Emma Raducanu stalker tries to obtain Wimbledon tickets
The man given a restraining order for stalking British number one Emma Raducanu has been caught trying to obtain tickets for this summer's Wimbledon.
The PA news agency understands an application from the individual was discovered in the public ballot before being removed by tournament organisers.
His name had been red-flagged and was highlighted by the All England Club's security system.
Raducanu hid behind the umpire's chair after receiving repeated unwanted attention from a 'fixated' man at the Dubai Championships in February.
At the time, the 22-year-old said she 'couldn't see the ball through tears' and could 'barely breathe', while she revealed the situation was exacerbated by her being unsettled without a full-time coach.
She had been aware of the man's presence at previous tournaments in Singapore, Abu Dhabi and Doha before spotting him in the stands during her second-round match against Karolina Muchova.
A day earlier, the man, who was removed from the court, handed 2021 US Open champion Raducanu a letter and asked for a photo in a coffee shop.
He was given a restraining order by Dubai police and his name was circulated around tennis authorities.
Raducanu revealed earlier this month the ordeal had made her 'wary' when going out.
She told BBC Sport: 'I'm obviously wary when I go out. I try not to be careless about it because you only realise how much of a problem it is when you're in that situation and I don't necessarily want to be in that situation again.'
Raducanu had been previously targeted by a stalker, with an obsessive fan given a restraining order in 2022 after coming to her house three times.
This year's Wimbledon Championships are due to get under way on Monday, June 30 and will run until Sunday, July 13.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sunday World
2 hours ago
- Sunday World
Billboard appears in support of Kneecap ahead of court appearance
Johnny Marr also weighed in on the group's Glastonbury set hitting out at idea of censorship Kneecap member Liam Og O hAnnaidh outside the 100 Club in Oxford Street, central London, last month. Pic: PA/PA Wire A billboard has appeared in London supporting the west Belfast band Kneecap, as one of its members prepares to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on Wednesday on an alleged terror offence. The billboard was snapped in the Lambeth area of the city and shared by a number of users online, including Sinn Féin MP Chris Hazzard. The band's own account also shared the image of the billboard, which includes the phrase: 'More Blacks, More Dogs, More Irish, Mo Chara' set in the colours of the Irish Tricolour. The phrase included in the billboard appears to be a parody of the historical racist slogan seen across parts of England in the 1960s which included the phrase 'no blacks, no dogs, no Irish'. Mr Hazard shared an image of the billboard on his Facebook account, captioning the photo: 'Spotted in London.' It comes as Kneecap member Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh prepares to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on Wednesday on an alleged terror offence. The 27-year-old, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, has been charged over the alleged display of a flag in support of Hezbollah at a gig at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town, north London, in November last year. We need your consent to load this Social Media content. We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review your details and accept them to load the content Meanwhile, a former guitarist from 1980s rock band The Smiths backed Kneecap amid calls for their set at the Glastonbury Festival to be censored. There had previously been calls for the controversial Irish language rap group's set at the famous festival to be cancelled amid a furore sparked by their pro-Palestine display at US festival Coachella in April. During the gig, the band – made up of Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh (Mo Chara), JJ Ó Dochartaigh (DJ Próvaí) and Naoise Ó Cairealláin (Moghlaí Bap) – led the crowd in chants of 'free, free Palestine'. A message reading: 'F**k Israel. Free Palestine' was also unveiled. The billboard in Lambeth News in 90 Seconds - June 17 Soon after the gig, footage emerged allegedly showing a band member calling for the deaths of MPs and shouting 'up Hamas, up Hezbollah'. The group subsequently apologised to the families of murdered MPs but said footage of the incident had been 'exploited and weaponised'. Posting a message on his social media channels, former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr said calls for Kneecap's Glastonbury set to be cancelled were not in keeping with the festival's 'free expression'. "After learning that calls have been made for Kneecap to be censored during their Glastonbury set, I think it's important that I make my own position clear,' he said. We need your consent to load this Social Media content. We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review your details and accept them to load the content "I've played Glastonbury many times and the festival has always had a political aspect. "It was founded as a place of free expression and political activism and it's a fact that I agreed to play there with The Smiths in 1984 purely because to do so at the time was a political act. "We are living through very troubling times, but for anyone who's been interested in me or my music over the last 40 years, I feel like my political