It’s No Wonder Raducanu Broke Down: Female Tennis Players Reveal the “Fear of Stalkers”
Raducanu arrived at the hotel with a letter and appeared “obsessive,” Graf tried to commit suicide near her door, Andreyeva was threatened “to cut off her hands,” Seles was stabbed, and Kournikova still fears for her privacy.
The Raducanu case highlighted the dark side of admiring female tennis players.
The moment when Emma Raducanu “broke down” live on air and asked to stop her match in the Dubai tournament after spotting a stalker in the stands resurfaced the major concern of many female tennis players and their difficult interactions with problematic fans, some obsessive, some even dangerous.
Yesterday, the 22 year old British tennis player approached the umpire at the start of her match against Karolina Muchova, whispered to her while appearing frightened with tears streaming down her face.
It later emerged that she froze upon seeing a person in the stands sitting in the front rows and staring threateningly.
That person had approached her at the hotel in Dubai earlier in the week, giving her a letter, and according to those close to her, “displayed obsessive behavior.”
Although the person was removed from the stands and their name reported to the authorities in the UK (even though not British) to ensure they could not attend Raducanu’s matches, this does not protect her worldwide, and this problem concerns many female tennis players.
Moreover, there is no connection between the “fan” in Dubai and the stalker in 2022 who received a five year restraining order after repeatedly coming to her home, leaving letters and gifts, and even taking items from her balcony.
“Since all this happened, I felt awful,” Raducanu wrote, “I feel very unsafe going out, especially alone.”
She is not alone.
World number 12 Daniela Collins said people called her friends and family.
Katie Boulter said someone used to follow her by car.
Coco Gauff claimed someone accessed her flight details and harassed her at airports.
Sloane Stephens experienced such a serious incident that the FBI intervened.
Yesterday, after the topic arose, three tennis players shared unpleasant stories with the media.
Iga Swiatek said, “We avoided one scary incident when I was organizing an event in Poland.
We always have to keep our eyes open.”
Mira Andreyeva said, “When I was 14, playing one of my first tournaments, I received a message: ‘Look around because I will find you and cut off your hands.'”
The problem for tennis players is that they are athletes relatively accessible to the public and often move around tournament sites, between courts and practice sessions.
Their schedules are usually published well in advance, making it easy to know where they will be on a given day.
It is no wonder many female players book hotels under fake names.
They also say that even if they wanted to, they have to avoid revealing where they spend their time which clubs, hotels, or restaurants to prevent people from approaching them.
Serena Williams and Martina Hingis had stalker cases that went to court.
Anna Kournikova had many obsessive fans and still avoids public appearances.
Steffi Graf once had a crazy German boy attempt to commit suicide on her doorstep.
Former tennis player Jo Durie said, “I had some great fans, but I had two who were a bit too much. They would show up all the time and eventually expect you to do things for them.
They sent me things it was a scary time. In the back of your mind you wonder: when will they appear? What else could they do? It’s very unpleasant, it makes you feel terrible.
There can be sleepless nights.
It felt like someone was watching what you do.
It’s not a pleasant feeling.”
The turning point for the sport was Monica Seles’ stabbing in 1993 in Hamburg by an obsessed fan of Steffi Graf.
This tragedy dramatically changed how tournaments operate, especially at the Grand Slam level. Previously, police and security presence was minimal.
Today, security is different.
Players are escorted to practice courts, and at Wimbledon there is even a network of underground tunnels they can use to cross the facility.
But it is not always enough.