Category: Tennis news

As world No7 Elena Rybakina battled to keep her hopes of securing her first title of 2025 in her semi-final clash with teenage sensation Mirra Andreeva alive, it was not members of her own family that watched her in the Dubai heat from the stands. 

Instead, fans on social media noted that the former Wimbledon champions was being watched by another patriarch – the father of her former coach, Stefano Vukov. Vukov, 37, was not in the stadium, nor will he be after receiving a near-unprecedented one-year ban from the WTA after being found to have violated their code of conduct in a move which sent seismic tremours through the tennis world. 

Vukov had been handed a preliminary suspension in January, shortly after returning to Rybakina’s camp – and just six months after the partnership abruptly ended in New York. As unsettling as the suspension had been, few would have believed it would be so swiftly upheld, particularly as Rybakina continued to deny she had ever been mistreated by the Croatian. Vukov has also denied the allegations. 

But as swiftly as the ban had been put in place, a bombshell report by The Athletic replete with details about the ‘mentally abusive behaviour’ Rybakina has reportedly been subjected to by her coach hit like a second wave. 

The report revealed that Vukov had been allegedly accused of ‘mentally abusing’ Rybakina, as well as making her cry, calling her unpleasant names, and harassing her in New York, ahead of last year’s US Open, shortly after he had been dismissed as her coach. 

The Croatian was provisionally suspended from coaching activities by the WTA in January before the ban was upheld in February

The 25-year-old has repeatedly stressed that Vukov has never mistreated her in their five-year partnership

Vukov and Rybakina are also reportedly in a romantic relationship with one another, with the pair thought to have shared a hotel room in Melbourne during the 2025 Australian Open. But their relationship, WTA chief executive Portia Archer reportedly wrote in a letter to Vukov informing him of the tour’s decision, was a ‘toxic’ one. 

The WTA’s investigation, while not prompted by Rybakina herself, was informed by information supplied by her family, friends, and other figures currently in and around the WTA, including coaches. Altogether, they form an upsetting patchwork of an thornily entangled partnership.  

Vukov and Rybakina first started working together in early 2019, with the Croatian taking over from her former coach Andrei Chesnokov to travel with her on the tour. Vukov had a burgeoning WTA pedigree, having working with players including Renata Zarazua, Sachia Vickery, and Anhelina Kalinina – with Zarazua stressing this month that she had a respectful relationship with her former coach. 

The impact Vukov had on Rybakina’s game was impactful and swift: within a year, Rybakina had climbed into the top 30 and had two titles to her name. The sport’s shutdown amid the Covid-19 pandemic came at a particularly inauspicious time for the partnership, with Rybakina having reached four finals in the five tournaments she played before the tour ground to a halt. 

Rybakina’s steady rise continued after the pause and with the passing seasons, the Kazakh player became an increasingly reliable presence in late stages of major tournaments. Spurred on, it seems, by Vukov’s complementary dynamic, fire to her ice. Rybakina’s coach conducted practice sessions in constant dialogue with his player, replete with criticisms and corrections. 

‘(She expects) energy (from me), definitely,’ Vukov said in 2023. ‘She is very stoic and calm, keeps the emotions inside. Even today, Elena told me that she needs the energy from me.’

But their apparent study in contrasts paid dividends in 2022, with Rybakina triumphed at Wimbledon, calmly dismembering a jittery Ons Jabeur with her trademark immaculate service game. Pinnacle reached, Vukov made a decision which raised more than a few eyebrows in and around the circuit, getting Rybakina’s name tattooed on his arm with a reminder of her victory. 

Rybakina laughed the decision off as a bet from 2020 – that she had forgotten until Vukov turned up bearing her permanent mark. While Aryna Sabalenka joked that she was keen on securing that kind of devotion from her coaching team at this year’s Australian Open, a more common view suggests that the gesture was a stiflingly melodramatic one. 

A man believed to be Vukov’s father (right) watched Rybakina with her current coach Davide Sanguinetti (left) in Dubai

The player’s greatest triumph came at Wimbledon in 2022 when Rybakina beat Ons Jabeur

Vukov’s longstanding partnership with Rybakina is seen by player and coach as based on their opposite communication styles

Vukov got a tattoo of the win shortly after – which surprised Rybakina when she first saw it

To journalist Ben Rothenberg, it was ‘tricky and messy and uncomfortable’, ‘not normal’ to ‘put your boss’ name on your arm’. Rothenberg made the comments in the wake of the 2023 Australian Open, over six months after Vukov revealed his new ink, and in the midst of increasingly noisy speculation over the suitability of their partnership. 

The previous year, coaching restrictions from the player boxes had been relaxed, allowing for more interaction between a player and their box during the match itself. For Vukov, this meant more opportunities to tweak, to shape, to adapt Rybakina’s game. Or to many, to criticise.

Vukov caught particular flak for his aggressive coaching during her time Down Under, with a frustrated Rybakina telling him to shut up during a match in Adelaide, and vocal criticism in her semi-final and final match-ups in Melbourne catching the attention of a number of experienced figures. 

Pam Shriver – the coach of world No20 Donna Vekic and herself subject to abuse early in her playing career by her coach Don Candy – shared on social media that she hoped Rybakina would find someone who ‘speaks and treats her with respect at all times’. 

Former Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli had also reached her limit, sharing on Match Points podcast that she had hit her limit of what she was willing to watch of Vukov’s treatment of Rybakina. 

‘The way Rybakina’s coach is talking to Rybakina on the court is just not something I can accept. I just can’t take that any more,’ Bartoli said. ‘To see someone going hard at her in such a negative way – and I’ve seen that in the past myself, much more at events when I was with Jelena Ostapenko when she was playing those events as well, in some practice courts when there is no cameras – he is behaving in some ways I can’t accept.’

