It will still have its famous strawberries and cream, its manicured grass courts and royals wearing floppy hats.

But what could Wimbledon be missing this year?

The shrieks, grunts and screams that have punctuated the women’s tennis game lately – like those from Portugal’s Michelle Larcher de Brito.

Wimbledon officials have asked some of the worst offenders to put a lid on it and there may be penalties for players who don’t turn down the volume.

We’re following what people have been saying leading up to Monday’s Grand Slam start.

First, just how loud is the noise on the court?

The Times of London provided a list of grunters ranked by decibel level, crowning one in particular:

“Maria Sharapova (who) was the outstanding grunt champion, on occasion breaking 100 decibels – well above the level regarded as potentially damaging to hearing.”

With that set of lungs- imagine being stuck in a closed stadium with them.  The new retractable roof on Centre Court amplifies sounds, writes the London Evening Standard.

In his blog in Tennis Week, coach Brad Gilbert writes that imposing a no-grunting rule will be tough, but something needs to be done.

“…I still don’t think the grunts are good for the game.  It’s not good for TV, it’s not good for the fans, nobody likes it, except the grunters.”


Sports Illustrated has the perspective that tennis may be demonizing the trivial.

“If tennis is really so concerned about cracking down on gamesmanship, surely there are more grievous offenses -- blatant mid-match coaching, timeouts for highly questionable injuries’ and dubiously timed bathroom breaks, to name a few.”

The Independent even has a game you can play on it’s website: it’s called Name That Grunt.

What do you think about grunting in the women’s game? Is it cheating or just annoying?

Entertainment News

No More Grunt Work

June 21, 2009
(2:23)
The shrieks, grunts and screams that have punctuated the women's tennis game could be missing from Wimbledon this year. Newsy.com sees what the media are saying.
   
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