Emma Raducanu ‘couldn’t see the ball through tears’ and ‘could barely breathe’ during Dubai incident involving ‘fixated’ man

British tennis star Emma Raducanu has spoken about the emotional toll of noticing what the WTA called a “fixated” man during one of her recent matches in Dubai, explaining how she “couldn’t see the ball through tears.”

British tennis star Emma Raducanu has spoken about the emotional toll of noticing what the WTA called a “fixated” man during one of her recent matches in Dubai, explaining how she “couldn’t see the ball through tears.” Raducanu was playing in the second round of the Dubai Tennis Championships when the incident occurred early on in her match against Czech Republic’s Karolína Muchová, causing her to become visibly distressed and hide behind the umpire’s chair. The Dubai government later said that the individual in question signed a formal restraining order and had been banned from future tournaments. “I was obviously very distraught,” Raducanu told reporters on Tuesday, per Reuters. “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.’” Raducanu managed to recover and take the first set against Muchová to a tie-break, but ultimately lost in straight sets. Two weeks on, she is now in California to play at Indian Wells, which will be her first appearance since the ordeal.