Emma Raducanu, who suffered a distressing episode of being stalked, broke down into tears on the court on Tuesday during the round 2 match of the Dubai Tennis Championships 2025 game against Karolina Muchova. The man who troubled the British Tennis star was in attendance at the game. However, after Raducanu's complaint, the individual was banished from the surroundings.
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Emma Raducanu's Coach Reveals Dubai Episode Was Not the First Case of Stalking
Despite being troubled by the individual, Emma did not press any charges against the stalker and seemingly closed down the episode. However, the man has been made to sign an undertaking, under which he will remain far away from the player.
In the aftermath of the incident, a member of Emma Raducanu's coaching team has revealed that it was not the first time the man stalked Emma. Rather, he had followed her across different countries before the ugly encounter in Dubai.
Roman Kelecic, who coached Raducanu as a junior and was also seen working with her in Abu Dhabi earlier this month, now claims that the man was seen at three other tournaments, stretching back to Singapore in January. "This man followed her to Singapore, to Abu Dhabi where I was with her, again in Doha, now in Dubai and we noticed him," Kelecic revealed in a fresh interview with Croatian outlet Net.
"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, etcetera."
Recalling the incident in Dubai, Kelecic added: "That was the only moment in a month where I, the fitness coach, the security guard who was with us, was not with her at that moment. So, that man was assessing the situation and looking for the best moment to get closer to her. 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."
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Lapse In Security
Kelecic went on to say that pictures of the man in question had been circulated ahead of the match, although it was Raducanu herself who spotted him in the crowd. "Three or four hours before the match we have a photo of that stalker. Not only us, the entire security at the tournament has his photo and everyone knows who he is," he continued.
"The first game, two points gone, 15-15, Emma is on the other side of the court and she's showing us something. At that moment we didn't know what it was. Emma loses the first game and runs to us, crying, shouting, 'Here he is, here he is, here he is'."
Raducanu finally broke her silence on Wednesday by 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."