By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Tuesday July 2, 2024
Danielle Collins has had to deal with all types of challenges during her illustrious playing career. Now that the 30-year-old former World No.7 is calling it a career at the end of the season the Florida native says there is one type of challenge she can’t wait to stop facing: dealing with stalkers.
Though it doesn’t like to broadcast it, tennis has a regrettable history with stalkers. There was Monica Seles’ infamous stabbing by a depraved Steffi Graf fan in 1993, as well as a man who was handed a five-year restraining order for stalking Emma Raducanu and sending her unwanted gifts.
The 35-year-old man was captured on camera at her doorstep two years ago. Imagine what that could do to a young person who’d prefer to be focused on her tennis? "Since all this has happened, I have felt creeped out. I feel very apprehensive if I go out, especially if I am on my own," Raducanu told police in a statement. In another incident a man who had followed Serena Williams across several countries was arrested at Wimbledon when he tried to break into the grounds to get close to her.
“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,” Collins told the Telegraph in an exclusive interview from London this week.
The American, who is playing her last Wimbledon in this her last season (she’s up a set in a suspended first-round match with Dane Clara Tauson as of the end of Day 2), says that she’s hesitant to be in large groups of fans and frequently relies on security to ensure her safety.
“Social media does open up so many opportunities for us to connect with fans, at the same time it sometimes gives access to people who are really unwell and not in a great mental head space,” Collins told the Telegraph. “It does make you a little more cautious and sceptical. I still to this day have a really hard time when I get boxed in large groups of people, I feel scared when fans come running at me, throw things or touch me because of a few scary situations I’ve experienced.”