But Rybakina was quick to defend her coach, describing his comments from the stands as in line with his ‘passion’ and that only a coach who knew her as well as Vukov did would know what works.  

‘I may be quiet on court and in general, but inside me is a competitive athlete who wants to achieve great things – and Stefano has helped me greatly in this way,’ Rybakina’s statement read. So please disregard any fake news to the contrary.’

The 37-year-old was criticised for his castigating coaching from the stands at the 2023 Australian Open

Former player and coach Pam Shriver was among those to note that Vukov’s behaviour in Melbourne had crossed the line

Rybakina had reportedly become an increasingly separate figure on the tour over the last year

Struggling with a slew of physical illnesses and insomnia Rybakina was forced to bow out of the US Open after the first round

But however much Vukov may have helped Rybakina in the past, the next year and half was a tumultous one, with Rybakina struggling with injury and illness – including battling Covid twice – which forced her withdrawal from a slew of tournaments. The first half of 2024 was particularly difficult, as the player explained after her quarter-final exit at the French Open to Jasmine Paolini. 

Health issues, she explained, ran the gamut from allergies, gastrointestinal illnesses, lingering back complaints, and insomnia. Rybakina, already a more subdued figure, looked withdrawn and wan. After Wimbledon, the Kazkhstan Tennis Federation released a formal explanation after she withdrew from the Paris Olympics, citing bronchitis. Then, she was unsure when she would return to action. 

Sleep issues persisted when she featured at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, reportedly causing such a problem with her game that during defeat to Leylah Fernandez in the second round, she had a hard time following the score, and had to be told where she should serve from. 

But then: a shock. Rybakina took to Instagram to share a short message updating her followers that Vukov had left her set-up, formalising a dismissal that behind the scenes, the coach was reportedly having a hard time digesting. 

Vukov is believed to have turned up against Rybakina’s wishes at her hotel in a bid to see her and convince her to change her mind and, as the Athletic later revealed, left her over one hundred calls and a stack of text messages as he attempted to cajole her into rehiring him. Despite an early exit from the tournament – another early  retirement due to injury – Rybakina held firm and took a step back. 

But with her return to competitive play at the WTA Finals came another optimistic note to end the year on. Rybakina hired Goran Ivanisevic, another ex-Wimbledon champion and the coach any big-serving talent like her would kill to work with. Newly available after calling time on his decorated spell with Novak Djokovic, the hiring of Ivanisevic seemed a sign to all that 2025 would be different. 

Instead, their time together was wispy and brief. Vukov appeared back in the fold at a World Tennis League event – a non-WTA tournament – in December, watching from the stands, and ahead of the Australian Open, in a message eerily similar to the one that had bid him farewell, Rybakina announced that he was back. The shock felt by her fanbase was only akin to that felt by Ivanisevic. Not consulted and unwilling to be drawn into the increasingly murky state of affairs between former-slash-current coach and his alleged romantic partner, the ‘trial period’ between Ivanisevic and Rybakina came to an untimely end. 

The situation is a deeply ambiguous one. Rybakina has been full-throated in her defence of Vukov since the ban was announced, and frustrated that she appears to have been cast as the victim. The WTA have taken a strong stance in their banning of Vukov without complaint from the player, and on a circuit where players are not formally employed by their tour, the decision does not have easy precedents. 

Vukov made his way back into Rybakina’s circle in December at non-WTA event World Tennis League 2024

Over the summer, Rybakina’s mother (right) allegedly sent Vukov an email asking him not to make her daughter cry 

The player is now working with Sanguinetti – a Vukov appointment – while Vukov’s role has mutated into something akin to her representative

Rybakina’s isolation is palpable. Already a more separate figure, as noted in the report, after years of working closely with Vukov, last week she spoke of her sadness that none of her peers had supported her over the ban. 

‘No one offered any support,’ Rybakina said after her first-round defeat of Moyuka Uchijima in Dubai, before adding that she ‘honestly (doesn’t) need (it)’ and that she does not have ‘very, very close friends on tour’. 

From Rybakina’s perspective, it’s understandable that she might feel that way, but fellow WTA players are likely finding the situation a jarring one. Former world No1 doubles player Rennae Stubbs shared on her podcast this week that she had spoken to a number of coaches and fitness trainers working with current players that have seen Vukov’s manner and behaviour with Rybakina and ‘felt the need to tell the WTA how he’s acting and reacting to her’ because ‘that’s not a work environment anyone wants to be in’. 

World No3 Coco Gauff said this week that while she knew Rybakina ‘doesn’t like the decision, I know WTA also has the right to protect her’, citing past examples of former players including Shriver and Jelena Dokic – if not by name – who had spoken out years after their careers had ended about the toll abuse had taken on their professional lives and wellbeing. 

Former world No1 Iga Swiatek was equally sympathetic to the decision, saying: ‘Every PT, every coach, they need to kind of accept the Code of Conduct when they want to be on WTA, so for sure I hope WTA is doing everything to make it a safe environment. 

‘I know there was a top player in Abu Dhabi (two weeks ago) that saw him there and went up to her and said “what the f***”. Players do care,’ Stubbs added on Thursday. But perhaps not in the way Rybakina would wish them to. 

For now, the lines are drawn and neither side is set to back down. Rybakina’s WTA-approved coach, Davide Sanguinetti, was appointed by Vukov who, as per the Tennis Podcast, is thought to be acting as her agent – something which the WTA sanctions allow for, even if he is banned from her matches, practice sessions, and staying with her in player hotels. 

