Trouble With Grunting Grows – Victoria Azarenka and “silence please”

Written by: Staff on 28th January 2013

Trouble With Grunting Grows - Victoria Azarenka and "silence please"

epa03554361 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus during a training session at the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 25 January 2013. Azarenka will play the women's final on January 26th. EPA/Dennis Sabangan |

Australian Open winner Victoria Azarenka might soon find herself in the sights of a reform-minded WTA which now appears determined to stamp out the loud and distracting grunting which has become the infamous trademark of the world number one.

Azarenka will not directly be targeted due to “grandfathering” clauses sure to be introduced for any future rules designed to meet “silence please” targets

Azarenka along with world number two Maria Sharapova are among the loudest players on the tour with complaints growing over the years in the sport about their decibel-busting screeches on each and every shot.

WTA boss Stacey Allaster says that development of a handheld “grunt-o-meter” to help officials determine how much is too much in the heat of battle is also in the planning stages, adding that pre-emptive visits are being made to tennis academies around the world to school tennis youth on toning it all down a notch.

The concept of applying science to the banshee-like screams and wounded water buffalo moans which can come from a loud women’s match first occurred in the early 1990s when a British tabloid newspaper put a decibel reader on the original Queen of Scream, Monica Seles at Wimbledon.

“If they are doing it today (grunting), they have to train it out of their systems because a regulation will come into the sport,” Allaster told USA Today,

The grunting problem could eventually be dealt with through rule on hindrance. “I think there will be an adaptation to the current hindrance rule — absolutely. How far we go with the tools and those particular devices remains to be seen.”

©Daily Tennis News Wire

Topics: grunt-o-meter, Maria Sharapova, Sports, tennis and grunting, Tennis News, Victoria Azarenka, Wta