Emma Raducanu says she is “not hiding anymore” after the stalker incident that left her in tears during a match in Dubai earlier this year, insisting she now feels secure enough to move freely around London and resume a normal routine.
Ten months on from the frightening episode - in which a man who had followed her around the world appeared courtside and was later arrested by UAE police - the British No 1 says the experience is “firmly behind her” thanks to the support of family, friends and management.
“Honestly, I’ve gotten over it,” she said. “I feel good because someone’s always watching my back.”
Her renewed confidence has coincided with an unlikely source of calm: daily rush-hour commutes into central London.
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Despite her status as one of Britain’s most recognisable athletes, Raducanu says she is able to travel with near-total anonymity on overground and Underground trains from her family home in Bromley.
Those journeys, for her, have become a welcome escape. “I’ve been part of rush hour every day, which has also been an experience,” the 23-year-old said.
“But it’s like my switch off. As soon as I get on the South Western to Waterloo, I’m just like, my day is done now.”
Emma Raducanu says she is “not hiding anymore” after the stalker incident that left her in tears during a match in Dubai earlier this year, insisting she now feels secure enough to move freely around London and resume a normal routine
|PA
She insists that even the most devoted tennis followers rarely notice her during the capital’s busiest commuter windows.
“Sometimes people recognise me,” she said. “You know what’s actually funny, in rush hour, people are so locked into their worlds, they are all so zoned out, they’re not really paying attention.
"They’re probably not expecting to see me either. I have my hood up or whatever, but they’re just so focused and absorbed in their own worlds.
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Five facts for tennis fans | GETTY/PA“I’m like, okay, if people see me on the tube, it’s not a bad thing. If people recognise me, and they want to come up to me, then that’s great, but I don’t necessarily feel like I’m hiding from anything anymore.”
Raducanu’s willingness to be out and about represents a sharp turn from the aftermath of her ordeal.
During a February match in Dubai, she broke down in tears after spotting the same individual who had approached her in a cafe the day before.
UAE authorities detained the man and issued a restraining order, but Raducanu fled home early to be with her parents.
Her season, though, ended prematurely in China in October due to illness, followed by a foot injury that ruled her out of two lucrative US exhibitions.
With competitive tennis paused for the winter, Raducanu has shifted focus away from the court.
Emma Raducanu was reduced to tears during her Dubai Championship match back in February
| XShe has been learning Spanish - to communicate better with her coach Francis Roig - and improving her French.
“I’m saying a sentence with like three different languages, and I just don’t even know what I’m saying,” she laughed.
“But I think it’s been great for me to put my mind to something else, to be occupied and feed my brain.”
She believes this off-court development has helped her mature.
“I feel like I’m just in a pretty content place,” she said.
“Just trying to become a better version off the court. I’ve had some time to do that, and yeah, I’m actually just pretty pleased with the progress I’m making in myself as a person, and maturing.”
She plans to spend Christmas at home for the first time in several years before opening her campaign at the United Cup in Australia.