But future challenges loom. Tennis Australia followed the WTA’s lead and upheld his ban from the Australian Open, but Grand Slam tournaments do not fall under the tour’s jurisdiction, but the ITF’s instead. And that means Wimbledon. Whether Vukov will be allowed to sit in the stands at the site of his partnership with Rybakina’s greatest triumph remains to be seen.  

As world No7 Elena Rybakina battled to keep her hopes of securing her first title of 2025 in her semi-final clash with teenage sensation Mirra Andreeva alive, it was not members of her own family that watched her in the Dubai heat from the stands. 

Instead, fans on social media noted that the former Wimbledon champions was being watched by another patriarch – the father of her former coach, Stefano Vukov. Vukov, 37, was not in the stadium, nor will he be after receiving a near-unprecedented one-year ban from the WTA after being found to have violated their code of conduct in a move which sent seismic tremours through the tennis world. 

Vukov had been handed a preliminary suspension in January, shortly after returning to Rybakina’s camp – and just six months after the partnership abruptly ended in New York. As unsettling as the suspension had been, few would have believed it would be so swiftly upheld, particularly as Rybakina continued to deny she had ever been mistreated by the Croatian. Vukov has also denied the allegations. 

But as swiftly as the ban had been put in place, a bombshell report by The Athletic replete with details about the ‘mentally abusive behaviour’ Rybakina has reportedly been subjected to by her coach hit like a second wave. 

The report revealed that Vukov had been allegedly accused of ‘mentally abusing’ Rybakina, as well as making her cry, calling her unpleasant names, and harassing her in New York, ahead of last year’s US Open, shortly after he had been dismissed as her coach. 

The Croatian was provisionally suspended from coaching activities by the WTA in January before the ban was upheld in February

The 25-year-old has repeatedly stressed that Vukov has never mistreated her in their five-year partnership

Vukov and Rybakina are also reportedly in a romantic relationship with one another, with the pair thought to have shared a hotel room in Melbourne during the 2025 Australian Open. But their relationship, WTA chief executive Portia Archer reportedly wrote in a letter to Vukov informing him of the tour’s decision, was a ‘toxic’ one. 

The WTA’s investigation, while not prompted by Rybakina herself, was informed by information supplied by her family, friends, and other figures currently in and around the WTA, including coaches. Altogether, they form an upsetting patchwork of an thornily entangled partnership.  

Vukov and Rybakina first started working together in early 2019, with the Croatian taking over from her former coach Andrei Chesnokov to travel with her on the tour. Vukov had a burgeoning WTA pedigree, having working with players including Renata Zarazua, Sachia Vickery, and Anhelina Kalinina – with Zarazua stressing this month that she had a respectful relationship with her former coach. 

The impact Vukov had on Rybakina’s game was impactful and swift: within a year, Rybakina had climbed into the top 30 and had two titles to her name. The sport’s shutdown amid the Covid-19 pandemic came at a particularly inauspicious time for the partnership, with Rybakina having reached four finals in the five tournaments she played before the tour ground to a halt. 

Rybakina’s steady rise continued after the pause and with the passing seasons, the Kazakh player became an increasingly reliable presence in late stages of major tournaments. Spurred on, it seems, by Vukov’s complementary dynamic, fire to her ice. Rybakina’s coach conducted practice sessions in constant dialogue with his player, replete with criticisms and corrections. 

‘(She expects) energy (from me), definitely,’ Vukov said in 2023. ‘She is very stoic and calm, keeps the emotions inside. Even today, Elena told me that she needs the energy from me.’

But their apparent study in contrasts paid dividends in 2022, with Rybakina triumphed at Wimbledon, calmly dismembering a jittery Ons Jabeur with her trademark immaculate service game. Pinnacle reached, Vukov made a decision which raised more than a few eyebrows in and around the circuit, getting Rybakina’s name tattooed on his arm with a reminder of her victory. 

Rybakina laughed the decision off as a bet from 2020 – that she had forgotten until Vukov turned up bearing her permanent mark. While Aryna Sabalenka joked that she was keen on securing that kind of devotion from her coaching team at this year’s Australian Open, a more common view suggests that the gesture was a stiflingly melodramatic one. 

A man believed to be Vukov’s father (right) watched Rybakina with her current coach Davide Sanguinetti (left) in Dubai

The player’s greatest triumph came at Wimbledon in 2022 when Rybakina beat Ons Jabeur

Vukov’s longstanding partnership with Rybakina is seen by player and coach as based on their opposite communication styles

Vukov got a tattoo of the win shortly after – which surprised Rybakina when she first saw it

To journalist Ben Rothenberg, it was ‘tricky and messy and uncomfortable’, ‘not normal’ to ‘put your boss’ name on your arm’. Rothenberg made the comments in the wake of the 2023 Australian Open, over six months after Vukov revealed his new ink, and in the midst of increasingly noisy speculation over the suitability of their partnership. 

The previous year, coaching restrictions from the player boxes had been relaxed, allowing for more interaction between a player and their box during the match itself. For Vukov, this meant more opportunities to tweak, to shape, to adapt Rybakina’s game. Or to many, to criticise.

Vukov caught particular flak for his aggressive coaching during her time Down Under, with a frustrated Rybakina telling him to shut up during a match in Adelaide, and vocal criticism in her semi-final and final match-ups in Melbourne catching the attention of a number of experienced figures. 

Pam Shriver – the coach of world No20 Donna Vekic and herself subject to abuse early in her playing career by her coach Don Candy – shared on social media that she hoped Rybakina would find someone who ‘speaks and treats her with respect at all times’. 

Former Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli had also reached her limit, sharing on Match Points podcast that she had hit her limit of what she was willing to watch of Vukov’s treatment of Rybakina. 

