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Emma Raducanu stopped a tennis match during the Cincinnati Open on Aug. 11 because of a crying child
The tennis player prompted the umpire to ask if she wanted the child to be removed from the stadium, to which she gestured with her tennis racket as the crowd replied “yes”
The umpire replied that she could call in the request, but the match needed to proceed for the time being
British tennis player Emma Raducanu stopped a match because of a crying child during the Cincinnati open.
The incident occurred during the third round on Day 5 of the Cincinnati Open at Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio, on Monday, Aug. 11. Footage from a broadcast of the moment shows Raducanu, 22, facing off against Belarusian tennis player Aryna Sabalenka, when a baby lets out a cry in the stadium.
Before delivering a serve, Raducanu paused the game to vent to the umpire that the baby had been crying for “10 minutes.”
The umpire replied, “Do you want me to send the child out of the stadium?”
The crowd responded with an emphatic yes, to which the 2021 U.S. Open Champ raised her tennis racket and smiled.
The umpire offered to “call in” for the child’s removal, but proceeded with the match.
The crying child comes amid extremely high temperatures in Ohio during the Cincinnati Open. French tennis player Arthur Rinderknech collapsed on Monday due to high temperatures on the courts, regularly exceeding 86º Fahrenheit, per BBC.
Daniel Kopatsch/Getty
Emma Raducanu of Great Britain in action against Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus during the Women’s Singles Third Round match on day five of the Cincinnati Open 2025 at Lindner Family Tennis Center on August 11, 2025 in Mason, Ohio.
It is unclear whether the child was removed from the stadium. PEOPLE has reached out to the Cincinnati Open to confirm.
The match ended with an eventual 7-6 (6), 4-6, 7-6 (7) loss for Raducanu, with the title and third-round prize money of $60,400 going to Sabalenka. Sabalenka, 27 will next face Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in the Round of 16 on Wednesday, Aug. 13.
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This isn’t the first time a crying baby at a tennis match has sparked online discussion. Back in 2011, during the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, tennis player David Ferrer fired off a forehand ball in the direction of a crying child in the stands. He lost the match to Mardy Fish, 7-5, 6-2.
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