Sporting fraternity criticizes Eddie Jones for his "unfair" and "sexist" comments about Emma Raducanu
England's rugby team head coach Eddie Jones has drawn criticism from several quarters for his recent comments about Emma Raducanu. Jones described the reigning US Open champion as "distracted" and "ungrounded", which hasn't gone down well in the sporting fraternity.
According to reports in the British media, Eddie Jones had warned star fly-half Marcus Smith against getting distracted by the "exposure" that he was getting in the media. He went on to cite Emma Raducanu, who he referred to as "the girl who won the US Open" in his statement, as a cautionary tale.
The 61-year-old also claimed that Raducanu's off-court commitments - including cover shoots for magazines - were the reason behind her "not [doing] so well".
"There's a reason why the girl who won the US Open [Raducanu] hasn't done so well afterwards," Jones was quoted as saying. "What have you seen her on? The front page of Vogue, the front page of Harper's Bazaar, whatever it is, wearing Christian Dior clothes."
"He is grounded, but they all start off grounded," Jones added. "No one starts with their feet off the ground or they don't get in the team, or they don't win a US Open. But there's this flood of distractions that comes in that makes you ungrounded."
Emma Raducanu, however, has received a lot of support from fellow sportspeople and observers, who have hit out at Eddie Jones for his remarks. BBC sports presenter Gabby Logan was one of the first to respond to Jones, calling out his comments as “unbelievably unfair".
"Unbelievably unfair and not even remotely comparable," Logan wrote. "Imagine an 18-year-old rugby player winning a World Cup having never played a club game."
Logan was backed by former British Billie Jean King Cup team captain Judy Murray, who also voiced her support in the comments section of the Twitter post.
@alexspinkmirror Unbelievably unfair and not even remotely comparable. She is 18 in her first 6 months of being pro she made the second week of Wimbledon and won US Open having never played on the tour.
Imagine an 18 year old rugby player winning a World Cup having never played a club game.
@GabbyLogan @alexspinkmirror Beautifully put Gabby 💪
Former British No 1 Jo Durie also highlighted the underlying sexism in Eddie Jones' comments, saying that comments about off-court commitments are often "thrown at women" athletes.
"No-one ever complains about blokes going to galas; it's always something that is thrown at women," Durie said. "Emma isn’t a girl; she is an 18-year-old woman. Unfortunately, when you're this famous, everybody likes to have their opinion about you."
Sports commentators and observers from various media outlets have also slammed Jones's comments, variously dubbing them "uninformed" and "patronizing".
The comments by Eddie Jones about Emma Raducanu are uninformed, irresponsible, sexist nonsense.
Young woman who has barely played professional tennis wins US Open, and he cites her commercial appearances as evidence for her ‘not doing so well’ (won 2, lost 2) since.
Eddie Jones calling Emma Raducanu 'the young girl who won the US Open' makes his comments all the more patronising and infuriating.
Fyi, today Raducanu made her debut in the top 20 world rankings - marking a continued *upward* trajectory since her US Open win...
"I wanted to make sure that tennis is my priority and it is" - Emma Raducanu in Linz
Emma Raducnau is currently in Linz for the 2021 Upper Austria Ladies Open, which got underway on Sunday. At her pre-tournament press conference, Raducanu briefly spoke about her off-court commitments, asserting that tennis was her only priority.
The Brit said she had made it "very clear" to her team right at the start that she wouldn't forego any tennis-related activity for the sake of an outside interest.
"I made it very, very clear to every single person in my team that I was not going to cancel one training session or practice session for any off-court commitments," Raducanu said. 'That was a non-negotiable for me. I wanted to make sure that that is my priority and it is."
Raducanu, who is the top seed in Linz, will open her campaign with a second-round encounter against fellow teenager Wang Xinyu on Tuesday.