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Tennis star Karolina Muchova has revealed she was left 'startled' after being stalked by an ex-boyfriend in the crowd at one of her US Open matches this week.
Muchova, the current world No 11 in women's singles, claims the former partner turned up during her second-round victory over Romania's Soraya Cirstea in New York City on Thursday.
As she served while 4-1 down in the first set, the Czechia player suddenly looked visibly emotional before she approached the side of the court to gesture to the crowd.
She could then be seen wiping tears away when she returned to serve having apologized to her opponent for the delay, though it was unclear at the time what had upset her.
Two days on from the incident, Muchova explained that she had spotted an ex-boyfriend who has a tendency to 'show up at places where he shouldn't be' in the stands at Flushing Meadows.
'Well… it wasn't tennis-related,' she said in her native Czech, via The Athletic. 'So l don't really like talking about it. But opposite my bench, my ex-boyfriend sat down.
Karolina Muchova has revealed she was stalked by an ex-boyfriend at the US open this week
The world No 11 was playing in the second round when her former partner suddenly turned up
Emma Raducanu was recently stalked by a crazed fan in Dubai while playing against Muchova
'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.'
US Open players can request for certain individuals to be blacklisted from receiving tickets or credentials at the tournament. However, it is believed Muchova had not mentioned the man to the WTA or the United States Tennis Association (USTA).
'Yeah, I’m alright. I didn’t make any report and everything is good,' she added on Saturday.
Despite confirming she felt safe going onto the court, Muchova said when asked if she was confident there wouldn't be a similar incident again: 'I mean, who knows, right? I don’t know, so…'
Earlier this year, Muchova was on the other side of the net when British star Emma Raducanu was stalked by a crazed fan out in Dubai.
Two games into the match Raducanu had to hide behind the umpire's chair and was in tears while a man - who 'exhibited fixated behaviour' - was removed from the arena and later handed a restraining order.
The man in question was handed a restraining order by Dubai authorities and removed from the list of applicants for Wimbledon tickets over the summer in the public ballot.
Muchova is set to face Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk in the fourth round of the US Open on Sunday.
