British tennis star Emma Raducanu said Wimbledon did “an amazing job” in preventing a man who was accused of stalking her from buying tickets to the championships at SW19 this month.
The man followed Raducanu to at least four competitions earlier this year, and on noticing him at a tournament in Dubai, the world No. 38 previously said she “couldn’t see the ball through tears” due to her distress.
British media reported that the man had tried to obtain tickets to Wimbledon, but was flagged and blocked by the All England Club’s security system.
“Wimbledon and everyone did an amazing job. I got a notification, the police contacted me and told me everything was OK,” Raducanu told BBC Sport.
“I know that I am not the first athlete to go through this, and I probably won’t be the last – not just as an athlete, but females in general.”
In March, Raducanu noticed what the WTA called a “fixated” man during a match at the Dubai Tennis Championships, explaining that the incident left her “distraught.”
“I saw him in the first game of the match and I was like, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to finish,’” she said at the time. “I literally couldn’t see the ball through tears. I could barely breathe. I was like, ‘I need to just take a breather.’”
The man, who had also been at previous tournaments in Singapore, Abu Dhabi and Doha before appearing in Dubai, was ejected from the tournament and later detained by Dubai police. He signed a document pledging to “maintain distance” from Raducanu.
‘Genuine connection’ with Alcaraz
Meanwhile, Raducanu will pair up with five-time grand slam champion Carlos Alcaraz at this year’s revamped US Open mixed doubles, which will take place on August 19 and 20, several days before the scheduled start of the last slam of the year.
“He asked me earlier on in the year. I was very surprised and honored and obviously excited,” Raducanu told BBC Sport, adding that she “went through the formality of asking my coach. But of course, I’m gonna say yes.”
Raducanu, who shot to fame when she won the 2021 US Open aged 18 having come through qualifying, said that she has a close friendship with Alcaraz which blossomed in 2021.
“We go back a long way. And I think we both started getting to know each other a lot more in 2021 and when I had that run at Wimbledon. … I think he won, like, in five sets in the first round or something,” she explained.
“Ever since, we stayed in touch, and he’s done so well obviously since and continued winning. … It’s been amazing to see.”
Raducanu has also reflected on their long-standing friendship and “genuine connection” with Alcaraz
“It is nice and I think, for all of us, we really value those connections that we had from when we were young,” Raducanu said, per The Guardian.
“Because when you become a bit more known or a bit more successful, you just find yourself reverting back to people you knew from a young age and because that’s a real genuine connection, because it becomes very busy and you have a lot more friends – but the ones that you’ve known for a long time mean a lot more to you.”
CNN’s George Ramsay contributed reporting.
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