‘The way Rybakina’s coach is talking to Rybakina on the court is just not something I can accept. I just can’t take that any more,’ Bartoli said. ‘To see someone going hard at her in such a negative way – and I’ve seen that in the past myself, much more at events when I was with Jelena Ostapenko when she was playing those events as well, in some practice courts when there is no cameras – he is behaving in some ways I can’t accept.’

But Rybakina was quick to defend her coach, describing his comments from the stands as in line with his ‘passion’ and that only a coach who knew her as well as Vukov did would know what works.  

‘I may be quiet on court and in general, but inside me is a competitive athlete who wants to achieve great things – and Stefano has helped me greatly in this way,’ Rybakina’s statement read. So please disregard any fake news to the contrary.’

The 37-year-old was criticised for his castigating coaching from the stands at the 2023 Australian Open

Former player and coach Pam Shriver was among those to note that Vukov’s behaviour in Melbourne had crossed the line

Rybakina had reportedly become an increasingly separate figure on the tour over the last year

Struggling with a slew of physical illnesses and insomnia Rybakina was forced to bow out of the US Open after the first round

But however much Vukov may have helped Rybakina in the past, the next year and half was a tumultous one, with Rybakina struggling with injury and illness – including battling Covid twice – which forced her withdrawal from a slew of tournaments. The first half of 2024 was particularly difficult, as the player explained after her quarter-final exit at the French Open to Jasmine Paolini. 

Health issues, she explained, ran the gamut from allergies, gastrointestinal illnesses, lingering back complaints, and insomnia. Rybakina, already a more subdued figure, looked withdrawn and wan. After Wimbledon, the Kazkhstan Tennis Federation released a formal explanation after she withdrew from the Paris Olympics, citing bronchitis. Then, she was unsure when she would return to action. 

Sleep issues persisted when she featured at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, reportedly causing such a problem with her game that during defeat to Leylah Fernandez in the second round, she had a hard time following the score, and had to be told where she should serve from. 

But then: a shock. Rybakina took to Instagram to share a short message updating her followers that Vukov had left her set-up, formalising a dismissal that behind the scenes, the coach was reportedly having a hard time digesting. 

Vukov is believed to have turned up against Rybakina’s wishes at her hotel in a bid to see her and convince her to change her mind and, as the Athletic later revealed, left her over one hundred calls and a stack of text messages as he attempted to cajole her into rehiring him. Despite an early exit from the tournament – another early  retirement due to injury – Rybakina held firm and took a step back. 

But with her return to competitive play at the WTA Finals came another optimistic note to end the year on. Rybakina hired Goran Ivanisevic, another ex-Wimbledon champion and the coach any big-serving talent like her would kill to work with. Newly available after calling time on his decorated spell with Novak Djokovic, the hiring of Ivanisevic seemed a sign to all that 2025 would be different. 

Instead, their time together was wispy and brief. Vukov appeared back in the fold at a World Tennis League event – a non-WTA tournament – in December, watching from the stands, and ahead of the Australian Open, in a message eerily similar to the one that had bid him farewell, Rybakina announced that he was back. The shock felt by her fanbase was only akin to that felt by Ivanisevic. Not consulted and unwilling to be drawn into the increasingly murky state of affairs between former-slash-current coach and his alleged romantic partner, the ‘trial period’ between Ivanisevic and Rybakina came to an untimely end. 

The situation is a deeply ambiguous one. Rybakina has been full-throated in her defence of Vukov since the ban was announced, and frustrated that she appears to have been cast as the victim. The WTA have taken a strong stance in their banning of Vukov without complaint from the player, and on a circuit where players are not formally employed by their tour, the decision does not have easy precedents. 

Vukov made his way back into Rybakina’s circle in December at non-WTA event World Tennis League 2024

Over the summer, Rybakina’s mother (right) allegedly sent Vukov an email asking him not to make her daughter cry 

The player is now working with Sanguinetti – a Vukov appointment – while Vukov’s role has mutated into something akin to her representative

Rybakina’s isolation is palpable. Already a more separate figure, as noted in the report, after years of working closely with Vukov, last week she spoke of her sadness that none of her peers had supported her over the ban. 

‘No one offered any support,’ Rybakina said after her first-round defeat of Moyuka Uchijima in Dubai, before adding that she ‘honestly (doesn’t) need (it)’ and that she does not have ‘very, very close friends on tour’. 

From Rybakina’s perspective, it’s understandable that she might feel that way, but fellow WTA players are likely finding the situation a jarring one. Former world No1 doubles player Rennae Stubbs shared on her podcast this week that she had spoken to a number of coaches and fitness trainers working with current players that have seen Vukov’s manner and behaviour with Rybakina and ‘felt the need to tell the WTA how he’s acting and reacting to her’ because ‘that’s not a work environment anyone wants to be in’. 

World No3 Coco Gauff said this week that while she knew Rybakina ‘doesn’t like the decision, I know WTA also has the right to protect her’, citing past examples of former players including Shriver and Jelena Dokic – if not by name – who had spoken out years after their careers had ended about the toll abuse had taken on their professional lives and wellbeing. 

Former world No1 Iga Swiatek was equally sympathetic to the decision, saying: ‘Every PT, every coach, they need to kind of accept the Code of Conduct when they want to be on WTA, so for sure I hope WTA is doing everything to make it a safe environment. 

‘I know there was a top player in Abu Dhabi (two weeks ago) that saw him there and went up to her and said “what the f***”. Players do care,’ Stubbs added on Thursday. But perhaps not in the way Rybakina would wish them to. 

For now, the lines are drawn and neither side is set to back down. Rybakina’s WTA-approved coach, Davide Sanguinetti, was appointed by Vukov who, as per the Tennis Podcast, is thought to be acting as her agent – something which the WTA sanctions allow for, even if he is banned from her matches, practice sessions, and staying with her in player hotels. 