stance has always been very clear. "Oppression fears artistic expression. I respect all musicians who use their platform to speak out against injustice, who promote compassion and equality and give voice to the voiceless. "I stand with my audience and fellow musicians who call for an immediate end to the atrocities and a free Palestine.' Last week, the band announced details of the high-profile legal team that will represent Mo Chara over the alleged terror offence, referring to them as 'An Scothfhoireann – The Dream Team'. Kneecap member Liam Og O hAnnaidh outside the 100 Club in Oxford Street, central London, last month. Pic: PA/PA Wire Darragh Mackin of Phoenix Law heads up the team alongside Gareth Peirce of Binberg Peirce, who has previously defended the Birmingham Six and the Guilford Four, as well as appearing for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. The team also includes Brenda Campbell KC, who represented the families of the Hillsborough Stadium disaster, and freedom of expression expert Jude Bunting KC. Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh, who appeared before the International Court of Justice on behalf of South Africa against Israel in relation to the genocide in Gaza, is also in the ranks, with free speech, national security and crime expert Rosalyn Comyn completing the line-up. In an Instagram post the group added: 'The British establishment is conducting a campaign against Kneecap which is to be fought in Westminster Magistrates Court. "We are ready for this fight. We are proud to have such a strong legal team with us.'
Extra.ie
6 hours ago
- Extra.ie
Simple switch can kill three birds with one stone for Lions
There are areas where this Lions squad is stacked and positions where they appear spread a little thin on the ground. Out-half, for example. For all the British media fawning over Finn Russell, the talented Scot has been associated with too many no-shows on big days for comfort — a good few of them involving Lions head coach Andy Farrell and his chief out-half adviser for this tour, Johnny Sexton. Fin Smith and Marcus Smith, the other 10s in the squad, are skilful but unproven. Russell has lots of admirers but still lots to prove. Pic: INPHO/Billy Stickland Back row is another area worthy of scrutiny. There is no shortage of quality among the back-row options available but very little height to go with it. Tom Curry, Jac Morgan, Josh van der Flier, Ben Earl, Jack Conan and Henry Pollock all have the essential back-row options of speed over the ground and being good over the ball but none of that group is what you would call an elite lineout option. This could become a problem as back row is, arguably, where the Wallabies are best equipped to take on the Lions, and they are not short. Henry Pollock is a dynamic backrow but not the tallest. Pic: Getty Images Meanwhile, move up a row to the engine room and the Lions are particularly well stocked for what is required. Tour captain Maro Itoje is locked in as a Test starter but the battle for who gets to pack down next to him will be intense between Joe McCarthy, Ollie Chessum, James Ryan, Scott Cummings and Tadhg Beirne. That is a high quality selection of second rows but some are better suited to partnering Itoje than others. The best second row combinations tend to be one over-sized enforcer and one lighter, more agile lock who tends to be the lineout expert — think Bakkies Botha and Victor Matfield from the great Springbok side of the mid-to-late 2000s. Joe McCarthy and James Ryan both fit the enforcer role in the second row. In this Lions squad, Itoje fits the Matfield brief and he needs a big lump alongside him — especially with Farrell looking to dominate Australia in the front five, an area where they have traditionally struggled. McCarthy, Chessum, Ryan and Cummings all have the enforcer thing going on but Beirne (the most in-form and effective of all the second rows selected) does not. That is not the Munster man's game — Beirne is all about workrate and game-changing moments rather than getting bogged down in the trenches, he likes to stay loose and free to pounce on possession, and winning turnovers has become his trademark. Tadhg Beirne would add an extra lineout option if he was picked at blindside flanker instead of in the second row. Farrell knows just how crucial Beirne's contribution can be and has leaned on him heavily since 2021, which is concerning in its own way because he turns 34 in January and will be pushing 36 come the next World Cup. But that is for down the road; for now Farrell will want to get Beirne into his Test side and will be mulling over the fact that the slot next to Itoje may not be the best fit. That means moving Beirne to the back row, specifically the blindside flanker No6 role, where the Kildare man has featured regularly over his career. Tadhg Beirne likes to get around the park. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile And, in switching Beirne there, Farrell will be killing three birds with one stone — getting Beirne into the team, freeing up space for a second-row enforcer and easing the lineout problem stemming from lack of height in the back row. Beirne is nearing the last lap of a highly distinguished career – one rendered all the more impressive by the fact he was let go by Leinster and reinvented himself with Scarlets. He deserves to be remembered as one of Munster and Ireland's finest forwards and deserves to make the Test side on what will be his final Lions tour. One simple switch could make that happen.
