Swiatek Praises WTA's Reaction To Raducanu Stalker Incident, Reveals Her Own Experience
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Iga Swiatek reacted to the situation that occurred at the 2025 Dubai Championships when Emma Raducanu was followed by a stalker.
Tennis players experience different challenging situations every day. While most of the time, that's related to their performance, training, scheduling, or any other usual issues, there are also challenges that no one wants to and no one should face.
One of those happened at the WTA 1000 tournament in Dubai. During her second-round match against Karolina Muchova, Emma Raducanu suddenly started crying while hiding behind the umpire's chair.
It was a very weird situation for multiple reasons. Players crying on the tennis courts isn't anything new, but most of the time it's because of an injury or them not doing well.
In this case, only the first two games were played, and on top of that, Raducanu didn't just cry, she actively seemed to be hiding. The early reports suggested that it was because of someone in the stands, who was later removed.
A few hours later, the WTA confirmed that Raducanu was followed by a stalker who was also present during her match against Muchova. The WTA reacted swiftly, removing the person from the event and banning them also from all the WTA tournaments.
Naturally, other players were asked about the incident as well. 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva revealed what disgusting messages she received after one of her losses when she was 14, and also the WTA World No. 2 Iga Swiatek reacted to the situation.
Of course, this incident is relevant to all of the players, as none of them want to fear for their safety. Swiatek was happy about the WTA's quick reaction.
"I know the WTA banned this person from going on-site anywhere on any tournament. So, I guess the reaction was pretty solid. I like that because it's WTA's responsibility to keep us safe, for that environment to be safe for us. I guess with their help, it's fine. But, yeah, it's hard probably to avoid these situations before."
At the same time, the Polish player is aware that, unfortunately, it's probably not possible to entirely avoid similar incidents. She revealed that she also experienced a similar situation when she hosted her own event a few years ago in Poland.
"We were able to avoid one incident that might have been scary back in the day when I was hosting my own event in Poland. There are fans that are kind of, I don't know, everywhere. But I'm pretty sure that they don't have any bad intentions."
Swiatek also sympathized with Raducanu. As a popular tennis player, she knows how challenging it is to be always in the spotlight, especially when it comes to situations like this.
"Obviously, we are public persons, so we should always keep our eyes open and ready to react if we feel uncomfortable. I'm sure it must have been tough for Emma."
