Grunting players have edge on tennis court
TENNIS players who grunt loudly when they hit the ball appear to have a competitive edge over their opponents, according to a study published on Friday.
The noise accompanying a hard shot makes an opponent slower to respond and more likely to misjudge exactly where the ball is going - so it is tougher to hit it back, said Canadian and American researchers.
"Conservatively, our findings suggest that a tennis ball traveling 80 kilometers per hour could appear 60 centimeters closer to the opponent than it actually is," said Scott Sinnett, an assistant at the University of Hawaii.
The researchers tested their theory on students in a laboratory at the University of British Columbia, using sounds that were comparable in volume to grunts of tennis stars Maria Sharapova and Rafael Nadal.
The results were published in the online issue of Public Library of Science ONE.
Sinnett and his colleagues say there are several possible explanations for why grunting has an effect.
Some professional tennis players try to judge the spin and velocity of a ball from the sound it makes hitting a racket, so a loud grunt would mask those clues, while also serving as a general distraction, the researchers suggested.
Grunting is a controversial subject in tennis circles, with nine-time Wimbledon champion Martina Navratilova having called it "cheating."
"The study raises a number of interesting questions for tennis. For example, if Rafael Nadal is grunting and Roger Federer is not, is that fair?" Sinnett said.
Sinnett said the researchers now planned to look at whether the world's top tennis players had developed strategies to mitigate the effects of their opponents' grunts.
The noise accompanying a hard shot makes an opponent slower to respond and more likely to misjudge exactly where the ball is going - so it is tougher to hit it back, said Canadian and American researchers.
"Conservatively, our findings suggest that a tennis ball traveling 80 kilometers per hour could appear 60 centimeters closer to the opponent than it actually is," said Scott Sinnett, an assistant at the University of Hawaii.
The researchers tested their theory on students in a laboratory at the University of British Columbia, using sounds that were comparable in volume to grunts of tennis stars Maria Sharapova and Rafael Nadal.
The results were published in the online issue of Public Library of Science ONE.
Sinnett and his colleagues say there are several possible explanations for why grunting has an effect.
Some professional tennis players try to judge the spin and velocity of a ball from the sound it makes hitting a racket, so a loud grunt would mask those clues, while also serving as a general distraction, the researchers suggested.
Grunting is a controversial subject in tennis circles, with nine-time Wimbledon champion Martina Navratilova having called it "cheating."
"The study raises a number of interesting questions for tennis. For example, if Rafael Nadal is grunting and Roger Federer is not, is that fair?" Sinnett said.
Sinnett said the researchers now planned to look at whether the world's top tennis players had developed strategies to mitigate the effects of their opponents' grunts.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS
- |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 娌狪CP璇侊細娌狪CP澶05050403鍙-1
- |
- 浜掕仈缃戞柊闂讳俊鎭湇鍔¤鍙瘉锛31120180004
- |
- 缃戠粶瑙嗗惉璁稿彲璇侊細0909346
- |
- 骞挎挱鐢佃鑺傜洰鍒朵綔璁稿彲璇侊細娌瓧绗354鍙
- |
- 澧炲肩數淇′笟鍔$粡钀ヨ鍙瘉锛氭勃B2-20120012
Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.