Feb. 20 (UPI) — Emma Raducanu says she “will be OK” after being brought to tears at the Dubai Championships because of a man who approached her in a public area and was later ejected when seen in the stands of her match.
Raducanu, who lost to Karolina Muchova on Tuesday in the Round of 32 match, addressed the indicent for the first time publicly Wednesday on her Instagram story.
“Thank you for the messages of support,” Raducanu wrote. “Difficult experience yesterday, but I’ll be OK 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.”
The WTA released a statement after Raducanu’s match, saying the man “exhibited fixated behavior” toward the 22-year-old British tennis start. The man, who was seen in the first few rows of the match, was banned from all WTA events.
Raducanu, the 2021 U.S. Open women’s singles champion, was previously targeted by a stalker. That man, who traveled to her home multiple times, was charged in 2022.
Raducanu is the No. 61 player in the WTA singles rankings. Muchova, who is from the Czech Republic, is ranked No. 17. Muchova will meet No. 89 Sorana Cirstea of Romania in the quarterfinals at 10:40 a.m. EST Thursday in Dubai.
With two matches on the docket for today’s semifinals at the ATX Open, No. 4-ranked Jessica Pegula versus No. 111 Ajla Tomljanovic stands out as part
It's a big day on the ATP tour with Stefanos Tsitsipas and Felix Auger-Aliassime contesting the Dubai final, and that will be followed by semi-final action in A
Felix Auger Aliassime, of Canada, returns to Jack Draper, of the United Kingdom, during the Cincinnati Open at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason on Frid
Like Rio de Janeiro last week, the ATP Santiago semifinal line-up consists of three Argentinians and one European. Sebastian Baez faces Camilo Ugo Carabelli
