Posted on 10/28/2013 11:32:12 PM PDT by TexGrill
The "Queen of scream", Maria Sharapova, may be groaning about a tennis rule outlawing grunting. According to a report from USA TODAY on October 26, The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) has revealed that they will begin testing noise levels at tournaments as it explores how to rid the sport of unwarranted grunting.
"We have begun to do the audio testing, and we have begun it in this quarter of 2013," WTA chief executive Stacey Allaster said on Saturday at the WTA Championships. "There is more data to be done, there's more assessment to be done on the different audible levels. There are a variety of different environments that you need to assess the audible levels-indoor buildings, outdoor buildings, small venues, different surfaces, etc."
The WTA has addressed the issue of excessive grunting after public criticism from players and negative feedback from media and fans. Some of its top players such as Maria Sharapova, Victoria Azarenka and Serena Williams are among the worst offenders.
(Excerpt) Read more at english.cri.cn ...
Are they going to set up a giant “Lunk Alarm” for tennis grunters? Maybe Planet Fitness could sponsor it.
Next thing you know they will be playing with nerf tennis balls. Football players wearing pink - sports is becoming a joke. Maybe they can all just play checkers or read quietly. Good grief. Makes my head hurt.
A guy at work once said the screaming and grunting brings erotica to sport, that’s why he watched women’s tennis and woman’s beach volley ball.
unladylike
Sounds like we met before.
I wish they would ban it. I have loved watching tennis since I was a little girl.
The grunting has made many matches unwatchable for me.
The women are the worst, but some of the men are just as bad.
I was watching how some tennis coaches of children are teaching them how not to do it. It has something to do with using the breath correctly, or something like that.
And how grunting is a bad habit that can be stopped.
Just put a sock in their mouths. Problem solved.
Some of these broads sound like they’re giving birth when they hit a tennis ball. It really has become quite ridiculous and I hope they put a stop to it. It’s annoying as hell.
Women screechers make the sport unwatchable. And c’mon, it's the women, not the men.
This statement is false, and shows ignorance on the part of the reporter:
“The WTA has addressed the issue of excessive grunting after public criticism from players and negative feedback from media and fans. Some of its top players such as Maria Sharapova, Victoria Azarenka and Serena Williams are among the worst offenders.”
Serena does NOT grunt in any manner like the other two. Sharapova and Azerenka scream as a conscious affect in a manner unfair to their opponents (IMHO).
They want the ball gag in the performaces?
What next?
Serena got poor treatment from the refs on this very point, in the US Open final she lost in 2011 to Sam Stoser. when Williams shouted to herself and lost a key point.
Whereas the 2 Russians create the same interference by shouting, on every point they hit.
The grunting is uncalled for and absolutely unnecessary. It should be a point penalty for first offense, game penalty for second, set for third, and disqualification/forfeit for fourth.
In all my years as a tennis player and coach, I never grunted, even when hitting serves at 120+ mph. It’s nothing more than an attempt to throw off your opponent’s concentration. If these women can’t play the game without sounding liked trained seals, maybe they should find another line of work.
Serena Williams isn’t well liked by the judges. She was disciplined a few yrs ago for threatening to shove her racket up the judges digestive tract over a call at US Open. Serena is no angel
I’ll start watching again when the he/she 200 lb “sisters” retire. There’s a lot of talent out there regardless of the decibel factor but I just can’t stand their racist coddled BS!
That’s just plain racis! Venus and Serena are the targets of this.
I would always make a long drawn out scream before running a 440 track race. It completely purged out the stress and helped hyperventilate out some CO2 and ended up with 5 sec gains.
Actually, I watch women’s with the sound muted, listening to Pandora. Who needs the sound for many of these sports? Just inane talking by commentators.
The screaming and grunting favors the screamers and grunters and should be outlawed — but how do you do it when the loudest grunters are the sports biggest stars.
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