief time. The British tennis player alerted the chair umpire about the situation and the man was finally removed from court 3.
WTA takes action
WTA released a statement on Wednesday where the body said that the man has be banned from all the WTA events pending a threat assessment. The spectator first approached Raducanu on Monday in a public area and exhibited fixated behaviour. The same man was found to be sitting in he first few rows during the player’s match in Tuesday and subsequently removed.
The WTA also said in the statement that the safety of the players is of utmost importance to the body and the tournaments are advised on providing the best security for the international sporting events. The statement further read that the WTA is working closely with Emma and her team to ensure any kind of support and also look after her well-being.
‘We remain committed to collaborating with tournaments and their security teams worldwide to maintain a safe environment for all players,’ it added.
Despite the incident, Raducanu tried her best to continue and returned to the court but unfortunately lost 6-7, 4-6 amid a applause for the player from the audience. This is not the first time something of this sort has happened to the star player as three years back also, a stalker walked to Raducanu’s home and took her father’s shoe as a souvenir.
The spectator who exhibited fixated behaviour on couple of occasions towards Emma Raducanu has been banned by the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA). Tennis Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
