17 hours ago
Wimbledon ‘protects' female player who feared fan had a knife
Wimbledon said its security protocols responded effectively to a woman player's fears that a 'crazy' spectator had a knife and could attack her.
Yulia Putintseva raised security concerns about a man and asked for him to be ejected in an incident that highlights the fears of women players.
The world No 33 complained to the umpire during a change of ends in the opening set of her match against Amanda Anisimova on Monday. Putintseva, 30, asked: 'Can you take him out? I am not going to continue playing until he leaves. These people are dangerous. They are crazy.' She then pointed to an area of spectators and described the man as wearing green.
The umpire, Fabio Souza, spoke to four members of security staff before saying play would resume.
Putintseva, from Kazakhstan, responded: 'When the security comes … take him out, because maybe he has a knife and he will attack.' She went on to lose the match in 45 minutes without winning a game and left the court in floods of tears.
Anisimova, 23, told the BBC after the match she believed the spectator had been saying something 'when [Putintseva] was about to serve'. She added: 'I am sure that we were protected.'
Michelle Dite, the tournament's operations director, said: 'If players have got any concerns, if they feel that there is something that doesn't feel quite right, they absolutely should bring it to light. We would rather know about these things, and that is what happened.
'The chair umpire had some really good communication as planned. We have security that moves with the players, that stays with the players, and that's a really important relationship.
'It's a critical relationship therefore with the security and also the chair umpire to make sure that the conversations are had about: 'Is everyone OK with this?' The chair umpire then moved back to the chair and play commenced. In terms of those conversations, protocols were followed and the matter was dealt with.'
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Dite said it was 'not' a stalking incident. 'There was an issue raised by one of the players — you've got to remember these players are in a high-performance environment.
'We want to create the best possible theatre for them to come and do their thing. One of the players had some concerns; they went and spoke to the umpire; we checked it all out with security, followed protocols.'
Wimbledon declined to say if the spectator was ejected. 'Security was in the area. The issue was dealt with,' the organisation said.
Security of players, particularly women, is a focus of the tournament. Emma Raducanu praised Wimbledon for doing an 'amazing job' after it was revealed that a man who had been stalking her had been banned from buying tickets for the championships.
The man, who followed Raducanu to multiple events, was given a restraining order by police in the United Arab Emirates after his presence at the Dubai Tennis Championships earlier this year caused her to break down in tears on the court.
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Wimbledon said its security system had red-flagged the man's attempt to buy tickets for the All England Club and that his application had been rejected. Raducanu, 22, said: 'Wimbledon did an amazing job. I got a notification and the police contacted me and assured me that everything was OK.'
Sally Bolton, the chief executive of the All England Club, said at the start of the championship: 'Every year, we are reviewing the security we put in place, both for the athletes and for everybody that's here, based on the threat and risk profile.
'Obviously, what we saw with the incidents with Emma Raducanu I think brings it front of mind for people, perhaps outside the tennis community.
'Sadly, the reality for particularly female athletes in sport is it's not particularly unusual [to deal with stalkers]. And so those are the sorts of issues that we are fairly well versed in dealing with. We are always enhancing it and putting in place the appropriate measures, whether that's for the players or for our guests.'
