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Wan LixinOpinion deputy editor of Shanghai Daily
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Grunting brigade raises a din
Source: Agencies |
June 23, 2009, Tuesday
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GRUNTING is back on the tennis agenda and the big noise at Wimbledon could be 16-year-old Michelle Larcher de Brito from Portugal.
At the French Open, her opponent Aravane Rezai complained about the racket across the net, telling the umpire it was distracting her. Unrepentant as she heads into Wimbledon as a wildcard, Larcher de Brito has said grunting is "just something I have done always since I started playing tennis. I am going to keep on doing it because it is really part of my game."
Nine-time Wimbledon champion Martina Navratilova, who found the grunting of Monica Seles off-putting, feels officials should take a stand.
"The grunting has reached an unacceptable level. It is cheating pure and simple and it is time for something to be done," she said in Paris earlier this month.
Jimmy Connors grunted his way to eight grand slam victories in the 1970s and 80s. Ivan Lendl complained that Andre Agassi's grunting put him off. Today female players are under the spotlight as "decibel demons."
A lion's roar is reckoned to reach 110 decibels. Former Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova, who says she grunted since the age of four and cannot help it, has been measured at 101.
At her pre-Wimbledon news conference on Saturday, the first question to Sharapova was about grunting.
The Russian was asked to comment on former champion Michael Stich saying that women players should not grunt because it was not sexy and sex appeal was the main attraction of women's tennis.
"No, I don't have an opinion on that," she replied crisply.
Ten-time grand slam champion Serena Williams said it was "definitely not conscious. Sometimes I am so zoned I don't grunt, sometimes I'm so zoned that I do grunt."
Larcher de Brito was trained at the Florida academy of Nick Bollettieri, who nurtured such grand slam champions as Sharapova, Seles and Agassi.
He says his academy has never encouraged grunting but argues that it does help players to release energy and stay focused.
At the French Open, her opponent Aravane Rezai complained about the racket across the net, telling the umpire it was distracting her. Unrepentant as she heads into Wimbledon as a wildcard, Larcher de Brito has said grunting is "just something I have done always since I started playing tennis. I am going to keep on doing it because it is really part of my game."
Nine-time Wimbledon champion Martina Navratilova, who found the grunting of Monica Seles off-putting, feels officials should take a stand.
"The grunting has reached an unacceptable level. It is cheating pure and simple and it is time for something to be done," she said in Paris earlier this month.
Jimmy Connors grunted his way to eight grand slam victories in the 1970s and 80s. Ivan Lendl complained that Andre Agassi's grunting put him off. Today female players are under the spotlight as "decibel demons."
A lion's roar is reckoned to reach 110 decibels. Former Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova, who says she grunted since the age of four and cannot help it, has been measured at 101.
At her pre-Wimbledon news conference on Saturday, the first question to Sharapova was about grunting.
The Russian was asked to comment on former champion Michael Stich saying that women players should not grunt because it was not sexy and sex appeal was the main attraction of women's tennis.
"No, I don't have an opinion on that," she replied crisply.
Ten-time grand slam champion Serena Williams said it was "definitely not conscious. Sometimes I am so zoned I don't grunt, sometimes I'm so zoned that I do grunt."
Larcher de Brito was trained at the Florida academy of Nick Bollettieri, who nurtured such grand slam champions as Sharapova, Seles and Agassi.
He says his academy has never encouraged grunting but argues that it does help players to release energy and stay focused.
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