Indies, California – Emma Raducanu said she “can’t see the tears and see the ball” and tried to breathe after finding a man “fixed” in the game.
The British tennis player and the 2021 U.S. Open champion were frustrated by his presence in the stands at the Dubai Championship last month.
The man was already close to Raducanu earlier in the game and was deported after talking to the presidential referee in the second round against Karolina Muchova. Later, he was detained by Dubai police and signed a document that guaranteed “stay distance” of Rakanu. The WTA said he “expressed fixed behavior.”
“I’m obviously upset,” Ladanu told British reporters at the Paris National Open in France in Wells, India, her first match since the incident.
“I saw him in the first game of the game and I was like, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to finish’. I literally can’t see the ball in tears. I can hardly breathe. I was like, “I need to take a breath here.”
Raducanu reorganized to compete after withdrawing from the arena but withdrew from 7-6, 6-4.
“It was a very exciting time,” Radanu added. “I did cry after the game, but it wasn’t necessarily because I lost.”
Raducanu told the BBC that the incident “would have been handled better” but security improvements have been made.
“I’m always very aware now that I don’t necessarily do things myself. I’m always with someone and I’m always watched,” Ladanu told the BBC.
In 2022, an obsessed Raducanu fan got a restraining order after coming to her home three times.
Raducanu will face Japan’s Moyuka Uchijima, who ranked 52nd in the world in her first round in California on Thursday. The winner will be sure to face the third-seeded Coco Gauff, with the top 32 players meeting the second round again.