But future challenges loom. Tennis Australia followed the WTA’s lead and upheld his ban from the Australian Open, but Grand Slam tournaments do not fall under the tour’s jurisdiction, but the ITF’s instead. And that means Wimbledon. Whether Vukov will be allowed to sit in the stands at the site of his partnership with Rybakina’s greatest triumph remains to be seen.  

By the time Emma Raducanu sat down for a Q&A session with an excited group of ball kids at the Dubai Tennis Championships this week, she was already three weeks and four countries into a terrifying ordeal. You would not have known it. 

As Raducanu sat smiling and cross-legged, she sportingly fielded questions about whether she had ever been a ball girl (no), which player from the past she would most like to have played against (Ashleigh Barty), and what advice she would offer aspiring tennis players (work hard daily).

So far, so good for a woman who, even at the age of 22, has long since become a past master in the art of answering tricky queries. But children can be the toughest inquisitors and, accustomed though she may be to dealing with packed press rooms at the world’s biggest tournaments, the final question momentarily floored her.

‘This is not a tennis-related question, but who’s your celebrity crush?’ asked a young boy.

‘Who’s my celebrity crush?’ repeated Raducanu, laughing a little self-consciously as she adjusted her top. ‘I’m focused on myself right now. I don’t have time for any crushes.’

Raducanu’s young questioner could hardly have known it, but his inquiry was closer to home than anyone present could have imagined at the time. 

There are many shades of infatuation, and by all accounts the man who was given a restraining order this week in Dubai after following the former US Open champion from south-east Asia to the Persian Gulf was probably at the darker end of the scale. 

Crushes were probably the last thing Raducanu wanted to consider, yet she handled the question no less deftly and good-naturedly than she would later deal with the man who displayed ‘fixated behaviour’ towards her, against whom she dropped all charges once he signed a restraining order.

Raducanu’s former Roman Kelecic, who has been working with her recently, has claimed a man had been following her from tournament to tournament

Kelecic told the Croatian outlet Net that Raducanu was followed across four countries. ‘This man followed her to Singapore, to Abu Dhabi, again in Doha, and now in Dubai,’ Kelecic said

The revelation of character is a central tenet of any sport, and tennis more than most. Yet no athlete should have to draw on their mental strength simply to go about their daily business. Given the details that have emerged about what Raducanu went through in the weeks leading up to her appearance in Dubai, it would perhaps behove her many critics to re-evaluate their views about her perceived shortcomings. 

The distressing scenes that unfolded early in her second-round match against Karolina Muchova, when she became visibly distressed after spotting her ‘stalker’ in the stands, were weeks in the making.

‘This man followed her to Singapore, to Abu Dhabi, where I was with her, again in Doha, now in Dubai, and we noticed him,’ said her former Roman Kelecic, who has been working with Raducanu recently. 

‘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”

It was nonetheless not until Monday, when the man came up to Raducanu in a tournament restaurant, that it became apparent just how closely he had been watching the former British No 1. 

‘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,’ Kelecic told the Croatian outlet Net.

‘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.’

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

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

In purely sporting terms, the incident could not have come at a worse moment for Raducanu. 

Having claimed a notable win over Maria Sakkari in the opening round, breaking a sequence of four consecutive defeats – the worst run of her short career – she was hopeful of maintaining her momentum against Muchova, another former top-10 opponent. Instead, despite recovering to force a closer contest than initially seemed likely, she was defeated in straight sets.

What is truly shocking, however, is that the man was able to make it into the stands at all. Officials were fully briefed on the situation beforehand and a photo of the offender, who had taken Raducanu’s picture and left her a letter earlier in the week, was circulated among the tournament’s security staff. 

Neither the WTA nor the event’s organisers apprehended him, and it was not until a tearful Raducanu was reduced to cowering behind the umpire’s chair two games into the match that the man was identified and ejected.

‘The entire security at the tournament has his photo and everyone knows who he is,’ said Kelecic. ‘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, who has since returned home, later thanked her 2.6-million strong Instagram following for their backing.

‘Thank you for the messages of support,’ she wrote beneath a picture of a cup of coffee and a copy of Jane Austen’s novel Emma. ‘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.’

Raducanu broke her silence on the incident with an Instagram Story post on Wednesday

Raducanu has been targeted by unwanted and troubling attention from obsessive fans in past

Raducanu has been here before, of course. 

In an unconnected case in 2022, a delivery driver from north-west London was given a five-year restraining order after repeatedly visiting Raducanu’s home. Her words then offer some insight into what she has been through in recent weeks.

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

Now it has, Raducanu is doing her best to put on a brave face, changing her Instagram bio to the Latin phrase ‘ad astra per aspera’ – ‘through adversity to the stars’.

Yet the emotional toll of the episode seemed clear when she touched down at Heathrow airport on Friday. Tearfully reunited with her father, the mask she has worn so well in recent weeks finally slipped, the extent of the ordeal she has suffered laid bare. 

Emma Raducanu has prior experience of men with fixations. If we are to fully understand the fear that compelled her to hide behind an umpire’s chair in Dubai on Tuesday, then we should look back to an incident closer to her home. Far closer.

There’s some symmetry in this, because Sunday marks exactly three years since a man stood for sentencing at Bromley Magistrates Court. His name was Amrit Magar.

Now, he went beyond the descriptions of ‘fixated behaviour’ that have flown over from the Middle East across the past week. Magar’s conviction was for stalking and his trial detailed how that looked for Raducanu in a period between November 1 and December 4 of 2021.

Of course, those were the months after she won the US Open as an 18-year-old, and Magar, a delivery driver almost twice her age, was obsessed.

