British sports pundit Simon Jordan has demanded age restrictions for tennis spectators after Emma Raducanu asked officials to remove a crying baby during her Cincinnati Open match.
The world No. 33 found herself at the center of a storm during her third-round encounter with Aryna Sabalenka when an infant’s wails disrupted play at a pivotal moment. Raducanu was serving in the eighth game of a thrilling battle at the Lindner Family Tennis Centre when the controversial moment unfolded.
The 22-year-old gestured toward the stands while appealing to the umpire, who fired back: “It’s a child. Do you want me to send the child out of the stadium?”
Three-time Grand Slam champion Sabalenka displayed class in defeat after securing a 7-6(3), 4-6, 7-6(5) victory, earning a fourth-round showdown with Jessica Bouzas Maneiro.
But talkSPORT pundit Jordan was left fuming after watching the incident and delivered a scathing rant. He argued his position with intensity, countering presenter Jim White’s claim that sporting venues cannot ban children.
“Well, you can make it appropriate,” he said. “If they’ve got a baby inside an auditorium: A, I don’t think it’s particularly responsible parenting. And B, it’s not reflective of the environment a child should probably be in!
“And C, you’ve then got the distraction that tennis player, or anyone playing an individual sport that requires a degree of concentration, is going to be affected by. So it’s not me being some horrid, Wackford Squeers from some Charles Dickens book.
“It’s me looking at it going, ‘It’s ridiculous. I wouldn’t bring a young child. Theatres don’t allow people to bring young children into auditoriums when actors are in the middle of acting so a kid can scream out and spit his dummy across the room.'”
Jordan, known for his outspoken views and controversial opinions, reiterated his belief that it’s inappropriate for infants to attend such sporting events. However, White took a more lenient view on the matter, brushing off Jordan’s objections with laughter and advocating for a softer approach.
“You can take a baby on a plane,” White retorted, suggesting it would be ludicrous to enforce different rules across various public venues. But all the Scot could do was laugh when Jordan fired back: “I don’t suppose the pilot would want the baby in the cockpit, would he?”
White continued to argue that it would be absurd to suggest banning babies from major sporting events. Nevertheless, Jordan remained firm in his position as he cited similar scenarios that typically wouldn’t permit infant attendance.
He argued: “I think it’s ridiculous. Okay, bring [a baby] to snooker then. A screaming kid in snooker. Judd Trump leaning down to make (a shot)…’WAAAAHHHH! That would be great, wouldn’t it? Bring them to the boxing, so they can watch blood and (thunder). Get them to bare knuckle fighting, so they can get involved with that too!”
White referenced the fact that young children routinely attend soccer matches, but Jordan countered that this wasn’t equivalent to bringing an infant.
He continued by proposing there should be some kind of age restriction for certain competitions, with tennis being among those sports that demand greater focus from individual competitors.
Meanwhile, Raducanu will need to regroup and attempt once more after suffering a narrow defeat to Sabalenka. The British player is now preparing to travel to the U.S. Open, maintaining her confidence despite the setback, having produced some remarkable displays since Wimbledon.