Why Emma Raducanu was treated badly by the umpire as incident is hailed as ‘ridiculous’
Emma Raducanu found herself caught up in a storm she would not have wanted any part of when umpire Miriam Bley served up an unexpected response to her valid complaint during an epic clash against Aryna Sabalenka in Cincinnati.
If an unruly fan was shouting at crucial moments and distracting players as they were about to serve, there is an assumption that they will be removed from the stadium.
When the attendee making a noise is a small child, the balancing act between fairness to the players and expectations of spectator behaviour can become a little blurred.
So when Raducanu asked umpire Miriam Bley whether a crying baby could be asked to leave, she got a response that instantly made the player and not the baby the talking point as the chair umpire said: “It’s a child… do you want me to kick the child out of the stadium?”
The inference from Bley was that Raducanu was being mean-spirited by asking for a baby to be removed from the stands, but that was the wrong way to look at this story.
Instead, we could question why a baby was taken to a sporting event where some level of control is expected from spectators and this is nothing new.
More Tennis News
Emma Raducanu’s points and prize money from Cincinnati Open run
Aryna Sabalenka sets amazing record as she beats Emma Raducanu in Cincinnati epic
Babies are often present for major tennis matches and they often cry when the crowd roars and they are naturally scared by the commotion around them.
Maybe the bigger question here is whether there should be an age limit for spectators in tennis and this point was aired by media personality and Simon Jordan, former of Premier League club club Crystal Palace, gave his pointed verdict on his talkSPORT radio show.
“I don’t think it’s very helpful for an umpire to have responded that way,” said Jordan.
“The umpire was trying to maintain some popularity with the audience because, ultimately, the tennis players were distracted.
“If a tennis player is in the middle of serving and someone shouts out, they’d be the first person to be reprimanded and told the audience has got to be quiet and mindful.”
“I’m not sitting there being some horrid person, it’s me looking at it thinking – it’s ridiculous.
“I wouldn’t bring a young child, theatres don’t allow people to bring young children into an auditorium when actors are in the middle of acting, so they can scream out.
“The fact of the matter is, it’s not appropriate. It’s not mean-spirited, I’m simply saying it’s not appropriate. I would suggest that there should be an age limit in place.”
Jordan is right to suggest that a baby screaming at a play or a performance of an opera would not be tolerated, so why should tennis have different rules when one of the players was clearly being distracted by a young spectator?
When Raducanu suggested the baby could be asked to leave, even temporarily, a large section of the crowd screamed ‘yes’ to give her their backing.
As a parent, I would never have brought my daughter to a top level sporting event when she was still as young as the child who was crying during the Raducanu match.
Children under the age of five are not allowed to enter the show courts at Wimbledon and that feels like an appropriate rule to ensure the environment is right for the players and other spectators who have paid big money for tickets to watch the action.
READ NEXT: Emma Raducanu, the crying baby, her vocal coach Francisco Roig and breaking the rules
