How Emma Raducanu’s stalker ordeal changed Wimbledon’s approach to player safety ...Middle East

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How Emma Raducanu’s stalker ordeal changed Wimbledon’s approach to player safety

WIMBLEDON — When a spectator began “screaming” about “political” issues, Yulia Putintseva could not help but assume the worst. She asked for them to be ejected, and wondered aloud: “Maybe he has a knife.”

Perhaps it is an unsurprising response, considering the current heightened temperature around security in tennis. It was only a week prior to Wimbledon that Emma Raducanu’s stalker tried to secure tickets to the grounds.

    In Putintseva’s case, the spectator on Court 15 on Monday was not known to her. They left the court of their own accord, after the umpire spoke to security staff and the matter – as the All England Club (AELTC) put it – was “dealt with”. Still, Putintseva lost her opening match 6-0, 6-0.

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    “I mean, it was just an idiot saying something and I was not afraid, but feeling uncomfortable because there are too many idiots right now in this world,” Putintseva said later this week. “That’s pretty much it… At least no one got hurt so it’s fine.”

    While Putintseva’s incident was put to bed, tennis remains a sport on high alert. In recent months, players have increasingly been highlighting the importance of safety at events but also the online threats they contend with on a daily basis.

    Conversation was sparked in February, when Raducanu was reduced to tears on court in Dubai, after she spotted a man alleged to have stalked her in the stands at her match. He approached her near the player hotel the day before her match too, and she had noticed him in the crowd at previous matches in Singapore, Abu Dhabi and Doha.

    When Raducanu realised he was in the stadium, her response was panic. He was removed from the arena and then given a restraining order. Still, he was not deterred from trying to purchase a ticket to Wimbledon. Luckily for Raducanu, the Wimbledon security system showed his name as red-flagged, and he was blocked from doing so.

    Security teams at Wimbledon have to monitor more than 40,000 people a day (Photo: Getty)

    That system is one of the many measures in place at the tournament, aimed at boosting security. Events on the WTA, ATP and ITF tour throughout the season collaborate in this way, sharing the names of individuals who have been known to pose potential threats, in order to prevent them from getting access to players. At Wimbledon, even those who access the grounds via the queue system must also provide personal details to get their tickets.

    Beyond these checks, there are an estimated 1,000 people involved in security at Wimbledon. As well as the player protection officers positioned on court, regular visitors to the Championships will also have noticed 498 military personnel, many of whom are stationed at every entrance point to the courts. There are also police on-site. Elsewhere, there are fixated threat specialists and behavioural experts roaming the grounds, as well as monitored CCTV coverage.

    To add to that, there is a team on-site at Wimbledon from Signify Group, a company which uses artificial intelligence and data analysis to chart online abuse which players face on social media. They count Wimbledon, the WTA, ITF and US Open among their clients, and have monitored the accounts of more than 8,000 players last season.

    Boulter drew attention to some of the threats faced by female athletes earlier this summer (Photo: PA)

    Part of their job is assessing when an online threat has the potential to manifest itself as an in-person threat from particularly fixated individuals, by identifying the proximity the online troll has to the athlete. At Wimbledon, as at other events, fans sit extremely close to the courts and sometimes can be at practice sessions too.

    “There are security measures in place that go beyond the kinds of checks we would do on someone’s identity that are effective on and around the grounds,” AELTC chief executive Sally Bolton said on Monday. “So we are not reliant on just checking databases for email addresses or the like. There are other measures we have in place, but I wouldn’t probably share those.

    “Sadly, the reality for, particularly female, athletes is it’s not particularly unusual. And so those are the sorts of issues that we are fairly well versed in dealing with.

    “We are always reviewing security. We’re always enhancing it and putting in place the appropriate measures.”

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    In the last 12 months, top players including Katie Boulter and Danielle Collins have both described dealing with in-person harassment or threats at tennis events. Last December, Boulter told The Guardian that she had been physically threatened via social media, by a man at the Nottingham Open. “I’m outside, I’m going to hurt you,” the message read, before she alerted the tournament and the culprit was found on-site.

    Data shows that women athletes and officials are 30 per cent more likely to experience online abuse. The nature of that abuse can vary from angry gamblers, body shaming and violent rape and death threats.

    Beyond Wimbledon, WTA tournaments also have preventative and proactive measures in place to keep players safe, and their security department is headed up by former US secret service agent Bob Campbell. That includes canine sweeps prior to each day of a tournament, bag searches, as well as security at official players’ hotels and escorting players to the airport too.

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