Czech tennis ace Karolína Muchová broke down in tears at the US Open last week when she spotted an ex-boyfriend she said “shows up at places where he shouldn’t be” in the stands during her match.
The world’s No. 13 player was serving down 1-4 against Sorana Cîrstea on Thursday when she suddenly froze, gestured toward the crowd and grabbed a towel to wipe her face. She apologized to the chair umpire for the delay before resuming play through tears.
“Well … it wasn’t tennis-related,” Muchová later explained in Czech at her post-match press conference.
“Opposite my bench, my ex-boyfriend sat down. He sometimes shows up at places where he shouldn’t be. That startled me a bit. I told him to leave, he didn’t, but later he did go. It was hard to focus in that moment,” she said, according to a translation first published by The Athletic.
Despite the disruption and being visibly shaken, the 28-year-old semifinalist regrouped to win the match.
Tournament rules allow players to block certain individuals from obtaining tickets or credentials, but Muchová has not made such a request.
Two days later, after beating fellow Czech Linda Nosková, she tried to move on.
“Yeah, I’m alright. I didn’t make any report, and everything is good,” she told reporters Saturday.
Asked if she is confident such incidents won’t happen again, Muchová replied, “I mean, who knows, right? I don’t know.”
The unsettling scene is the latest in a pattern of women’s tennis players being disrupted by unwanted faces in the crowd.
At Wimbledon in July, Britain’s Emma Raducanu burst into tears when she recognized a man who harassed her earlier in Dubai and been issued a restraining order to stay away from her.
He was later banned from the All England Club’s ticket ballot. In that match, Raducanu was playing Muchová.
Raducanu later admitted she “couldn’t see the ball through tears” and “could barely breathe” after spotting the man mid-match.
The USTA said it takes these situations seriously.
“Player safety is a critical element of our planning and execution for the US Open,” a rep said, noting that security teams work with federal and local law enforcement to ensure a safe environment and monitor both in-person and online threats.
Still, experts say the sport is especially vulnerable.
“You put individuality, precociousness, attractiveness and visibility together, and women’s tennis is a perfect storm for fixated individuals,” a former WTA executive told The Athletic.
The most infamous troubling moment on the court occurred in 1993, when 19-year-old Monica Seles was stabbed in the back by a deranged fan during a match in Hamburg. Afterward, she never fully returned to the dominance she once had.
Other stars have faced persistent harassment.
Martina Hingis, a teenage prodigy, has spoken out about men who followed her from hotel to hotel during the height of her career.
In 2011, a man who called himself Serena Williams’ “husband” also was arrested after attempting to gain access to her Florida home, sparking tighter personal security measures for the 23-time Grand Slam champion.
Muchová, a two-time US Open semifinalist, is trying to put her own unsettling episode behind her as she heads into a fourth-round clash with No. 27 seed Marta Kostyuk on Monday.
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