Tags
azarenka, djokovic, federer, ivanovic, kirilenko, larcher de brito, murray, nadal, schiavone, serena, sharapova, venus, wozniacki, zvonareva
Tennis players/commentators/journalists/fans love to do one thing collectively. They love to COMPLAIN. More complaining goes on in tennis than praising. Well, that may not be true. I’ll say that complaining is just as prevalent as praising. Tennisheads complain about a multitude of things. Some of these complaints will go on for months and even years. One such complaint is about the one thing that will probably NEVER go away:
Grunting.
Oh yes. This is easily the thing that the tennis world just loves to complain about the most. I will never understand why that is. It is fairly obvious that no matter what anyone says, grunting will not be absent from the game. It is only become a problem in recent years because matches, particularly those on the women’s side, tend to get a bit noisy as the young, up-and-comers are doing it more.
I will not be so bold as to say that the grunting does not bother me. That is not true. When it gets to a certain point where it is past the point where I can easily tune it out (I’m very adept at that particular talent) then I see that as a problem. If a player holds on to their squeal so long that by the time they finish it the ball is already being hit by their opponent (looking at you, Michelle Larcher de Brito), then that’s a problem. But your every day, run-of-the-mill shriek isn’t going to make stand up and call “WITCH!” It is just not that serious.
Players themselves do not usually complain about the grunting of their opponents… UNLESS they are losing. If they are winning then they have nothing to say. I have seen more players poke fun at the shrieking than anything else. I find almost any player that complains about grunting hypocritical. They have all done it. Even the quietest players make those little whispers. If they are audible on my TV, then I only imagine how loud they must be on court.
The grunts are simply the air being expelled as a player hits the ball. Sometimes there is a “lead up” to the full blown grunt. Those usually happen only during serves, but there are those who have a before and after grunt (Francesca Schiavone, Ana Ivanovic). Some sound more like troubled cries (Vera Zvonareva, Caroline Wozniacki) while others sound like Xena: Warrior Princess (Serena, Venus, Victoria Azarenka, the Russian Marias). For the men, they can sound like small whispers (Roger Federer) or battle cries (Rafael Nadal). I do not really know how to categorize Novak Djokovic or Andy Murray’s grunts. They sound a lot like… the noise one makes after sneezing several times in succession; a sort of sigh.
Easily the loudest match this year was between Venus Williams and Sandra Zahlavova at the Australian Open. Even Andy Roddick weighed in on how loud it was through a few tweets on Twitter. Personally, I found it hilarious. I have always thought that if Venus was not making any noise, then she’s not serious. When Venus gets vocal, then her game face is on. Odd as it may seem, some players’ grunts are such an integral part of their game that if they go quiet, they start losing points. It is almost like it throws off their rhythm.
The debate about the grunting may be justified as yes, it does get annoying and some players are OTT with it. But if they are not disturbing their opponent, I see no reason why it should be a problem. Commentators and spectators are not the ones involved in the match, so they have no say in how the proceedings go.
I wish all the complaints would drop. Every year, the topic comes up. Every year they spend hours talking about it. And every year, nothing is done. Grunting is as much a part of tennis as a racquet is. In other words, it is not going anywhere. Grunting is here to stay.
