Shhh! Tennis battles to silence the grunters
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World No. 4 Maria Sharapova has long been known for her on-court shrieks and the Russian has recently attracted criticism as a result. The three-time grand slam champion claimed she will continue to make the noises until they are outlawed.
Third seed Victoria Azarenka was the subject of taunts from fans at the Australian Open who began to mimic her unique screams during a second round win over home-crowd favorite Casey Dellacqua.
American Serena Williams has long been a leading light in women’s tennis, in terms of winning tournaments and booming grunts. Whether the grunts benefit a player is the subject of some debate, but they certainly haven’t hindered Williams. The 30-year-old has registered 13 grand slam triumphs.
It would appear that grunting runs in the family, with Venus Williams matching her sister Serena in terms of noise and top-level success. Venus, one year older than her sibling, has collected seven major titles.
Monica Seles was screaming her way to success long before any of today’s professionals. The Yugoslavia-born American won nine grand slam titles during her 19-year ear-splitting career.
American Jimmy Connors has played more ATP Tour matches than anyone else, winning eight grand slams during a glittering 24-year career. Connors is also widely credited with introducing grunting to top-level tennis.
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(CNN) — It’s something the world’s two leading female tennis players have in common, and it’s not the grand slam titles both Wimbledon top seed Maria Sharapovaand No. 2 Victoria Azarenka have to their names.
Both stars have earned reputations as grunters, with Sharapova’s screams puncturing the usual calm of London’s All England Club on day one of the annual grass-court grand slam.
But tennis’ rule makers have set in motion a chain of actions which could make baseline bellows a thing of the past, including the introduction of a device to monitor on-court noise levels and possible steps to sanction excessive shouts.
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“The WTA, ITF, and grand slams aim to drive excessive grunting out of the game, while ensuring that we do not drive our current generation of players — who were taught to play this way — out of the game,” read a WTA statement.
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“This is a start of a sport-wide plan responsibly dealing with the issue through player education and objective rule changes.”
While the body which governs women’s tennis is eager to eradicate unnecessary shrieks, the organization is also cautious of negatively impacting current stars whose games have developed in a certain manner.
“It’s time for us to drive excessive grunting out of the game for future generations,” WTA CEO Stacey Allaster told USA Today.
“What is clear from experts is that it would have a clear, damaging effect on performance of the existing generation.
“It’s going to take some time. I don’t want to get ahead of ourselves because it’s a collective effort of the sport and we need everyone to buy in.”
Allaster said significant research needs to be conducted before any rule on noise could be formally introduced, and she stopped short of describing the device, which is still in development, as a “grunt-o-meter.”
“The bottom line is that we want to bring forward across all levels of competition an objective rule through use of technology to make it much easier for athletes and chair umpires,” she said.
“What is too loud? What is too long? We need to give the official an objective measurement tool.
“Can you imagine on a critical point an umpire going, ‘Oh, I thought you were too loud.’ You have to take all of that out of the equation. It’s not fair to athletes, the chair or the sport.”
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Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2012/06/26/sport/tennis/sharapova-azarenka-wimbledon-tennis/index.html?eref=edition
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