A tearful Emma Raducanu was reduced to cowering behind the umpire’s chair at the Dubai Open after she spotted a man who had previously ‘exhibited fixated behaviour’ towards her sitting in the stands.

Raducanu’s rain-delayed meeting with Karolina Muchova was just two games old when the 22-year-old approached the chair umpire, Germany’s Miriam Bley, in visible distress.

She appeared to offer a few brief words of explanation before retreating behind the umpire’s chair, where she was consoled by her Czech opponent while Bley called tournament officials to alert them to the problem.

The WTA, the governing body of the women’s game, later released a statement revealing that the man was removed from the stands and would be barred from attending future WTA events pending further investigation of the circumstances surrounding the incident. 

‘On Monday, February 17, Emma Raducanu was approached in a public area by a man who exhibited fixated behavior,’ said the statement. 

Emma Raducanu was left distressed and in tears after she was repeatedly approached by a man at the Dubai Open

The former British No1 communicated with the umpire after she appeared to notice someone watching the match

As Raducanu sheltered behind the umpire’s chair, her opponent Karoline Muchova made her way over to comfort her

‘This same individual was identified in the first few rows during Emma’s match on Tuesday at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships and subsequently ejected. He will be banned from all WTA events pending a threat assessment. 

‘Player safety is our top priority, and tournaments are advised on security best practices for international sporting events. 

‘The WTA is actively working with Emma and her team to ensure her well-being and provide any necessary support. We remain committed to collaborating with tournaments and their security teams worldwide to maintain a safe environment for all players.’

While no details have yet been revealed about the man’s identity, it is understood  there is no connection between the latest incident and a previous case involving a delivery driver from north-west London who was handed a five-year restraining order in February 2022 after repeatedly visiting Raducanu’s home.

Following that episode, Raducanu said the actions of Amrit Magar, who loitered outside her house, left unwanted gifts and cards, and stole property from the porch had made her feeling unsafe in her own home and left her ‘constantly looking over her shoulder’. 

‘Since all this has happened, I have felt creeped out,’ Raducanu said in a statement at the time. ‘I feel very apprehensive if I go out, especially if I am on my own.’ 

‘Because of this I feel like my freedom has been taken away from me. I am constantly looking over my shoulder. I feel on edge and worried this could happen again.’ 

The player fought on and returned to see out the match but was unable to battle back after losing the first set

Amrit Magar, 35, was handed a five-year restraining order and sentenced to an 18-month community order in 2022

Magar first visited the Raducanu family home in November 2021 with a bouquet of flowers and a note, but said he was a delivery driver dropping off gifts from somebody else

Raducanu’s first meeting with Muchova, a former French Open finalist who has been ranked as high as eighth in the world, had originally been scheduled for court one at Dubai’s Aviation Club Tennis Centre before the inclement weather forced a switch to court two.

The court is sandwiched between two others, with spectators seated behind the baseline rather than along either side of the court. That means Raducanu, who went on to lose 7-6 (8-6), 6-4, would have been directly facing the man from one end, while aware of his presence behind her at the other.

While Raducanu was able to continue after a brief delay, comparisons will inevitably be drawn with similar incidents involving high-profile female players.

The most notorious of those involved Monica Seles, a former world No 1 from Serbian Yugoslavia who was stabbed during a changeover at an event in Hamburg in April 1993. 

Her attacker, a 38-year-old German named Günter Parche, made his way past security staff before plunging a knife into Seles’ upper back. He was motivated by a desire to see Steffi Graf, Seles’ German rival, restored to the No 1 ranking. 

Seles, who was 19 at the time, had amassed eight grand slam titles by the time of the incident, but would add only one more before her retirement in 2008. 

But while the incident is widely regarded as having altered the course of tennis history, it did little all too little to alter the sense of security among players. 

In September 2001, a 34-year-old German man named Albrecht Stromeyer began stalking Serena Williams, following her across tournaments in Europe and the US before he was finally apprehended by police at the following year’s US Open. 

The American former world No 1 was later hounded by another man, Patenema Ouedraogo, who was 40 when police apprehended him as he attempted to enter a  gated complex in south Florida, where Williams was living at the time, in 2011. 

Raducanu’s second-round loss to Muchova came as the player was keen to build a significant run during the Middle East swing after two disappointing first-round exits. 

The player received wild card entry to both the Abu Dhabi Open and the Qatar open, but was knocked out in straight sets by former Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrusova and Australian Open opponent Ekaterina Alexandrova respectively.