TEEN tennis star Mirra Andreeva was involved in an uncomfortable interaction with a fan during her US Open women’s doubles match on Monday.
Andreeva, 18, was approached by a man from the crowd during a changeover as she sat on the bench alongside playing partner Diana Shnaider.
The Russian ace was discussing the match with Shnaider when a fan made their way to the front of the stands and called out her name to get her attention.
Once Andreeva turned around, the man leaned over the barricade and said hello.
It’s not known if the individual said anything else.
Andreeva and Shnaider appeared uncomfortable as they turned back around before awkwardly laughing off the situation, which has been labelled as “creepy” by tennis fans.
Seemingly asked what happened by the umpire, Andreeva replied: “He just said hi”.
The interaction has raised fan concern over the level of security at this year’s US Open following a string of other incidents.
It comes after a fan leaned over the barriers to try and grab Jannik Sinner’s bag while it was still on his back earlier this week.
While another fan snatched Kamil Majchrzak’s hat from a young boy in the early stages of the tournament.
Security issues in tennis have been a talking point for a long time and reared their head in a concerning manner back in February when British tennis sensation Emma Raducanu had to hide from a stalker at the Dubai Tennis Championship.
Raducanu, 22, was reduced to tears and suffered a panic attack when she saw the “fixated man” watching from the crowd in Dubai.
The individual was handed a restraining order from the Dubai police and his name was circulated amongst tennis authorities.
In the wake of that incident, Andreeva was one of many tennis stars to open up on their own terrifying experiences.
She revealed that she had been subject to threats when she was just 14 years old.
Andreeva said: “After every loss I think every player receives a bunch of hateful messages.
“I remember once when I was young, when I was 14-years-old, I was playing one of my first ITF tournaments.
“And I received a message after my loss that said: ‘Look around because I’m going to find you and I’m going to cut your arms.’
“That was still the one that I remember to this day.”
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