Karolína Muchová, a prominent tennis player, experienced an emotional moment at the US Open when her ex-boyfriend unexpectedly appeared during her match.
During her contest against Sorana Cîrstea on August 28, Muchová, from the Czech Republic, had to pause play as she became visibly upset. The British umpire, Alison Hughes, inquired if she was alright as the match was temporarily halted.
At that point, Muchová was trailing with a score of four to one and the sixth game tied at 30:30. It was during this time that she noticed her ex-boyfriend in the stands, which triggered her emotional response.
Despite the unexpected distraction, she managed to regain her focus and eventually secured victory in the match with scores of 7:6 (0), 6:7 (3), and 6:4, after nearly three hours of play.
Following the match, she revealed to the Czech press that the presence of her former partner had been the source of her distress during the game.
She shared with Radiožurnál, “There was something there. I’m happy with how I handled it. The first set was a little harder for me to concentrate, but then I got back into the rhythm and fought for every ball.”
In further discussions with tenisovysvet.cz, Muchová elaborated on the situation, stating, “It’s not about tennis, so I don’t like to talk about it. But my ex-boyfriend, who sometimes appears in places where he shouldn’t be and where I am, sat down opposite my bench.”
She admitted, “So it scared me a little, but I asked him if he could leave. He didn’t go, but then he left. It was hard for me to concentrate on tennis at that moment.”
Following her win against Cîrstea, Muchová faced fellow Czech player Linda Nosková, emerging victorious and moving on to the round of 16, where she would compete against Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk.
When questioned about her well-being on August 30, considering the incident a few days earlier, she responded, “Yeah, I’m alright. I didn’t make any report, and everything is good.”
Regarding the possibility of similar occurrences in the future, Muchová remarked, “I mean, who knows, right? I don’t know.”
This incident occurred a few months after British tennis player Emma Raducanu experienced a similar emotional breakdown at Wimbledon, prompted by the presence of a man in the crowd who had previously been convicted of stalking her in Dubai.