World No. 2 Iga Swiatek has been granted additional safety after an incident wherein an unruly fan verbally abused her throughout a observe session on the Miami Open final weekend, in line with a report by the BBC. The rise in safety got here forward of Swiatek’s match on Wednesday, the place the five-time world champion was upset by Alexandra Eala within the quarterfinals.
The spectator, who was characterised as “aggressive and taunting,” allegedly shouted private insults about Swiatek’s household after beforehand having despatched her abusive messages on-line. The BBC experiences that Swiatek’s group reported the incident, main match organizers and the WTA to place additional safety in place forward of her match on Wednesday.
“Safety is a high precedence. We monitor the community to catch these kind of points,” a spokesperson for Swiatek stated. “Constructive criticism is one factor, and threats, hate speech and even disturbance throughout coaching is one other — this can’t be condoned.”
The matter involving Swiatek comes on the heels of one other incident wherein fan habits proved disturbing for a ladies’s tennis star. On the Dubai Championships, a stoppage in play occurred after Emma Raducanu was frightened by the presence of a person who had been stalking her throughout her second spherical match, resulting in enhanced safety being put in place for her. The person in query has since been banned from all WTA tournaments.
Whereas it is unsure as as to if or not the harassment incident and subsequent response affected her play, Swiatek ended up shedding her quarterfinal match on Wednesday to Alexandra Eala. At 19-years previous, Eala pulled off a serious upset after having made the Miami Open as a wild card earlier than knocking off Swiatek, who gained the occasion again in 2022.
