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The superfan who Emma Raducanu invited to her matches at the Australian Open has been ejected from the tournament by police.
James Bray from Sydney attracted a lot of media attention after he loudly cheered on Raducanu during her first-round win over Mananchaya Sawangkaew on Sunday, nicknaming her ‘Raddo’.
Raducanu thanked him during her on-court interview and asked him to come to future matches, with the former US Open champion’s team securing him a ticket for her second-round defeat by Anastasia Potapova.
Bray has also been supporting Australian players at the tournament and security deemed he had gone too far during home favourite Alex De Minaur’s third-round match against Frances Tiafoe on Friday night.
He documented the incident on his Instagram account, posting a first video from the concourse outside Rod Laver Arena, with a police officer heard telling Bray he was being given a direction to leave the tournament for 24 hours.
“So we’ve got the police here, unfortunately I’ve been kicked out of the Australian Open because I’ve been too rowdy,” said Bray.
He said he had paid 700 dollars for a ticket (approximately £350) and denied he had crossed a line with his support.
“I feel like everything was going well,” said Bray in another video. “I wasn’t disrespectful at all. I was just cheering on him like I would genuinely cheer on any Australian on any court.
“For some reason, security came up to me and said, ‘Sorry mate, you’ve been warned, you need to leave’. It’s a bit of a weird one. I feel like I wasn’t doing anything bad.”
Tournament organisers Tennis Australia said in a statement: “Security received a number of complaints from fans in Rod Laver Arena last night relating to the disruptive behaviour of an individual in the crowd.
“Despite multiple warnings from staff, he refused to modify his behaviour and continued to disrupt those around him. Police were called to assist security speaking with the patron who disregarded advice to minimise his disruptive behaviour.
“He was directed to leave the precinct and not return for 24 hours. He has not been banned from the event.”
PA