The escalations began with a trip from his residence in north London to south-east suburb of Bromley, where Raducanu was known to live at the time with her parents. Magar, then 35, had found a few specifics online and did the rest by asking around when he got down there – first, he learned the street and eventually the house number.

He would go on to make no fewer than three visits to Raducanu’s family home, occasionally leaving her notes. One of them was a map he had drawn, illustrating the long journey he made on foot to her door that day. ‘23 miles walked 4 you,’ it read. The card attached to a bouquet of flowers went further: ‘Nothing to say but you deserve love.’

Raducanu told the umpire and was visibly distressed as he his behind the umpire’s chair

Raducanu bravely played on, but there have to be concerns about how long she can continue chasing glory after previous experience with a stalker

Another time, he decorated a tree on her front lawn with Christmas lights, and on the last occasion he stole a shoe from the porch. It actually belonged to Raducanu’s father, but Magar didn’t know that. As he told the police, he wanted a ‘souvenir’, and his restraining order is still in force today.

But we forget this stuff pretty quickly, don’t we? As in those of us on the outside, watching, writing, commenting. Those who live it, not so much.

For Raducanu, it isn’t a topic she has discussed in great depth since it happened, but this was the victim statement read on her behalf to court in 2022: ‘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. I don’t feel safe in my own home, which is where I should feel safest.’

Raducanu was 19 when that appalling change was inflicted on her sense of self. She is 22 now, and we can only speculate about the intentions of a different man at the Dubai Tennis Championships.

But we know from one of her coaches, Roman Kelecic, that the individual had approached Raducanu at four recent tournaments in different countries. Hopping from one Tour spot to the next, he wanted hugs and selfies, mainly, and that crept up to passing her a note when she was alone in Dubai.

Detailing his suspicion that the man had tailed her until she was isolated, Kelecic’s assessment was alarming: ‘He had a strategy that was terrifying, he thought everything through, calculated it.’

None of the behaviour has evidently crossed a certain legal threshold – Raducanu has not pushed forward with charges – but his presence at her second-round match against Karolina Muchova was sufficiently troubling that she collapsed into tears when she spotted him.

If there has been a sadder sight in her short career, then it’s difficult to identify.

The point here is about scar tissue. It’s about the fears Raducanu has acquired through no fault on her part and have attached themselves to a workplace that is tough enough on its own. It’s about factors that are not sporting but live just beneath the surface, ready to fan old traumas, and somehow must be processed as a cost of doing business. Worse, as a sunken cost of success.

It’s heartbreaking, really, and touches on a wider theme that regularly comes to mind when I watch Raducanu.

I often wonder how much enjoyment, true enjoyment, exists in elite sport for those who live it – all the injuries, the critiques, the pressure, the sacrifices in the name of relentless goal-setting and the inevitability that most lose more than they win.

Those observers who seek to balance all of that against earning power probably make a habit of missing the point. I suspect they often miss it with Raducanu, too.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson, the two-time world heptathlon champion, once told me her prime response to finally winning a gold after years of difficulties and neuroses was ‘relief, just relief’.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson has previously spoken about ‘relief’ when winning major titles

Andy Murray had a similar feeling when he won Wimbledon for the first time in 2013

Raducanu burst onto the scene as an 18-year-old, but has struggled since and has also had to deal with issues away from the court

It’s the same word that was put ahead of joy by Andy Murray (2013 Wimbledon), Lionel Messi (2022 World Cup), Pep Guardiola (2023 Champions League), Tiger Woods (2019 Masters).

But what happens to those for whom the best came at the very start and then it all tailed off so dramatically? Is there any shadow darker than the one you cast over yourself? Put another way, what will relief look like in the future for Raducanu? And does there come a time when the downsides of this line of work are no longer worth the chase for a woman with a broad hinterland of interests?

No one from these shores has broken through in the way she did, but equally no one has paid so much back to karma in surgeries, defeats, and the inflated expectations of others. She won that US Open in the September; a stalker was in her trees within seven weeks and there the honeymoon ended.

Even if most professionals would swap an arm for what Raducanu has in the cabinet, how often has she seemed happy in the sporting side of her life in the past three and a half years? How regularly has a wave crashed on fleeting moments of promise?

Her win in the first round on Sunday ended the worst run of her career and prompted an upbeat interview on the court about the freedom of walking the streets of Dubai after 11pm. She was buzzing with joy, sounding a bit more like the teenager who danced into our eyeline at Wimbledon a few summers ago. A couple of days later she ran into a ‘fixated’ individual.

It’s been a brutal run on many fronts. I wouldn’t dare to say Raducanu’s life in tennis since New York has been a succession of good decisions and unfair criticisms – that would make me wrong and a hypocrite. I made a few about the balance between her commercial and sporting interests in this space, in this very week, in 2024.

There are other actions she has taken, usually in the churn of her coaches and a reluctance to regain momentum through qualifying tournaments, that warrant discussion. Those conversations are part of sport and so are an athlete’s missteps.

But if anything positive comes from what happened in Dubai, it would be in the form of more empathy for a young athlete whose difficulties have been far ranging.

Thankfully she has time and talent on her side. I’d dearly hope the oddballs of this world allow her to fixate on that.

FIFA flog Club World Cup 

FIFA put out a tweet this week carrying a quote from Arsene Wenger to flog their Club World Cup: ‘The new target for a player, the utmost thing, would be to be world champion with your country and world champion with your club.’

In a season where the burnout rate of players has gone beyond dangerous levels, that comment can only have come from someone who is either deluded or sold himself out. If you’ll indulge the indecision, I’m going with both.

FIFA – fronted by Gianni Infantino – have been flogging their Club World Cup this week

Safety not the priority for Saudi showdown

Martin Bakole arrived in Saudi Arabia at a little after 1am on Saturday in order to replace Daniel Dubois in fighting Joe Parker. 

