Eddie Jones slammed over ‘dumb’ Emma Raducanu comments – ‘Doesn’t even know her name’
Queen stayed up late to watch Emma Raducanu win says Levin
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England rugby head coach Eddie Jones has been slammed over comments suggesting tennis star Emma Raducanu is in poor form due to media commitments. Jones even cited her Christian Dior photoshoot as a reason she may have lost at the Transylvania Open recently.
Jones made the comments after comparing Raducanu, who won her maiden Grand Slam when she claimed the US Open two months ago, to Marcus Smith.
The 22-year-old was influential in England’s convincing 69-3 win over Tonga after coming off the bench on Saturday.
Fans are very excited about the fly-half’s potential, but Jones is managing his development very carefully.
“The big thing for good young players is distractions, the distractions could be the exposure they get in the media, the praise they get, the criticism they get,” Jones commented.
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“There can be groups of agents who see this guy as the next big thing.
“There’s a reason why the young girl who won the US Open hasn’t done so well afterwards.
“What have you seen her on – the front page of Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar or whatever it is, wearing Christian Dior clothes.”
The 61-year-old added: “All that is a distraction around her.”
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His comments were met with a great degree of scepticism online.
Oliver Brown (@oliverbrown_tel), a chief sports writer at The Telegraph, took to Twitter to respond: “Slightly gratuitous, this dig by Eddie Jones at Emma Raducanu. Her Vogue cover shoot was pre-US Open, and she has lost just two matches since.”
Another journalist from The Telegraph, Uche Amako (UcheAmako), tweeted: “Eddie Jones is way off the mark with this statement. What Emma Raducanu did was unprecedented & she’s lost just 2 matches since then. Put some respect on her name!”
His comments were echoed by another Telegraph reporter in Molly McElwee (@molly_mcelwee) who implied Jones’ bitterness was misplaced as Raducanu has actually improved.
“Eddie Jones calling Emma Raducanu ‘the young girl who won the US Open’ makes his comments all the more patronising and infuriating,” McElwee tweeted.
“Fyi, today Raducanu made her debut in the top 20 world rankings – marking a continued *upward* trajectory since her US Open win…”
Twitter user @allenprior questioned what evidence the rugby coach has gathered to prove fame has distracted Raducanu, while Daily Mail chief sports feature writer Riath Al-Samarrai (@riathalsam) suggested Jones has simply run out of players and staff within the England set-up to ‘push around’.
Jessica Hayden (@_JessHayden) of The Times labelled Jones’ tirade as ‘madness’ due to the fact he didn’t seem to know Raducanu’s name while slandering her.
Finally, Daily Mail tennis writer Mike Dickson (@Mike_Dickson_DM) wrote of how the two sports stars in Smith and Raducanu should not be compared: “This is a bit dumb and insensitive from Eddie Jones – 2 defeats in 4 matches is flimsy evidence. Also Smith’s rise to the top has been phased over 4 years, totally unlike that of [Emma Raducanu].”
Raducanu is due to play at the Linz Open in Austria this week, which is her final tournament of a groundbreaking 2021 season.
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