Emma Raducanu “I couldn’t see the ball through tears” and could “barely breathe” in everything Dubai open hunt for open last month.
The 22 -year -old Briton endured a heartbreaking event when she was the target of a “fixed” man in his second round match against Karolina Muchova.
A visibly stressed Raducanu was in tears and was moved to hide behind the chair of the umbour before the increase in security happens to what Muchova was consoling his opponent.
In the accumulation of his return to the BNP Paribas Open Tribunal in Indian Wells, California, Raducanu opened its doors on its ordeal, after having abandoned the accusations against the man, who was Given a prohibition order and prohibited from future WTA events.
“I was obviously very distraught,” Raducanu told journalists before his first round match against Moyuka Uchijima from Japan on Thursday. “I saw him in the first game of the match and I said to myself:” I don’t know how I’m going to end up. ” I could literally not see the ball in tears. I could barely breathe.
“I played Karolina, who is in the top 17 in the world or something like that. I say to myself: “I need to take a break here”, then the first four games escaped me. I was not on the ground, to be honest, and I don’t really know how I gathered.
“I think it was a very good effort for me to continue playing in this match, in this scenario. I finished the match, and I even had a chance in the first set, but, yes, it was a very emotional moment. »»
The incident occurred at the start of the first set, and Raducanu gathered and competed after the man was removed from the arena, although she finally lost 7-6 6-4.
Raducanu revealed that she had already been approached twice by man outside the field. His Locum coach, Roman Kelecic, told a new Croats website that the anonymous man had followed him more than four consecutive WTA events in Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Doha and Dubai. The man approached Raducanu and gave him a letter in a cafe for a brief moment when she was not with a member of the team.
“There were two cases, and it was the second with which I just freaks out,” said Raducanu. “The first looked more like a normal fan who approached you, except for the fact that he told me that he followed me everywhere. And then he sort of looked at me in the coffee for a while … The second incident was really worrying. »»
“It was a very emotional period. After the match, I melted in tears, but not necessarily because I lost.
“There was so much emotion in the past few weeks of events, and I just needed this week to take a break and come here. I feel much better.
Raducanu maintains that the situation “could have been treated better”. She said BBC Sport: “Since this incident, I have certainly received increased attention and greater security. All we can do is look at what happened and react in a better way, in a more positive way, rather than looking back and blaming the situation.
“Now, it’s better treated, so for me it’s important. I am now always very aware and I no longer necessarily do things by myself. I am always with someone and always watched.”
Uchijima, the first round opponent of Raducanu in Californiais classified in three places above it at 52 in the world. The winner is guaranteed to face the third seeded Coco GauffWith the 32 best players receiving all byes until the second round.
