Former Wimbledon champion recalls being stalked: “Someone followed me the whole grass season”

Former Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli has voiced her support for Emma Raducanu and shared her own experience with stalking. The French former player won eight titles during her career—including Wimbledon 2013—and reached 11 other finals, including her runner-up finish against Venus Williams at the All England Club in 2007.

Recently, British player Emma Raducanu faced a stalking incident involving a man who displayed obsessive behaviour towards her. Raducanu had played only a few games against Karolina Muchova when she spotted the stalker in the stands and ran towards the chair umpire to seek shelter and ask for his removal.Raducanu’s stalker case reminds Bartoli of her own terrifying experience

The 22-year-old player hid behind the umpire’s chair while security escorted the man out of the stadium. He had reportedly followed Raducanu across multiple tournaments and had even approached her while she was dining alone at a restaurant the day before her match. The spectator was later arrested by the police, but Raducanu decided not to press charges.

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Bartoli shares her own stalking experience

Former world No. 7 Marion Bartoli recently revealed that she also had to deal with a stalker during her career. The Frenchwoman shared that a fan repeatedly followed her throughout the summer of 2007 during the grass-court swing—the year she reached her first Major final at Wimbledon, losing to Venus Williams.

“Someone just followed me through the whole grass season in 2007,” Bartoli, who was also 22 at the time, recalled “I played Birmingham and Eastbourne and that person found a way to get into the grounds, behaving like a ball kid and a groundsman.”

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“He found a way to purchase the same kit and get himself into my court as a groundsperson. And I sort of recognised him. It was from my first-round match against Flavia Pennetta,” she added. “I pointed out straight away to the All England Club and the organisation of the tournament to say that he was not a groundsperson, he was not working there."

The former world No. 7 remembered how the tournament organisers quickly took action to ensure her safety. “He was someone who had been stalking me for three weeks. And they found a way to get his identity and get rid of him and put his picture on all the entrances of the All England Club."

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“When you’re in that environment, it can feel very, very stressful. And I was very young back then. I was 22 years old as well, and I remember just getting on the court and saying to my dad, that person does not have the right to be on my courts.”

“That’s the only time I experienced it to that close degree, which I think is a bit similar to what Emma has experienced. Even though that guy didn’t insult me, he was really, really stalking me,” Marion Bartoli added. “I was extremely proud of Emma for continuing to play and willing to give it a go, and willing to try to fight as much as she could despite the circumstances.”

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