Emma Raducanu reveals her stalker directly told her in the face that he had been following her everywhere before also sharing that she “couldn’t see the ball through tears” and being on the verge of a panic attack after noticing him in the Dubai stands.
This week, the world No. 55 is competing in Indian Wells and playing her first tournament since the incident that took place three weeks ago in Dubai.
After keeping a relatively low profile for the past few weeks, the British tennis star spoke with the media in the desert.
And Raducanu confirmed that it was true that a day before the scary on-court scene in Dubai, she was approached by a stalker in a coffee shop while sitting alone.
“There were two instances and it was the second one that I just got freaked out by,” the 22-year-old shared.
“The first one was more like a normal fan approaching you, except for the fact he told me he followed me from everywhere.
“And then [he] kind of watched me in the coffee shop for a while… the second incident was really worrying.”
Raducanu: I couldn’t see the ball through tears, I could barely breathe
After losing the opening two games of her Dubai second-round match against Karolina Muchova, the former world No. 10 approached the chair umpire and said something through tears.
Then, she hid behind the umpire’s chair.
“I was obviously very distraught,” Raducanu admitted.
“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 like, I need to just take a breather here.”
In Indian Wells, the 2021 US Open champion was granted extra security and she admitted that if it wasn’t one of her favorite tournaments, she maybe wouldn’t be here this week.
In her Indian Wells opener, Raducanu plays against Moyuka Uchijima.
Tennis World USA