Emma Raducanu stalker hell sees fellow tennis star, 17, open up on sick fan’s threat to ‘find you and cut your arms’
TENNIS star Mirra Andreeva has opened up on receiving a disturbing threat aged just 14, in the wake of Emma Raducanu’s stalker hell.
Raducanu, 22, was in tears on court during her second round clash with Karolina Muchova in Dubai after spotting a “fixated man” in the crowd.
The British former U.S. Open champion had already been approached by the individual and handed a letter off site on Monday afternoon.
The individual’s identity is unknown but he is understood to not be a UK national.
Having notified tournament officials, Raducanu received extra security ahead of her Tuesday night match.
But she was subsequently left in clear distress when the man appeared at the match, approaching the umpire in tears as the individual was ejected.
Following Raducanu’s ordeal, Russian teenage starlet Andreeva opened up on a hideous incident that has stayed with her.
She said: “After every loss I think every player receives a bunch of hateful messages.
“I remember once when I was young, when I was 14-years-old, I was playing one of my first ITF tournaments, and I received a message after my loss that said: ‘Look around because I’m going to find you and I’m going to cut your arms.’
“That was still the one that I remember to this day.”
Online abuse of tennis stars has been a worrying growing trend in recent years.
Last year, Wimbledon introduced new AI technology in a bid to try to crack down on abuse of their participants online.
Following her ordeal this week, Raducanu did well to compose herself and finish the match, playing competitively in a 7-6 6-4 defeat to former French Open finalist Muchova.
She subsequently released a statement on Instagram, 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.”
‘IT WAS STRANGE’
After defeating McCartney Kessler in the following round, Muchova said of her previous match: “Yeah, it was strange situation. I honestly went for my serving. I didn’t even know something was happening.
“Then I saw she’s not on the other side. So I went to check with the referee what is happening. She told me what is happening.
“Yeah, obviously you don’t want to see these things to be happening to anyone, to any woman, any girl. So I was just trying to be there, maybe calm her down a little bit.
“I’m happy they solved it pretty fast. I think she was fine after a while. Then we just kept going with the match.”
After the individual was banned from all WTA events pending a “threat assessment”, world No.2 Iga Swiatek praised the swift action of women’s tennis’ governing body, while also expressing sympathy with Raducanu.
‘KEEP US SAFE’
The Polish star, 23, said: “I know the WTA banned this person from going onsite anywhere on any tournament. So I guess the reaction was pretty solid.
“I like that, because it’s the WTA’s responsibility to keep us safe, for that environment to be safe for us. I guess with their help it’s fine. But, yeah, it’s hard probably to avoid these situations.”
The five-time Grand Slam champion then added: “We were able to avoid one incident that might have been scary back in the day when I was hosting my own event in Poland.
“There are fans that are kind of, I don’t know, everywhere. But I’m pretty sure that they don’t have any bad intentions.
“Obviously we are public persons, so we should always keep our eyes open and be ready to react if we feel uncomfortable. I’m sure it must have been tough for Emma.”