Russian tennis player Maria Timofeeva has revealed on social media that she ‘panicked’ after €10,000 (£8,576) was stolen from her bank account during her stay in Madrid.
The 20-year-old, who is ranked No. 99 in the WTA world rankings, attempted to qualify for the WTA1000 Mutua Madrid Open this week. In her opening match, she had recorded a two-set victory against Fiona Ferro, but was eliminated in the second round by British star Harriet Dart.
Timofeeva, who claimed her first singles title on the WTA Tour in Budapest last year, revealed her confusion over how the money had been stolen and admitted her bank card had been with her ‘for most of her time in the Spanish capital.’ She also claimed that this was not the first time she was robbed while in Spain.
‘Hello everyone, it’s Maria Timofeeva. And here I am, six months later, back in Spain and here I am robbed again,” the tennis star said in a video on her Instagram story on Thursday evening.
‘So I’d like to share my story and could use some advice from people who may have been in a similar situation before, or how this could have happened.
“So apparently the last few days [while] I’m here in Madrid, someone has taken money from my bank account and almost spent just over €10,000 (£8,576).
‘I’m panicking because I don’t know how it could have happened because my card was physically with me most of the time – except for one episode when I left it in my room while the room was being cleaned by the hotel maids where I stay.’
Maria Timofeeva has revealed that €10,000 was stolen from her bank account
Timofeeva posted a video on her Instagram story asking her followers for advice
The Russian tennis player is currently 99 in the WTA rankings and won her first title last year
Timofeeva then explained that the money had been spent near where she was staying, as she asked her Instagram followers to share any advice on the matter.
“The purchases were made in Madrid, near this area,” she added. ‘Normally for the online purchase you need a confirmation code that normally comes to my phone, which didn’t happen.
‘Yes, I don’t know, the circumstances are crazy and I don’t know how it can happen, so please share something and be aware of the people in Spain and these situations because it happens every damn time I come here and this getting out of control. So yeah, thanks, I guess.”
Timofeeva, from Moscow, had a fine start to the season in 2024, qualifying for the Australian Open before battling past Alize Cornet, Croline Wozniacki and Beatriz Haddid Maia to reach the round of 16 of the Grand Slam.
It was her highest ever placement at any of the majors, with the 20-year-old suffering a defeat to Urainian player Marta Kostyuk.
Timofeeva failed to qualify for Wimbledon and the US Open in 2023. It came after Russian and Belarusian players were banned from participating in Wimbledon in 2022 following the invasion of Ukraine. They were then allowed to compete as neutrals by the AELTC last year – with Wimbledon being the only Grand Slam to exclude players from both countries.
After posting the video to Instagram, she followed up with a separate story, clarifying several points, before again revealing that she would be filing a police report about the incident.
Timofeeva was playing at the WTA1000 Mutua Madrid Open when the incident occurred
Timofeeva (pictured in Paris) admitted she was confused about how the money had been withdrawn from her account
She also followed up with a separate message claiming she would be contacting police
The Russian tennis player failed to qualify for the Madrid Open, suffering a defeat to Harriet Dart
She started the season well and reached the eighth finals at the Australian Open
“Just to clarify a few things,” she wrote. ‘1. I have not received any SMS about the money being spent from my account because the SIM card linked to the bank is not my main one, so I only installed it today.
‘2. My card is a debit card and my bank has very limited communication capabilities, so they didn’t contact me either until €10,000 was spent in one day and they blocked the card. So for now all I could do was email them and hope they can refund the money.
‘3. I didn’t use any ATMs during my stay here and the only place I used a card reader was the official tournament hotel while paying for my coach’s room.
‘4. Physically the card was with me and for online purchases these fraudsters needed the data and a compliance code, so the main question is how on earth did they do it,” she added with a laughing emoji face.
She then thanked her Instagram followers for commenting on her post, before also writing: ‘Morning [I] will report it to the police and keep you informed.’