Tennis player Eva Lys says ‘obsessed’ fans have sought out hotel room numbers and addresses

Eva Lys, the world No. 40 from Germany, has said that people have “got hold of the addresses of training facilities, hotels and even room numbers” during the course of her tennis career.

In a year when Emma Raducanu and Karolína Muchová were both affected on court after spotting an alleged stalker or fixated person, and Iga Świątek was verbally harassed at a training session, Lys described multiple experiences of being stalked in an interview with German newspaper Die Ziet.

“Was it related to lost bets? I don’t know. They were clearly obsessed with me. That crossed all boundaries,” Lys said.

A WTA spokesperson said that “the safety and well-being of our players are of utmost importance to the WTA. A dedicated security department, working collaboratively with the tournaments, ensures a secure environment at all WTA events.

“Our team, together with the tournament organizers, works closely with local authorities, law enforcement and security experts to implement comprehensive measures that prioritize player and spectator safety. As a result, incidents are extremely rare due to the preventative and proactive measures.”

In February, at the Dubai Tennis Championships, Raducanu broke down in tears mid-match after spotting a man who had given her a letter and asked for a photo the previous day. She had noticed the man at a number of her previous events, and he was subsequently given a restraining order and taken off the list of applicants for Wimbledon ballot tickets.

Six-time Grand Slam champion Iga Świątek was harassed in Miami a month later, when a man who had made threats online showed up and verbally abused her during practice. On the first day of this year’s Wimbledon, Yulia Putintseva said she wouldn’t continue her first-round match against Amanda Anisimova until a spectator she called “dangerous” and “crazy,” and who she feared had a knife, had been removed. Putintseva lost the match 6-0, 6-0.

At the U.S. Open the following month, Muchová, the Czech world No. 13, had to wipe away tears and briefly halt her second-round U.S. Open match against Sorana Cîrstea. She later explained that she had spotted an ex-boyfriend in the crowd, who she said has a history of showing up “at places where he shouldn’t be.”

In a special report by The Athletic in August, one former WTA executive, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect relationships in tennis, described the conditions in the sport as being a “perfect storm” for this kind of unwanted attention.

“I think it’s to do with the individuality of the sport, and then a combination of precociousness, attractiveness and visibility,” the executive said.

“You put all those things together and women’s tennis is a perfect storm for fixated individuals.”

Other players have detailed similar experiences. Katie Boulter said she was followed by someone in a car during a tournament; Danielle Collins described dealing with numerous fixated individuals, one of whom called her friends and family at work. Coco Gauff told reporters at the Madrid Open in April that someone tried to follow her and her dad to their home in Florida when she was 15.

Ahead of representing Germany in the Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers on Friday, Lys also said that the volume of social media abuse she receives makes her “incredibly angry.” She added that while she tries to think they don’t affect her, “thousands of hate messages leave no one unmoved.”

In June, a joint report released by the WTA and International Tennis Federation (ITF) found that in 2024, 15 cases of abuse toward tennis players were escalated to law enforcement agencies.

“We have implemented a service for our athletes from Threat Matrix to detect abusive and threatening content, provide rapid threat assessment of personal safety, and support law enforcement agencies in the investigation of the most serious cases,” the WTA spokesperson said.

“As social media use becomes more part of an athlete’s profile, we are constantly learning how to evolve our layers of protection in this space.”

In Friday’s Billie Jean King Cup playoff, Lys was beaten by Turkey’s Zeynep Sönmez to level the tie at 1-1.

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