That required a flight from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Ethiopia on Friday and another onto Riyadh, where he landed looking heavy, even for a heavyweight. 

Irrespective of outcomes, I’m not convinced a boxer’s safety was ever worked into the equations.

After beating Maria Sakkari in Dubai on Sunday evening, Emma Raducanu talked about how much she was enjoying the city.

‘What I love most is everything is open late and I’m a big night owl, so I can go for walks at, like, 11pm,’ she said. ‘I don’t know if that’s smart or not!’

It was a throwaway comment delivered with a smile and a laugh – but the idea of 22-year-old Raducanu walking the streets of Dubai after nightfall took on a chilling aspect as events played out over the next few days.

On Monday, Raducanu was approached by a man at her hotel and handed a letter. It is understood that was not the first time she had seen the individual and the incident left her spooked enough to report it to tournament security and WTA staff.

On Tuesday, after two games of her second-round match against Karolina Muchova, Raducanu saw that same man sitting in the stands, just a few rows from the front.

She broke down in tears, approached umpire Miriam Bley and after a brief conversation cowered behind the official’s chair, where she was comforted by Muchova. All the layers of Raducanu the professional athlete had been stripped away and she appeared exactly as she was: a terrified young woman.

She was targeted by a ‘fixated’ man in the stands who she had previously encountered

The incident saw Raducanu break down in tears before she bravely recovered to play on

Viewers at the time were mystified by what was going on, speculating about injury or some sort of panic attack. But a WTA statement released the next morning revealed the grim explanation.

‘On Monday Emma Raducanu was approached in a public area by a man who exhibited fixated behaviour,’ said the statement. ‘This same individual was identified in the first few rows during Emma’s match on Tuesday and subsequently ejected. He will be banned from all WTA events pending a threat assessment.’

Remarkably, once the man was removed Raducanu recovered her composure and played a solid match against a top opponent, losing 7-6, 6-4. She flew back to London yesterday and posted on Instagram: ‘Thank you for the messages of support. Difficult experience but I’ll be OK and proud of how I came back and competed despite what happened.

‘Thank you to Karolina for being a great sport.’

Within hours of the incident, Mail Sport understands the man’s name was shared with Wimbledon, who immediately placed him on a watchlist they maintain of suspect individuals.

The man’s identity has not been made public, although we understand he is not a British national, but you can be sure it has been likewise circulated to tennis organisations around the world.

A Wimbledon spokesperson said: ‘We are aware there are a number of fixated individuals who follow players around the world and we work to ensure the players are protected at all times when in the All England Club Grounds.’

The issue of stalkers and obsessive fans is endemic in women’s tennis.

Karolina Muchova consoled Raducanu and the Czech star was later praised for her support

Raducanu posted a message on social media thanking fans following her terrifying ordeal

This is not the first time Raducanu has been targeted. In 2022, delivery driver Amrit Magar was given a five-year restraining order. Magar had been skulking around Raducanu’s house and leaving her gifts. The episode left her ‘on edge’, ‘creeped out’ and ‘constantly looking over my shoulder’.

She is far from alone. World No12 Danielle Collins had people calling her friends and family; Katie Boulter’s car was followed; Coco Gauff believed someone was gaining access to her flight details and dogging her in airports and Sloane Stephens went through one ordeal so serious that the FBI became involved.

It is revealing that of the three women asked about stalking in Dubai yesterday, two had stories to tell. Iga Swiatek said: ‘We were able to avoid one incident that might have been scary when I was hosting my own event in Poland. We should always keep our eyes open.’ Miira Andreeva said: ‘When I was 14 years old, I was playing one of my first tournaments and I received a message: “Look around, because I’m going to find you and I’m going to cut your arms”.’

As individual athletes, tennis players are uniquely susceptible to stalking. Compared to a sport such as football, players are relatively available to the public, often wandering round the tournament sites and exploring the city during their downtime – as Raducanu described in Dubai.

Their schedules are usually laid out far in advance so it is not difficult to know where they will be on a given day. I was yesterday told of one former player who would routinely check into hotels under different names to throw stalkers off the scent.

Perhaps surprisingly, personal security for players is still extremely rare. Serena Williams was one of very few who, for a time, had her own bodyguard.

A modern issue is social media, whereby a player’s posts can give clues to their location. ‘Social media hasn’t helped at all,’ said one tennis insider, who has worked in the game for over 30 years. ‘Players are even naively posting where they are eating in a restaurant.

‘Players could be more smart about what they’re posting but they should also be able to enjoy their lives.’

Social media may have put additional tools into the hands of stalkers but this is far from a modern-day problem.

The issue of stalkers and obsessive fans is currently a major problem in women’s tennis

Katie Boulter revealed last year she had been followed while out with Alex de Minaur

Serena Williams and Martina Hingis had stalker cases which went to the courts. Anna Kournikova had multiple obsessed fans and Steffi Graf once had a crazed German teenager attempted suicide by slitting his wrists on her doorstep.

Former British No 1 Jo Durie overlapped with the Graf era and spoke yesterday to Mail Sport. She articulated one of the problems women face: superfans are common in tennis and most are perfectly harmless; but others are not and it is not always easy to tell the difference until it is too late.

‘It’s when the fan spills over into something more, something intrusive and scary,’ says the former world No 5. ‘For a woman it makes you feel very unsafe.

‘I had some great fans but I had a couple that were just a bit too much. They would turn up all the time and, in the end, expect you to do things for them. I got sent things through the post… it was a scary time. In the back of your mind you’re like: When are they going to turn up? What else might they do?’

Durie describes the effect such incidents can have on a young player (she was 24 at the time). ‘It’s very unpleasant,’ she said. ‘It makes you feel terrible. There can be sleepless nights.