Irish Independent
7 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Florian Wirtz holidays with Liverpool star before £116m transfer as Milos Kerkez update revealed
German forward Wirtz is expected to fly in for a medical on Merseyside on Friday after a mammoth deal was finally struck with Bayer Leverkusen last week worth an initial guaranteed £100million up front plus a further potential £16m in add-ons, which if met would make it the most expensive signing in the history of British football, overtaking Chelsea's £115m swoop for Ecuadorian midfielder Moises Caicedo from Brighton in the summer of 2023. Wirtz has been on holiday since Germany's Nations League finals campaign on home soil ended with a last-four defeat by eventual winners Portugal - in which he scored - and subsequent third-place play-off loss to France last weekend, having already agreed personal terms with Liverpool as he prepares to finalise the move after a break. Frimpong has now posted a picture of the pair relaxing on holiday on a boat in a sunny location, with the Dutch international defender having already sealed his own £29.5m switch from Leverkusen to Anfield last month as Trent Alexander-Arnold's long-term right-back replacement following the latter's early £10m move to Real Madrid ahead of the Club World Cup. We need your consent to load this Social Media content. We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review your details and accept them to load the content Alongside a snap of himself and Wirtz posing on the boat, Frimpong posted on social media: 'Vacation mode with my bro.' Wirtz and Frimpong played together for four seasons at Leverkusen after the latter joined from Celtic in 2021, each enjoying a key role in the Xabi Alonso team that won a memorable Bundesliga and German Cup double in 2023/24, narrowly missing out on a trophy treble after losing the Europa League final to Atalanta in Dublin. Liverpool fans will hope that the pair are swiftly joined at Anfield by Milos Kerkez, who looks to be firmly on track to complete a £45m move from Bournemouth soon having spoken to Reds supporters on a recent live stream and held up a flag of a Liverpool supporters' group in Serbia. The father and agent of Kerkez - an international team-mate and close friend of Liverpool's Dominik Szoboszlai with Hungary - also confirmed that his son joining Liverpool was now 'basically a done deal' as he hailed the impact of Richard Hughes, Liverpool's sporting director who signed Kerkez from Dutch side AZ Alkmaar during his time at Bournemouth. 'It's only Liverpool for us and we're not going anywhere else and we won't talk to other clubs,' Sebastijan Kerkez told the Super Indirektno podcast. 'Everything is done between us, we just need to sort out some details. But it's basically a done deal." On Hughes, he said: 'Richard Hughes brought us to Bournemouth, if he said we go to India, then we go to India. Everything is agreed, just some little things.' Kerkez's proposed transfer to Liverpool had already looked to be moving closer this week after Bournemouth signed French left-back Adrien Truffert from Rennes - his assumed replacement - in a £10.1m deal. Alongside Frimpong, Wirtz and likely Kerkez, Liverpool are also welcoming Georgian goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili this summer after a £29m deal was agreed with Valencia last year. Fellow goalkeeper Armin Pesci, 20, has also arrived from Hungarian side Puskas Akademia, with the Reds securing new competition and support for first-choice stopper Alisson Becker after long-time deputy Caoimhin Kelleher's £18m switch to Brentford. Left-back stalwart Andy Robertson could yet leave amid the pursuit of Kerkez, having now been linked with Atletico Madrid as he enters the final year of his Liverpool contract. If he stays, then understudy Kostas Tsimikas could depart instead, Sky Sports claim, with Wolves, Nottingham Forest and Leeds all linked with the Greek defender.
