Karolina Muchova has described the unsettling incident involving a man displaying “fixated behavior” towards Emma Raducanu during their match at the WTA 1000 event in Dubai as a “strange experience.”
Muchova, who triumphed over McCartney Kessler in a thrilling 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(5) encounter in the Round of 16, found her opening match against Raducanu making headlines for all the wrong reasons. The turning point occurred early in their match when, at 2-0, Raducanu was visibly distressed, shedding tears as she spoke to the umpire. It soon emerged that the issue stemmed from a man in the crowd, who had previously exhibited unsettling behavior toward the British star the day before.
“It was a strange situation,” Muchova reflected.
The Czech continued, explaining how she initially remained unaware of the situation: “I honestly went for my serving. I didn’t even know something was happening. Then I saw she’s not on the other side. So I went to check with the referee what is happening. She told me what is happening.”
Muchova, visibly empathetic to Raducanu’s distress, added: “Obviously, you don’t want to see these things happening to anyone, to any woman, any girl. So I was just trying to be there, maybe calm her down a little bit.” She was relieved that the issue was quickly addressed. “I’m happy they solved it pretty fast. I think she was fine after a while. Then we just kept going with the match.”
When asked about her own experiences, Muchova revealed that she had not encountered a similar incident during her career: “I’m lucky around me it’s nice fans usually. Yeah, I wasn’t in the situation. Again, I felt sorry for her and for anyone who has to go through this. Obviously, there are people texting us after matches all the time. Sometimes not the nicest messages. But never has anyone actually approached me live. Yeah, I guess I’m lucky it didn’t happen to me.”
Despite the shocking disruption, Raducanu showed tremendous resilience, continuing the match, though she eventually succumbed to Muchova, losing 7-6(6), 6-4.
Raducanu later took to Instagram to address the incident, thanking her supporters and praising her ability to regroup despite the unsettling start. “Thank you for the messages of support. 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,” she wrote. She also acknowledged Muchova’s sportsmanship, stating, “Thank you to Karolina for being a great sport and best of luck to her for the rest of the tournament.”
In an official statement, the WTA confirmed the details of the incident: “On Monday, February 17, 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 at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships and subsequently ejected. He will be banned from all WTA events pending a threat assessment.”
Looking ahead, Muchova will face Sorana Cirstea in the quarterfinals in Dubai. The Czech has a strong lead in their head-to-head record, holding a 4-1 advantage, including wins in their last two encounters, one of which came during the 2023 Dubai tournament.