Emma Raducanu “couldn’t see the ball through tears” and could “barely breathe” throughout her stalking ordeal at the Dubai Open last month.
The 22-year-old Briton endured a harrowing ordeal when she was the target of “fixated” behaviour from a man during her second-round match against Karolina Muchova.
A visibly stressed Raducanu was brought to tears and was moved to hide behind the umpire’s chair before increased security arrived as Muchova consoled her opponent.
In the build-up to her return to the court at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, Raducanu has opened up on her ordeal, having dropped charges against the man, who was given a restraining order and banned from future WTA events.
“I was obviously very distraught,” Raducanu told reporters before her first-round match against Japan’s Moyuka Uchijima on Thursday. “I saw him in the first game of the match and I was like, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to finish.’ I literally couldn’t see the ball through tears. I could barely breathe.
“I was playing Karolina, who’s top 17 in the world or something. I’m like, ‘I need to just take a breather here,’ and then the first four games kind of ran away from me. I was not on the court, to be honest, and I’m not really sure how I regrouped.
“I think that was a pretty good effort for me to carry on playing in that match, in that scenario. I finished the match, and I even had chances in the first set, but, yeah, it was a very emotional time.”
The incident occurred early in the first set, and Raducanu regrouped and competed after the man was removed from the arena, though she eventually lost 7-6 6-4.
Raducanu disclosed that she had previously been approached twice by the man off-court. Her locum coach Roman Kelecic told a Croatian news website that the unnamed man had followed her over four consecutive WTA events in Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Doha and Dubai. The man approached Raducanu and handed her a letter at a cafe during a brief moment when she was not with a team member.
“There were two instances, and it was the second one that I just got freaked out by,” Raducanu said. “The first one was more like a normal fan approaching you, except for the fact that he told me he followed me everywhere. And then he kind of watched me in the coffee shop for a while … the second incident was really worrying.”
“It was a very emotional time. After the match I did break down in tears, but not necessarily because I lost.
“There was just so much emotion in the last few weeks of the events happening, and I just needed that week off to take a breather and come here. I feel a lot better.”
Raducanu maintains the situation "could have been dealt with better". She told BBC Sport: “Since that incident I have definitely got increased attention and greater security. All we can do is look at what happened and react to it in a better way, in a more positive way, rather than looking back and blaming the situation.
"Now it is being dealt with better, so for me that's important. I'm now always very aware and not necessarily doing things on my own any more. I'm always with someone and always being watched."
Uchijima, Raducanu’s first-round opponent in California, is ranked three places above her at 52 in the world. The winner is guaranteed to face third seed Coco Gauff, with the top 32 players all receiving byes through to the second round.
