Why do women tennis stars grunt?

[drogon]

At 101 decibels, Wimbledon's defending champion Maria Sharapova is judged the loudest grunter so far. Is it only females players who make a racket on court - and is it tactical?

 

It was Monica Seles who originally inspired the "gruntometer", the measuring of decibels on Centre Court by newspapers. The first of the female power players, the Yugoslav teenager's trademark was a loud grunt each time she belted the ball across the net.

 

Seles registered 93.2 decibels, enough to make her quarter-final opponent at Wimbledon in 1992 demand that she not be allowed to make noise. Seles clammed up - and eventually lost the tournament to Steffi Graf.

 

Seles would have been a formative influence when today's grunters - Maria Sharapova, Anna Kournikova, the Williams sisters among them - were first honing their skills.

 

Today grunting among female tennis stars is the norm rather than the exception.

 

And grunting begets grunting, as quieter players try to out-psyche their opponent, says retiring Wimbledon referee Alan Mills. "A kind of counter-grunt has emerged in recent years whereby offended parties ape their opponent's noises."

 

At Wimbledon on Tuesday, defending champion Sharapova shattered her own personal record with a grunt of 101.2db - almost as loud as a police siren heard at close-quarters. She, like Seles and other grunters before her, denies that it is a tactical move to put off opponents. It is, they say, simply a natural release of pent-up energy as the ball is hit.

 

What a racket!

 

But Mr Mills has told reporters that not only are these grunts deliberate, tennis coaches are teaching women players to grunt the loudest.

 

Seles in 1995

Monica Seles set the standard

Many of those noted for their grunts are the product of Nick Bollettieri's Florida tennis academy, where Seles first yelped her way through training aged 12. Bollettieri said last week that he doesn't encourage his students to make noise: "Never once has that entered into my mind. But I believe releasing your energy is good because if you don't, it tightens up the body."

 

Another rather wishful theory is that the grunt may be an indicator of what the lovely lady is like in bed. During flirtatious banter on Jonathan Ross's chat show last Friday, Serena Williams was playfully teased with repeated recordings of her own on-court grunt (she registers almost 90db).

 

Noise makers

 

Nor is it only women players. In 1974, Jimmy Connors grunted his way to the first of his two Wimbledon titles.

 

Connors in 1982

Jimmy Connors, another grunter

And when a teenage Andre Agassi played Ivan Lendl in the US Open, the older man complained - without success - about the quite deliberate martial arts-style howls from across the net.

 

Lendl said later that the noise threw his mental game. "When Agassi goes for a big shot, his grunt is much harder, like he thinks it's a winner. If you have a play on the ball, it throws off your timing."

 

But it didn't stop Lendl winning that match. For tactical reasons or no, sports psychologists say that among world-class players, any advantage gained by distracting an opponent is probably minimal. Those most likely to be annoyed by it are the spectators and commentators. ::

[Nervous_Dog]

Its about power, and not having balls its the best they can do , wasn;t it monica seles who was stabbed for grunting too much?

 

DOG

[Zaad]

Sorry but can't see the humor in your last comment, ND.

Unless you really have no clue (which I doubt) .. anyways, it wasn't because the grunting but for the 'obvious' other reason.

[Redbaron]

Why was she stabbed? I have no idea.

[BelgianBoy]

Redbaron said:

Why was she stabbed? I have no idea.

 

Because it was obvious....

(solly - could not resist)

 

Anyway, it happened in 1993 by a sicko who was a fan of Steffi Graf, and he wanted to take out the 'competition'

Not that obvious, obviously...

there you go.

 

BB

[Tiger Moth]

Interesting to read Ivan Lendl's comments about how one players grunting was distracting for the other player. It always seemed to me that this would be the case.

 

I can't stand Maria Sharapova because of her grunting.

 

Its unfortunate that Monica Seles seems to have been most responsible for the distracting, offensive grunting on the part of female players. But, when speaking of Monica Seles, it seems only fair to point out, having heard her interviewed numerous times, that she seems to be a real sweetheart of a person. Although she was a dominating player before being stabbed and never really recovered her tennis game (although I believe she won 1 major title afterwards), I never heard her complain or talk about what might have been.

 

I hope someday some rules can be established to address this grunting problem.

[soppy]

if they didn t grunt then nobody would pay to watch that rubbish

[Zaad]

Maybe a little annoying but nothing worth prohibiting about IMO.

If they find rules for such silly things then I'll definitely send in my complaints about Mr. Ebdon (snooker player) who walks 5 times round the table before going for a shot

[Belem]

I remember a very spirted tennis match between Jennifer Capriati and Monica Seles at the US Open back in the early 90's. Every volley and serve between them was a grunt, and they both were really going at it.

[Central Scrutinizer]

All,

 

ND is right. It is about the power. It is a breathing technique taught now to help deliver more power in the strokes. It is a technique used for many decades in boxing. Exhaling forcefully when punching increases the power behind the punch. It is more noticable when watching amatuer boxing then with the pros. Distracting? More bullshit I'd think from those losing wanting some excuse as to why they lost. If they cannot focus enough that they cannot completely ignore this and blank it out then they'll likely lose anyway. All about extra power really, and it works, that's why they are teaching it more and more. Used in power-lifting as well. If you watch and listen it is also noticable in the shotput, the hammer throw, and javelin tossing as well.

 

Cent