Emma Raducanu ‘will be OK’ after ‘difficult experience’ involving a man in Dubai

Emma Raducanu says she will be OK after a “difficult experience” at the Dubai Tennis Championships where she was approached by a man displaying “fixated behaviour” before her second-round defeat to Karolina Muchova.

The individual reportedly handed Raducanu a letter the day before her match with Muchova before he was then spotted in the first few rows of the crowd at the United Arab Emirates event on Tuesday.

Play was stopped as Raducanu spoke to the umpire before she stood behind the umpire’s chair as a man was eventually removed from the court.

After Raducanu used a towel to seemingly wipe away tears, the former US Open champion impressively regained composure to continue the match, but lost 7-6 (6) 6-4 after two hours and four minutes.

Raducanu has reflected on the incident in a post to her Instagram story, saying: “Thank you for the messages of support.

“Difficult experience yesterday but I’ll be okay 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.”

In February 2022, stalker Amrit Magar, who walked 23 miles to Raducanu’s home and took her father’s shoe as a souvenir, was handed a five-year restraining order.

A statement from the Women’s Tennis Association revealed Raducanu had been approached in a public area by a man the day before she faced Muchova.

“This same individual was identified in the first few rows during Emma’s match on Tuesday at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships and subsequently ejected. He will be banned from all WTA events pending a threat assessment.

“Player safety is our top priority, and tournaments are advised on security best practices for international sporting events.

“The WTA is actively working with Emma and her team to ensure her well-being and provide any necessary support.

“We remain committed to collaborating with tournaments and their security teams worldwide to maintain a safe environment for all players.”

The Lawn Tennis Association has been in touch with Raducanu and highlighted the “extensive security arrangements” that will be in place for summer tournaments in the UK.

It was announced on Tuesday that Raducanu would feature in the first women’s tennis event at Queen’s Club in June.

An LTA statement read: “This incident once again highlights issues around safety that all players, but female players in particular, can face.

“We have support available for British players and have been in contact with Emma and her team following the events in Dubai.

“We have extensive security arrangements at our events in Britain and keep these under constant review. The tours have strong processes in place already and we will continue to work together along with police and security providers to deal with situations like this robustly.”

Raducanu produced a spirited display against Muchova after being 4-0 down, but was edged out in a tie-break before an early break for the Czech player in the second set proved enough to book her place in the last 16.