British No 1 Katie Boulter has revealed her experiences of being followed and threatened in recent years.
Explaining that “people have followed me at times,” in the last 18 months, the 28-year-old has spoken of an experience at Queens when, after picking up boyfriend and fellow tennis star Alex de Minaur at Queens, someone followed her in a car.
In the interview she also talks of receiving threats while competing at a tournament, saying: “One time in Nottingham, I had someone messaging me on social media saying: ‘I’m outside. I’m going to hurt you if you come outside,’” she told the Guardian. “Obviously I alerted the WTA, and they found the guy, who was actually on site.
“Things like this happen all the time. Obviously we are very well protected, which makes you feel safe. The WTA does a great job of being there for you with that. I do feel like we are protected as much as possible, which at least puts your mind at ease a little bit.”
Boulter has sadly described such incidents as “kind of normal nowadays.”
In July, American tennis player Danielle Collins spoke exclusively to Telegraph Sport about her experience with stalkers, saying: “I don’t think it’s something that gets talked about a ton, but many of us have had security issues during our time playing on tour. I had a few different situations over the years. It’s never fun, the feeling of looking over your shoulder.”
In 2022, a man, Amrit Magar, 35, was given a five-year restraining order and found guilty of stalking fellow tennis star Emma Raducanu.
Magar reportedly walked 23 miles to Raducanu’s home in London and then took her father’s shoe as a souvenir, falsely believing it to be Raducanu’s. At the time, the former-US Open champion said: “Because of this I feel like my freedom has been taken away from me. I am constantly looking over my shoulder. I feel on edge and worried this could happen again. I don’t feel safe in my own home, which is where I should feel safest.”
Boulter could potentially face her partner De Minaur in the United Cup, with Great Britain drawn against Australia for the event that straddles late December and early January. The GB team consists of Boulter and Jack Draper, while the Australian side is De Minaur and Olivia Gadecki.
