Coco Gauff revealed a scary experience she had whilst travelling (Image: Getty)
Coco Gauff admitted she’s faced a similarly disturbing encounter as the “fixated behaviour” aimed toward in Dubai. The young British ace was reduced to tears by an individual sat in the crowd on Tuesday.
Raducanu at the Dubai Tennis Championships after it was revealed a man sitting in the first few rows was the same individual who had approached her a day earlier. The person , though this still sparked severe concerns over player safety.
While it was later revealed that Raducanu, who lost the match in two close sets, has since fellow tennis star Gauff made it clear just weeks before the incident that she has suffered a similar anxiety-inducing ordeal.
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The person in question had but reportedly “signed a formal undertaking to maintain distance from Raducanu.” Authorities in Dubai also confirmed that the person handed Raducanu a note and took a photo of her during their previous encounter before he was ejected from the match on Tuesday.
Gauff’s likened admission came in response to another athlete sharing their toils. Olympic 200m superstar Gabby Thomas – who claimed gold in Paris – opened up on about an incident in which she described being “stalked” by groups of men while travelling.
“At this point, every time I travel, I’m afraid that these men, it’s three to six of them, middle-aged, are going to show up and harass me,” revealed Thomas. “They have my flight information. And they show up at the front door of the airport at the correct concourse or they show up at my gate, which means they have flight tickets and they get past security and all that.
“They show up and they ask me to sign a bunch of these photos and pictures of me, like 40 of them. I don’t know what they’re doing with them, probably selling them, I don’t care. What scares me is that they have my flight information. I’ve changed all my email passwords, I don’t know if they’re hacking me. But they get really aggressive and hostile if I say ‘no’.”
Raducanu was brought to tears by the incident (Image: Getty)
This prompted Gauff to issue her response, revealing that she had experienced something similar: “This happens to me too, I don’t know how it happens. My theory is maybe someone at the airport tips them off.”
Raducanu’s visible distress saw the WTA release a statement reading: “On Monday, February 17, 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 at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships and subsequently ejected. He will be banned from all WTA events pending a threat assessment.”
The WTA’s director of safeguarding, Lindsay Brandon, also called on social media companies to do better regarding the uncomfortable ordeal, telling the Guardian: “I absolutely believe social media companies owe a great deal more to their users to better protect them – especially female athletes who we know are a primary target for this type of mistreatment.”
Raducanu, having returned home, took to to thank people for their support: “Thank you for the messages of support,” she penned. “Difficult experience yesterday (Tuesday) but I’ll be okay and proud of how I came back and competed despite what happened at the start of the match.”