‘It was a sensation that someone was watching what you were doing. It’s not a nice feeling.’

The tipping point for the sport was the horrifying stabbing of Monica Seles in 1993 in Hamburg, by a crazed Graf fan.

That tragedy dramatically shifted the way in which tournaments operate, especially at the Grand Slam level. Police and security presence used to be minimal, especially on court. Remarkably, at Wimbledon fans used to wander on to the grass after a match to ask for autographs.

Tournaments now have hundreds of security staff, both visible and more discreet, such as those located directly behind where players sit at changeovers. Players are escorted to practice and match courts and at Wimbledon there is even a labyrinth of subterranean tunnels which they can use to traverse the venue.

Iga Swiatek gave a terrifying insight into the problems women’s stars face with stalkers

The tipping point for the sport was the horrifying stabbing of Monica Seles in 1993 in Hamburg

The WTA and Wimbledon both work with a company called Theseus Fixated Risk Management, experts on identifying and dealing with obsessive individuals.

When it comes to stalkers, Wimbledon feel their ticketing system gives them a layer of protection, because tickets are allotted in the ballot months in advance. In a smaller event such as Dubai, where courts rarely if ever sell out, an obsessive fan would be able to wait until the day before when the order of play is revealed and then buy a ticket for the court on which the targeted player is competing.

Such measures will hopefully be of some comfort to Raducanu and her many peers who suffer similar incidents.

But the way in which Raducanu recovered to post a decent performance, as well as showing her mental fortitude, also gave the depressing sense that this was all just another day at the office.

The name of a ‘fixated’ man, who was removed from the crowd during Emma Raducanu’s second-round match in Dubai, has been passed on to Wimbledon, after the British tennis was reduced to tears on Tuesday evening.

Raducanu had made a poor start to her second round clash with Karolina Muchova, going 2-0 down in the first set, when she broke down in tears on the court and quickly made for the umpire Miriam Bley’s chair. 

With the crowd and those watching at home mystified as to what had distressed Raducanu, she seemed to hide behind the chair, Muchova making her way over to offer her support. 

The game quickly resumed after a man in the crowd was removed, and it was later revealed that the man had approached Raducanu the previous evening, ‘exhibiting fixated behaviour’, according to a WTA statement. 

Within hours of the incident, Mail Sport now understands the man’s name was shared with Wimbledon, who immediately placed him on a watchlist they maintain of suspect individuals.

The man’s identity has not been made public, although we understand he is not a British national, but you can be sure it has been likewise circulated to tennis organisations around the world.

Raducanu was visibly distressed after pointing out the ‘stalker’ to umpire Miriam Bley

The individual’s name has been passed on to Wimbledon, Mail Sport now understands

A Wimbledon spokesperson said: ‘We are aware there are a number of fixated individuals who follow players around the world and we work to ensure the players are protected at all times when in the All England Club Grounds.’ 

The WTA confirmed that a man had previously approached Raducanu at her first-round match against Maria Sakkari, adding in a statement that the governing body were working with the player to ensure her safety. The man has been banned from WTA events. 

Hours after fans and viewers were left confused as to what had befallen Raducanu on the court, a statement was released by the WTA, which read:

‘On Monday Emma Raducanu was approached in a public area by a man who exhibited fixated behaviour.

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

Remarkably Raducanu was able to rally and return to action, but fell to a two-set defeat by Muchova, 7-6 6-4 in a tightly-fought contest.

On Wednesday, Raducanu then flew home to England, and took to Instagram to try and allay any fears over her wellbeing. 

Alongside a photo of the Jane Austen novel ‘Emma’ and a cup of coffee, Raducanu wrote: ‘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. 

Raducanu was remarkably able to rally back and return to action but fell to a two-set defeat

Raducanu posted a message on Instagram thanking fans for their support following her ordeal

Karolina Muchova was quick to approach Raducanu and offer her support after the game halted 

‘Thank you to Karolina for being a great sport and best of luck to her for the rest of the tournament.’ 

It is understood that Raducanu had been startled after seeing the man on a number of occasions previously.

She was able to compose herself to complete Tuesday’s match after being reassured that action was being taken by security. 

With investigations continuing on Wednesday, Raducanu was due to fly home to London. 

Organisers of the Dubai Open had earlier released their own statement following Raducanu’s ordeal.

‘We fully support the statement made earlier today by the WTA in regard to an incident involving Emma Raducanu on February 17,’ their statement read. 

‘The tournament security team worked in collaboration with the WTA security team to proactively identify and immediately eject the individual in question from the stadium during Emma’s second-round match on Tuesday. 

‘We support the WTA’s decision to ban the individual in question from all WTA events, and share the Tour’s longstanding commitment to player welfare, safety and wellbeing.

A WTA statement confirmed that Raducanu had been approached by the same individual the night before her match

‘We thank Emma for her contribution to this year’s tournament, and look forward to welcoming her back next year.’ 

Raducanu has previously been targeted by unwanted and troubling attention from obsessive fans, seeing a five-year ban handed out to a stalker who walked 23 miles to her family home in late 2021.

Amrit Magar, 35, was convicted in early 2022 after being found guilty of sending love notes, visiting Raducanu’s home on three separate occasions, and stealing a shoe which he believed belonged to the then-19-year-old player. 

Raducanu later admitted in a statement shared with the court that the experience had left her ‘constantly looking over her shoulder’ and feeling as if her ‘freedom had been taken away’. 

The player had previously been looking to build on snapping her losing streak after a confident defeat of Sakkari in the first round. 

Raducanu had previously lost three matches in a row, failing to make it past of the first round at both the Abu Dhabi Open and the Qatar Open on the heels of her Australian Open exit last month.