"It was deemed as being sexist" - Eddie Jones claims comments about Raducanu were taken out of context
WTA
After coming under fire for his recent criticism regarding British tennis star Emma Raducanu, England Rugby coach Eddie Jones has stated that his comments were taken out of context.
Earlier in the week, Jones cited off-court distractions as the main reason Raducanu has struggled since her US Open triumph.
"There’s a reason why the young girl (Raducanu) who won the US Open hasn’t done so well afterwards,” he said in a press conference. “What have you seen her on – the front page of Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar or whatever it is, wearing Christian Dior clothes. All that is a distraction around her.”
Jones received major backlash for his comments from fans and other sporting figures, with many labeling his comments as unfair and even sexist.
“I don’t have any misgivings about what I said,” Jones said in an interview with BBC Sport. “I am disappointed it was taken out of context, and I would be disappointed if Raducanu was upset by it.
“It was deemed as being sexist and that was never the aim of the point.”
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The 61-year old attempted to clarify his comments even further, and offered an olive branch to the 18-year old tennis star.
“The whole point was how difficult it is for young players to cope with distractions,” added Jones. “So the point I made was not wrong. I can’t control if it’s taken out of context. There was no criticism of Emma.
“I have sent her a letter just to reinforce that and hopefully we’ll see her at Twickenham shortly, to watch England play.”
Growing up in a household where soccer was king, my earliest memories are filled with chants from packed stadiums and the rhythm of a ball being passed across neighborhood streets. But somewhere along the way, the quiet elegance and raw emotion of tennis pulled me in. What began as a curiosity became a lifelong passion; not just for the sport itself, but for the stories it tells: of grit, of heartbreak, of improbable comebacks and human resilience.
As a tennis writer, I bring the observational lens of someone who didn’t grow up in the sport, but fell in love with it as an outsider; a perspective that lets me see both its technical beauty and its emotional depth. Over the years working with TennisUpToDate, I’ve had the privilege of reaching more than 3.5 million readers worldwide, with one of my features ranking among the site’s top three articles.
With a background in storytelling and a creative mind always searching for meaning beyond the scoreboard, I aim to craft narratives that go deeper than results and rankings. Whether it’s a rising star breaking through or a veteran fighting off Father Time, I try to capture the heartbeat behind the headlines.
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