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.
Sorry but it’s the truth. You want to know about concentration look at an NHL goaltender on visiting ice. He’s got to put himself in front a puck that can break his bones (ask Chris Osgood) traveling at over 100 miles an hour from a shorter distance than tennis players face and not only does he have to deal with crowd noise he’s got opposing players trying to obstruct his view and change the direction the puck is traveling. That a dozen times more concentration than any tennis player has ever had to put forth on the court ever.
If you can’t handle crowd noise you don’t deserve a paycheck. Sigh all you want but it’s the simple truth. Tennis is just too full of itself, which is part of why it’s losing audience. It’s a boring game, and part of why it’s a boring game is that the audience is expected to act like it’s the symphony. It’s not the symphony it’s a sport, and sports have crowd noise.
All pro-sports players that are making that kind of money put up with the crowd. I worked the sidelines at an NFL game recently, and believe me, from the players standpoint (was standing right next to them) you can hear EVERYTHING the fans are shouting. Every insult, profanity, and jeer.
Does a tennis player benefit from a quiet arena where he/she can hear certain distinct sounds in a short time frame to help them adjust their next shot? You betcha. That is why tennis (even today) has one of the quietest arenas in ALL of professional sports.
The problem with Maria's screaming is that it is unprofessional.
She is a big girl now - someone should tell her this.
Now you're getting childish. If you don't like tennis and its rules don't follow them.
As for losing its audience the slams and other tournaments are setting attendance records every year. Where do you get that idea from?
Ille Nastase was far and away above the rest. He was the King of nasty.
TV ratings for tennis are way down. There’s a lot that plays into that, not the least of which is the lack of major personalities in the modern game. But the subdued crowd making it boring to watch doesn’t help either, silent sports are boring sports. The best tennis there is to watch are the late night US Open matches, you know the ones where they let the crowd act like they’re watching a sporting event.
But those quiet arenas make the sport dull. Does it help the players concentrate? Of course. Would players in ALL sports be able to concentrate better if the arena had the stillness of the tomb? Of course. Is that good reason to make the audience act like they’re at the symphony? Absolutely not. Sports are supposed to be exciting, exciting things are supposed to make people noisy.
As for Maria’s noises, don’t care one way or the other. There was some other noisy woman players whose sounds seemed really staged, didn’t like those, but Maria’s at least sound fairly natural like they’re a product of her efforts.
There is so much wrong with that.
The ratings are down in the U.S. because there are no "stars" from the U.S.
If the subdued crowd is the reason why tennis popularity is down why was tennis more popular years ago when the crowds were ever more subdued and respectful?
The "best tennis" is at night becuase that's when they play the top players. It has nothing to do with the crowd.
Please, use SOME logic when making your case.
The ratings are down for many reasons. One of them is that it’s a silent sport that hides the exciting play with a dulling lack of noise. American audiences have been trained that crowd noise happens when the play is getting exciting, this is what clues them in to start paying better attention to the TV.
Years ago there were loud players who provided a lot of additional excitement beyond the play. Also there was less over all sports competition on TV.
Try paying attention to what you quoted. I didn’t say it was the best tennis, I said it was the best tennis TO WATCH, frequently the players doing the late night stuff at the US Open are no name guys with really large unimpressive ranking numbers, so it clearly isn’t the best tennis. But the crowds are into it, there’s noise, everybody acts like it’s a sporting event instead of the symphony, which makes it the best TO WATCH even if it isn’t the best.
Please actually read what’s written before insulting your misrepresentation of what I said.
Try paying attention to what you quoted. I didn’t say it was the best tennis, I said it was the best tennis TO WATCH, frequently the players doing the late night stuff at the US Open are no name guys with really large unimpressive ranking numbers, so it clearly isn’t the best tennis.
So, you watch crappy tennis just so you can scream? Although I disagree with you as to who they put on at night. It's alwayw a marquee player. Sometimes they end up playing someone low in ranking but it's never a low ranking player against a low ranking player. They even switch around matches to avoid this. So, your contention is wrong.
You sure are throwing around a lot of insults. Try not being so emotional.
I don’t want tennis to change, I don’t give a crap what happens to it. I’m just telling you that the “gentlemanly” obsession with a silent audience makes the game boring and is one of the reasons it’s losing TV audience.
I’ll watch late night US Open tennis because it’s more entertaining. I’m at home, I can scream if I want, but silent audiences make boring TV.
What insults? I am not the one advocating allowing unabate emotion from the crowd. Irony?
What insults? How about these three:
Now you’re getting childish.
Please, use SOME logic when making your case.
You are really coming across as foolish.
You’re the one throwing around about insults to defend your “gentlemanly” game. Irony?!
You are getting childish. You claim to NOT want to change tennis yet spend so much time arguing about why it SHOULD change.
Isn't it foolish to argue to change something you claim you don't WANT to change?
I still say that noise during play is not needed or wanted. Certainly by tennis fans and players.
Gee more insults. Guess we’re done. You’re not even trying to defend your original (and of course silly) claim that it’s all about the concentration of the players. Now all you’ve got are insults, thus proving you’re wrong, and you know it, and aren’t man enough to admit it. Only people who know they have no facts on their side need to insult.
So bye bye, and enjoy your “gentlemanly” game.
Whew! Thank God.
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