Emma Raducanu’s stalker has been blocked from buying tickets for the Wimbledon Championships this month in the public ballot, it has emerged.
Security staff at the All England Club discovered that the man, who has never been named, was on the waiting list when they did a re-sweep of the ballot, after he was given a restraining order in Dubai in February.
The authorities in Dubai acted after the British No 1 was forced to hide in tears behind the umpire’s chair when the “fixated” admirer was removed from the stands and detained by police during her second-round match against Karolina Muchova.
The previous day the man had given Raducanu a letter and asked for a photograph in a coffee shop. The 22-year-old had also been aware of his presence at tournaments in Singapore, Abu Dhabi and Doha in preceding weeks.
Speaking after the incident, Raducanu told reporters: “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.’ I’m always with someone and always being watched.”
Raducanu, who shot to global fame when she won the US Open as an 18-year-old in 2021, said that her behaviour had changed since the incident in Dubai. “I’m obviously wary when I go out,” she said.
“I try not to be careless about it because you only realise how much of a problem it is when you’re in that situation and I don’t necessarily want to be in that situation again.”
Raducanu has previously been the victim of a stalker, with another man given a five-year restraining order in 2022 after he walked 23 miles to her home.
On Tuesday the British No 2, Katie Boulter, said that she had received abuse and death threats on social media and had been followed around London by an unknown vehicle.
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Sally Bolton, chief executive of the All England Lawn Tennis Club, said that security measures would be tight at Wimbledon this year. “We’re liaising with the tours, with the Met police, with other security agencies right through the year to think about the types of risks we need to look at and adjusting what we put in place,” she said.
“I would say to them [players] they should have confidence when they’re here and if they are concerned on any basis they should come and talk to us about that because we can put bespoke arrangements in place.”
Wimbledon will also have police and military personnel in the grounds, as well a team of fixated threat specialists
