Posted on 02/27/2008 3:41:27 AM PST by SkyPilot
Edited on 02/27/2008 8:09:32 PM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
A 9-year-old tennis player who grunts like her idol, Maria Sharapova, when she's playing has been kicked out of a tennis club in Australia.
The Melbourne Herald-Sun reports (via Sports by Brooks) that the girl, Lauryn Edwards, was told that she could no longer play at the Mt Carmel Tennis Club in Sunbury because an opposing player complained that "the grunting had become too much." Lauryn's father explains his daughter's grunt and the response to it:
"It's pretty slight and now and again she hits it hard and makes a loud noise and that's it," he said.
"From just one comment, this has all blown up stupidly.
"There's no rule against it, so they've made a rule against it."
Some people may find it annoying, but the fact is that grunting has become a part of tennis, especially women's tennis. Sharapova's grunts have been estimated at about 100 decibels, and if her opponents can tolerate it, so can Lauryn's.
Holy scapular, Batman! I found one last week but can't rmember how to tie the ends up in a roll like we used to do. I was going to wear it. I have young sons and would like them to see me showing my devotion to God. We always thought they were pretty neat and were a form of collegience. Although, we wrestlers, had to be able to take them off for matches and practice.
I was the neighborhood oddball who went to St. Ignatius.
Good for you. I bet all of us that went to Catholic HS's are much better off.
Maybe in three generations or so we can beat you guys....
Onward and upward! That's the spirit.
The beauty and the banshee...
See my reply at #17, this thread.
That "Silence, please!" command from the announcer at a tennis match is annoying as hell. What the hell is the purpose of a spectator sport where people are expected to sit quietly, applaud politely, etc.?
I guess you've never really played tennis, have you? At the higher levels of the game silence, or rather, the need to concentrate on the ball and your opponent, is paramount. Honestly. Loud noises distract the process of analyzing ball movement and anticipation of where the ball is going.
The incredible quickness of the game coupled with moving almost every part of your body in concert to prepare for a shot requires almost absolute concentration. Not only must you calculate the direction, depth, speed, spin and trajectory of the ball you must, at the same time be able to decide what to do with the ball once it's in your reach. Again, it requires serious concentration. All that happens in about 2 seconds every four seconds during a heated rally.
I teach tennis. It's almost impossible to teach, let alone play, when it's noisy.
Each stroke of a rally has so many variables it would be impossible for your brain to calculate them while at the same time hearing someone chant your name or call you a name.
Sampras was a jerk? Guess I never heard much about that.
He seems to be keeping a low profile in retirement (waiting for Federer to pass him in Grand Slams).
I play hockey these days, so I have no idea why anyone can't play an individual sport without facing distractions that only involve impediments to concentration. If a hockey player can take a pass on his off-wing and one-time a shot to a specific part of the net, or can take a fraction of a second and unload a wrist shot to a corner of the net off the bottom of the crossbar . . . WITH OPPOSING PLAYERS TRYING TO RIDE HIM OFF THE PUCK OR JAM A STICK UP HIS @SS . . . then there's no reason why a tennis player can't be trained to deal with distractions during the course of the game.
Maybe it's just me . . . but I'll bet tennis players would have no trouble dealing with all of those distractions if they played under adverse conditions from the time they first learned to play the game.
Perhaps. How would you hear your opponents line calls? How would you know if someone was calling your shot out or if your opponent was?
And, believe me, hearing the ball off the strings is just as important as seeing it. It tells you the amount of spin and gives you an idea of the trajectory. Besides, what would they cheer? Footwork, racquet prep, follow-through on every shot during play?
Do what almost every team sport does . . . have the officials use whistles.
Only pro tournaments have judges on every court. The rest are self-judged. Should I be running aroung the court with a whistle in my mouth?
That's also a part of the gentrification of the sport. You play by the honor system. I call my side of the court and you call yours. No one will play with those who continually cheat. It can be pretty lonely trying to play when every one turns their back on you because you cheat. I have seen player traval all over looking for a game but no one will play with him becasue he's a cheater.
Maria Sharapova should be banned for grunting like Maria Sharapova—from all tournaments. Venus Williams is much worse. My wife and I always root against any “grunter”.
Little League baseball is often officiated with two umpires -- maybe even one, in a pinch. Major League Baseball uses four, but has provisions written into the rules to umpire a game with fewer than four in the event of an emergency. And yet MLB uses six umpires (home plate, one at each base, and one down each foul line) during post-season games.
Like I said. You've never played highly competitive tennis.
I remember that skit, it was hillarious. I frankly enjoyed her on-court grunting... ;-D
I'll stick to hockey. Let the girls play tennis.
[ducking to avoid well-deserved flaming -- ;-)]
If you can’t concentrate through crowd noise you shouldn’t be getting paid to play a sport.
Sigh! Another one that can't play tennis.
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