Emma Raducanu’s stalker is blocked by Wimbledon

Emma Raducanu’s stalker has been blocked in an attempt to buy Wimbledon tickets this summer after tournament officials spotted his name on the list of applicants.

The man – who is understood to be from South America – had applied last year as part of the public ballot, which closed in mid-September. Although initially unsuccessful, he could potentially have been offered tickets in a later wave of distribution.

This possibility was kyboshed by All England Club (AELTC) officials, who spotted his name on the list after it was circulated to tournaments by the WTA Tour.

The AELTC removed him from the ballot list shortly after the incident in February when he was identified in the stands of the WTA tournament in Dubai and taken away by police. Although he was not charged with any criminal offence, he signed a document saying that he would not attempt to approach Raducanu again.

The presence of a stalker in the Dubai stands came to light after Raducanu broke down in tears early during her match against Karolina Muchova.

It later emerged that the man had followed Raducanu through the four WTA events that run back-to-back from Singapore to Abu Dhabi to Doha to Dubai. On the final stop in that sequence, he approached her in a cafe at the precise moment when she was unaccompanied by any of her support team.

Speaking about the Muchova match in Indian Wells, a fortnight later, Raducanu told reporters “I was obviously very distraught. I saw him first game of the match, and I was like, ‘I don’t know how I’m gonna finish’.”

She was awarded extra security by the Indian Wells organisers, with at least two burly men in uniforms following her everywhere she went on the tournament site.

During a pre-tournament press conference, officials from the AELTC were asked last week about their plans to protect players during this year’s Wimbledon.

“The safety and well-being of all of the players is our absolute top priority,” said AELTC chief executive Sally Bolton. “I think the recent incidents coming to light certainly recognise the concern generated by that. But we have in place – and have had for many years – processes for ensuring the safety of our players. And that is in liaison with law enforcement agencies, specialist security teams and we liaise with both tours.

“We are putting in place measures that are reflective of the threat and risk profile at the time. We probably wouldn’t at this point comment on any details in respect of any individual athlete but that intelligence is being gathered working with those other parties throughout the year to make sure we have got the right measures in place come the Championships.”

Raducanu to partner with Alcaraz in $1m doubles tournament

Emma Raducanu will team up with French Open champion Carlos Alcaraz in the mixed doubles at the US Open, with a prize of $1 million (£741,000) on offer for the winners.

The new doubles team – who can expect to be given a portmanteau nickname of either “Alcaranu” or “Raducaraz” – are one of several eye-catching partnerships set to make their debuts in New York in August.

It will be Raducanu’s first outing in the mixed doubles after she denied Sir Andy Murray a final appearance at Wimbledon by pulling out of their opening match in 2024 over concerns with her wrist. Raducanu received heavy criticism for the decision, which she later apologised for.

Alcaraz, who won one of the great tennis finals in Paris 10 days ago against Jannik Sinner, has long been noted for “liking” Raducanu’s social-media posts on a regular basis.

The other headline-grabber is Naomi Osaka’s proposed collaboration with Nick Kyrgios, which is probably based on the fact that they share an agent. It should be said, however, that Kyrgios has found it difficult to achieve match fitness of late.

This is an innovative move from the United States Tennis Association, which has moved the mixed doubles event away from the main US Open fortnight and thus made it much more appealing to the bigger names.

The tournament will be played on August 19-20, the Tuesday and Wednesday before the singles matches begin. It has attracted almost all the top-10 players on both tours, with British No 1 Jack Draper teaming up with last year’s Olympic champion Qinwen Zheng and Novak Djokovic playing alongside Serbian compatriot Olga Danilovic.

Draper spoke about Raducanu teaming up with Alcaraz after his win at Queen’s on Tuesday, saying: “A wise person once told me you should find the best partner, and that’s what she did in Alcaraz. I don’t blame her at all for that [smiling].

“Yeah, I think she will have a lot of fun playing with Carlos. He’s obviously the best player in the world probably right now, along with Sinner. Great at doubles, as well. Saw that with Rafa [Nadal] at the Olympics. She’s gone about and chose the best partner, for sure. Hopefully they do well.”

The format has been abbreviated to make it less demanding on the players’ bodies. Until they are knocked out, teams will play two matches a day. But until the final they will use the “fast-four” format: two sets of four games apiece, with a tie-break at 3-3, and no deuces.

Not all the pairs announced on Tuesday are guaranteed to make the cut. But the fact that the USTA has eight wild-card invitations to hand out, for what is a 16-team event, makes it unthinkable that they would refuse Alcaraz and Raducanu the opportunity to play together.

Winners and losers following format shake-up

The Americans have come up with an innovative idea here, which will boost the visibility of their qualifying week enormously.

I wrote in January about how Wimbledon – which has no capacity to run on-site qualifying – is increasingly being left behind by the new three-week model employed by the other majors: one week of intense competition for Challenger-level players, who are ranked between 110 and 240 or so, followed by a blue-riband fortnight featuring the biggest names.

Now the USTA has invited these stars to the party much earlier than had previously been the case, by moving the mixed doubles forward to the Tuesday and Wednesday of qualifying week and offering a juicy prize-money fund.

Last year, the USTA reported that 219,000 spectators had availed themselves of free entry during US Open preliminary week. We can expect that figure to grow dramatically next time around.

For purposes of comparison, the Australian Open and French Open both welcomed a little over 100,000 during qualifying week at their most recent stagings. Wimbledon lags far behind, however. The Roehampton facility used by the All England Club is limited to just 5,000 spectators per day, or 20,000 in all.

There are other losers here, apart from Wimbledon. What of the regular tournaments (Winston-Salem for ATP players, Monterrey and Cleveland on the WTA) which occupy that same space in the calendar? They were understandably less than delighted by the US Open’s unilateral move.

Realistically, though, the top players hardly ever play regular tournaments in the week before a major in any case. A short, sharp exhibition – which is what this effectively is – tends to suit them much better.

Finally, spare a thought for Andrea Vavassori and Sara Errani: last year’s US Open mixed doubles champions, who were not on the list released on Tuesday. They may still get their chance, as the field has yet to be set in stone.

But while traditionalists might quibble, the USTA’s move makes irresistible commercial sense. The profile gap between Vavassori/Errani and the likes of “Alcaranu” is akin to that between Accrington Stanley and Manchester United.