Only someone who knows absolutely nothing about tennis would bring a baby to a professional tennis match.

@Rosana @Amanda — i’m with you both. i certainly wouldn’t have lobbed a ball at the baby, but *who* brings a baby to a tennis match??

Where did the ethics of citizens go. For those who said don’t bring a baby to a tennis match, you need to rethink your priorities and start playing with your kids more instead of being self centered. For the tennis player, you should be thrown out of the game due to lack of sportsmanship, and the lack of self control. You should not be allowed to play again… Get your head out of your ass and man up to the fact that you got your ass handed to you by a baby.

Nope- cuz I wouldn’t be there either. Couldn’t pay me, LOL….

John – I don’t think I need to “rethink my priorities and start playing with my kids more.” I’m a stay at home mom, and pretty much all I do while my 8 month old is awake is play with him. I’m also not quite sure how my statement makes me “self centered.” I just happen to be aware of what a tennis match is like, and since I know that fans are supposed to be silent when a player is serving, I wouldn’t be stupid enough to take a baby. What the player did was wrong – he should have asked the official to have the family removed or something instead – but that doesn’t excuse the fans from bringing a baby in the first place.

I say that he should have lobbed the ball at the parents. It is not the baby’s fault their parents choose to take them to a very unappropriate venue for a small child. Just selfishness on the parts of the parents to take a child to an unchildfriendly event and then to also not leave once the child starts crying. That hurts the players, the spectators. I am a parent and I still hate this kind of behavior. If your child cries, you immediately leave till you get your child quiet again and then you may return. It is also smart to not even attempt to take kids certain places they will find boring or overwhelming like a tennis match.

I bet asking the man to quiet the child would have done NO good. I have done so before and was yelled at or just ignored. These people are indignant that they can take their kids anywhere and they won’t bend to polite requests. The player never should have HAD to ask.

I truly hope you were kidding when you said “…there are certain places I wouldn’t bring a baby. Libraries come to mind.” Libraries are wonderful places to bring babies and young children. Literacy is one of the greatest gifts you can give your child, and there are so many resources available to help with early literacy at your local library. Every library in our county has programs to introduce books and reading to children of all ages and other programs to encourage adults to read to their children. Libraries are friendly and safe environments for young children – not places to avoid because you are worried your child might express themselves vocally.

I took my kids the the library starting at birth because *I* am a heavy library user, and I certainly wasn’t going to keep my kids from making their weekly library trip because a new sibling had been born in to the family. Libraries aren’t *that” quiet any more anyway. Everyone just speaks in a normal, indoor voice. I would not take a baby to a professional tennis match which is a place where everyone knows quiet is required. It’s like a theater event, concert, or movie. If you must bring your infant, you need to leave immediately if said infant begins to cry or make any other noise that would disturb other patrons or the performers.

Where I live, families with young kids are among the biggest library users, partly because our incredible library system makes soooo many story times and other events for them. Childless people do get really peeved, though. Check out your local library reviews on a place like Yelp … Some people don’t even like to see kids on their way to the story time room. or hear them, more to the point.

@everyone — didn’t quite realize this post about a tennis player who hit a ball out of frustration toward a crying baby would turn into a debate about libraries! NO. i wouldn’t bring my kids to a library, but when i say that, i am envisioning *research* libraries such as the ones i frequented while in school. that said, there are two different libraries in town that are kid friendly which i’d not hesitate to take them. sorry for the confusion. but when i think of “libraries” i think of the quiet ones that i used to frequent as a young adult, not the ones with Mother Goose Storytime!

my main point on this post was this: i don’t think that a tennis match is an appropriate place to take a child. but i also don’t think it was cool of the tennis player to lob a ball in the kid’s direction.

@John, I’m really confused, How do you have fresh reading material for 4 kids without going to the library on a regular basis?