Grunters Making Noise At Wimbledon
By Wyatt Earp | June 26, 2009
Mmm . . . Maria Sharapova!
Apparently, the ladies at Wimbledon are making a racket. Heh.
LONDON – After a week of shrieks, wails and squeals dominating the headlines at Wimbledon, outgoing WTA chief Larry Scott said the tour could no longer turn a deaf ear to the grunting phenomenon that has swept women’s tennis.
Instead of marveling at the quality of the forehands and backhands, shriek-hunters have crammed courts to monitor the ear-splitting sounds from the likes of Maria Sharapova, Victoria Azarenka or new kid on the block Michelle Larcher de Brito.
Maria Sharapova grunting and shrieking: that’s hot.
“I’ve been used to hearing that controversy this fortnight over 20 years. The other 50 weeks of the year I would not say it has been a significant issue,” Scott, who leaves his post at the end of this month after six months at the helm, told reporters.
“(But) this year it has expanded beyond that. At Roland Garros, I agree, we started hearing about this and reading about it in a way we hadn’t before outside Wimbledon. Based on that we have started a process of looking at it more carefully.” (H/T – )
Whatever you do, DON’T BAN THE GRUNTING!!! Sometimes, it’s the only reason I watch.
What??? I’m just sayin’.
Topics: Babes | 7 Comments »
June 26th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
The men make grunting sounds, too. When I can’t pick the weight up one last time and have to force myself, sometimes a bit of a grunt (muffled) comes out. It is a result of exertion. The gals on the court are free-wheelin’ a bit, but isn’t it kind of sexist to say something about the women and not the men?
June 26th, 2009 at 8:51 pm
“I’ve been used to hearing that controversy this fortnight over 20 years.”
So have I, and in over sixty years of life I have never watched more than three minutes of any one match.
RT, years ago my phys-ed teachers encouraged grunting – lifting weights, swinging at a baseball, jumping hurdles, whatever.
June 26th, 2009 at 10:20 pm
It might be part of the the need to breathe while you work out. I have a bad habit of holding my breath and tend to make stifled grunts when I kind of have to while I’m doing my thing. That might be part of it. Maybe?
June 27th, 2009 at 4:26 am
Women at Wimbledon get the same prize money as the men for less play/work. I believe it’s called equal pay for equal work (not!).
The women play best of 3 sets vs best of 5 for the men. Thus, the longest match the women can have is 3 sets which is the shortest for the men. The men can play for 1 or 2 sets more than the women. Assuming these sets can go to tie-breakers this can make a difference of between 12 (6-0, 6-0) and 26 (7-6, 7-6) games more play for the men (all else being equal).
For the shortest matches (2 sets vs 3) the difference will be at least 6 more games up to 13 for a tie-break.
Maybe the grunting and other efforts to emphasise the sexuality of the women players (often little more than school girls) is supposed to make up for that? Hope the women like the idea of selling themselves this way!
June 27th, 2009 at 9:14 am
Two out of three of the only womens sports I watch have heavy grunting…. Tennis, VolleyBall…. and alas womens curling. The Sweedish team needs to be cloned.
June 27th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
When they start moaning, then I’ll pay attention to Wimbeldon.
June 27th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
RT – Nope! Heh.
Teqjack – I do it when I stand up, but that may be because I’m an out-of-shape toad.
RT – So, that’s why I pass out when I ride my bike. I forget to breathe!
Alan B – I have watched some tennis before – I loved Martina Hingis back in the day and Andy Roddick is awesome – but a part of me likes to watch the women because tennis has so many attractive ones.
Sully – I watched almost every round in the last Olympics. Every women’s curling team had at least one babe, and the U.S. team was chock full of ‘em.
BA – Just got to use your imagination, chief!