Luke Littler has offered Emma Raducanu his support after the former US Open champion’s latest stalking ordeal.

Raducanu suffered a tearful meltdown, and hid behind the umpire’s chair, in Dubai earlier this week when a man who had approached her in a hotel and handed her a letter was spotted in the front rows at her match against Karolina Muchova. The man was detained and handed a restraining order by Dubai police after Raducanu decided not to press charges.

Three years ago, a delivery driver was given a five-year restraining order after staking out her home and stealing her father’s shoe from the porch as a souvenir.

And as a fellow teenage sporting sensation, Littler – who became the youngest darts world champion in history at 17 last month – empathises with his tennis counterpart.

Luke the Nuke, who is now shadowed by a minder to ward off unwanted attention, said: “Obviously the fans wait for us. They find out every hotel that we stay at. They want pictures and stuff like that, but when you’re getting stalked and followed, that’s just hitting a different level to be honest.

“Players and everyone, they will get pictures. We all know we can’t take pictures with everyone, but I think following people, it’s a different level.”

Littler was 16 when he shot to fame at Alexandra Palace 14 months ago, reaching the PDC World Championship final before his epic 7-4 defeat, from being 4-2 up, by Luke Humphries.

He proved it was no flash in the pan by going all the way 12 months later, beating three-times champion Michael van Gerwen 7-3 in a surprisingly one-sided final.

Littler has never met Raducanu, but at the Australian Open last month she said: “Amazing respect to him. Big time [interested in meeting Littler]. I’d love to meet any top athletes and top individuals who have succeeded in their fields.

“I think darts is such a precision sport that I’d be so keen and interested to hear things that he had to say about it, and [how to] stay focused, because you can be so close but not necessarily execute the final shot. In that sense, it’s quite similar to tennis.”

Raducanu thanked her fans for their supportive messages after the Dubai scare in an Instagram post next to a copy of Jane Austen’s novel Emma.

Following a series of injury setbacks, she has not been past the fourth round at a Grand Slam tournament since her Flushing Meadow triumph as an 18-year-old in 2021.

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