Emma Raducanu’s coach claims the tennis star’s stalker followed her across multiple countries.
The British tennis star was reduced to tears on court during her second round defeat to Karolina Muchova at the Dubai Tennis Championship on Tuesday after spotting a ‘stalker’ in the crowd.
Raducanu became visibly distressed and alerted officials to the presence of a male spectator, who had previously approached her following her first round victory at the tournament.
The WTA later released a statement revealing that the individual in question would be banned from all future events on the tour, having ‘exhibited fixated behaviour’ towards the 2021 US Open champion.
Roman Kelecic, who coached Raducanu as a junior and was seen working with her recently, alleged the man in question trailed her in Singapore, the UAE and Qatar in the past month.
The man was arrested by Dubai Police on Tuesday night, although charges were later dropped.
The police said he signed an undertaking not to go near Raducanu again and was banned from future tournaments.
Speaking about the incident in Croatian media, Kelecic said: “It’s a creepy story.
“This man followed her to Singapore, to Abu Dhabi where I was with her, again in Doha, now in Dubai and we noticed him.
“But initially we thought he was a fan, an admirer, because Emma is a really big tennis star with a huge fan base. Until he got physically close to her, started having contact in the form of selfies, hugging, etc.”
It is also claimed that the 22-year-old was approached by the male in a tournament restaurant on Monday, an encounter the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and tournament authorities say must have taken place off-site.
“So, that man was assessing the situation and looking for the best moment to get closer to her,” Kelecic added. “He had a strategy that was terrifying, he thought everything through, calculated it.
“It’s terrifying how much he, in essence, thought about it all and planned it. His strategy worked, and it was to get closer to her.
“That evening we reported it immediately and again in the morning, when she was playing the match, because her safety is the most important thing to us.”
Kelecic also said that the security were aware of the man’s identity and had his photo prior to the match.
This situation has sparked a key reminder of the dangers female athletes face regularly.
The same week, Spain’s former football federation boss Luis Rubiales was found guilty of kissing Kenni Hermoso without consent.
Raducanu took to social media to reassure fans, saying: “Thank you for the messages of support.
“Difficult experience yesterday but I’ll be okay 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.”