This is currently one of the big debating points in the tennis world.
What do you think ?
Views:
Navratilova: "They should outlaw it. It's really unfair to the opponent and it's terrible for the public. At the net you need to hear the ball hit the racket so you know how fast it's travelling. First you hear the ball then you react to the sound and the flight of the ball."
Newcombe: "It's actually what I consider legalised cheating because one of the great senses you have on a tennis court is your ability to hear the ball come off your opponent's strings."
Chris Bradnam: "Across the board ? No because breathing is very important. If you're trying to hit the ball very hard it's pretty difficult not to make any noise at all. I just think the players should have more courage and complain to the umpire if it's getting on their nerves."
-- Edited by UltimateFlemingFan at 10:26, 2006-08-19
I can't vote because there isn't an option for "it depends"!
A reasonable amount is bearable; excessive amounts such as Sharapova, Seles and the Williams sisters (at times) drive me nuts. I can't watch a Sharapova match unless I turn the sound off. The male grunting doesn't bother me as much, because it is lower pitched so not as painful to the ears.
The problem then, though, is how you measure what is reasonable. . .
Edit - oh well, now you have put in the third option, I can vote!
I don't think it should or can be totally banned because so many players grunt now and as Bradnam says, it's very hard to hit a ball extremely hard and make no noise.
However, there are certain issues with extreme grunting which need to be addressed, most notably with Sharapova and also possibly with Venus Williams and several others. Sharapova's grunting is a form of deliberate gamesmanship, you can tell as in her matches it gets markedly louder when she's losing and if she's winning easily, barely a squeak comes out of her. She can grunt up to something like 100 decibels and if it's true that this is completely unintentional as she claims, then she needs to see a doctor !
I don't think that a special new rule needs to be introduced just to deal with this. There's something in tennis called a hindrance rule where if the umpire believes that a noise is hindering a player, he can enforce it. Umpires need to have more courage in actually applying this and players need to have more courage and actually complain about it. There should be a system as with time-wasting where if the Hindrance Rule has to be applied twice, the offending player receives a point penalty
Did anyone watched the Kuzy v Hingis match late last night? Hingis was doing some grunting, its made me laugh! Cuz i didnt expect Hingis to do that! Glad shes in the final!!
i think grunting should be allowed for their own preference! i mean sometimes it does annoy me, but then whenever we see sharapova or williams play we know what to expect from them. imagine if they played without grunting, like watching a silent movie!
Hingis grunting !! Lol, never thought I would hear of that ! Has she been doing that since her comeback this year ?
Yeah, I am really pleased she reached the final, this will put her back in the top 10. Given her form on the hard courts this summer she has to be among the contenders for the US Open, as long as she avoids Kim Cljisters in her section of the draw !
I do think that the Sharapova and Williams issue needs to be looked at as it is definate gamesmanship and so many players have complained about it
Oh yes, of course. Such a shame that she hasn't been able to defend her title, I wonder whether she will keep to her plans and retire at the end of 2007, I hope not, it would be great to see her win another slam.
i feel sorry for clijsters i mean another setback to her wrist probably makes her more angry, considering the hard work she has put back to win her maiden Slam last year. Whether, it will make her more determined to play indoors, im not sure, because i think she will be even more cautious about her wrist than the last time. havent heard from clijsters about her thoughts on the injury, only from her PR. so it probably shows she right pissed off not to be defending her title. another thing, hopefully she will be competing at AO, that it should make her determined to finish 2007 with at least 2 Slams. What i was worried about this year, was that though she had 3 GS Semi finals, it makes me wonder whether she was happy with 1 Grand Slam, even she capable of winning more!
Lol, never thought I would hear of that ! Has she been doing that since her comeback this year ?
i mean another setback to her wrist probably makes her more angry, considering the hard work she has put back to win her maiden Slam last year. Whether, it will make her more determined to play indoors, im not sure, because i think she will be even more cautious about her wrist than the last time. havent heard from clijsters about her thoughts on the injury, only from her PR. so it probably shows she right pissed off not to be defending her title. another thing, hopefully she will be competing at AO, that it should make her determined to finish 2007 with at least 2 Slams. What i was worried about this year, was that though she had 3 GS Semi finals, it makes me wonder whether she was happy with 1 Grand Slam, even she capable of winning more!
