Jane Heller

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Ladies Who Grunt

June 22, 2011

No, this isn’t a post about women who make loud noises during sex. It’s about tennis. Apparently, the officials at Wimbledon are displeased by the ladies who make loud noises during play. The Daily Beast had a countdown today of the worst offenders. Personally, I think Venus Williams should be on the list. She doesn’t grunt; she screams.

Back in the day it was Monica Seles who famously annoyed Martina Navratilova and Steffi Graf with her grunts.

When you hear her, however, you realize how much worse the current players are.

I wish they’d shut up and just hit the ball, I really do. It’s annoying.

 

Filed Under: Mainly Jane, Sports Tagged With: grunting, Martina Navratilova, Monica Seles, Steffi Graf, tennis, Venus Williams, Wimbledon

Comments

  1. Margaret says

    June 23, 2011 at 5:55 am

    I have always found this annoying as hell.
    However I did not care for the remark that this grunting was unlady like.
    So is it okay to have to deal with the annoying grunts if it is a male tennis player?

    I wish they would ban the grunting too.
    I mute the TV to watch tennis.
    Sort of like I do with Joe Buck is the announcer during a Yankee game.
    :-)

  2. Jane Heller says

    June 23, 2011 at 6:40 am

    You make a great point, Peg. The men grunt too. In fact, there’s a very funny video on YouTube showing a match between two male grunters. It’s amazing that people in the stands don’t just get up in revolt.

  3. new yawk lover says

    June 23, 2011 at 12:43 pm

    although there is some real physiological benefit from the grunts, banshee screams, et al, it really chaps my ass too. It will take continued spectator heckling to get it under control, if it isn’t already to late to do so. The young players follow suit, both men and women, and it seems to be ever more engrained behavior in the sport. The “unladylike” aspect has never entered my mind. I just don’t like hearing it.

  4. Jane Heller says

    June 23, 2011 at 2:43 pm

    I agree, NYL. It’s not about being “unladylike” because the men are just as guilty (although their grunts aren’t as high pitched). It’s about noise pollution. I don’t mind the sounds of physical exertion but the screams are too much.

  5. new yawk lover says

    June 23, 2011 at 4:37 pm

    I get that its about diaphragm tension and breathing control (not entirely unlike martial arts), but it almost seems as if there’s a bit of a competition as to who has the most annoying shriek or wail. The situation is amplified in the women’s side of things by how long the ground stroke rallies tend to last (something I really like), creating all the more opportunities for this catterwalling. I suppose it’s no coincidence that my all time favorites, The Fed and Steffie Graf, and my current women’s favorite, Maria Kirilenko, don’t indulge in this apparent fad. They all were, or are, too busy playing the game with their minds and bodies to get into histrionics. I know, I’m a bit old fashioned. Can’t be helped

  6. Jane Heller says

    June 23, 2011 at 4:51 pm

    Interesting that you like the long ground stroke rallies, NYL. I really miss the serve and volley players; that’s how old fashioned I am. It annoys me when they stand on the baseline instead of charging the net.

  7. new yawk lover says

    June 23, 2011 at 5:42 pm

    well, I like it when strategy is in play, working angles and heading in to the net. I love serve and volley too. The trend I don’t favor is blunt force trauma tennis,, just smashing away when serving. I like to see the ball in play, and and opponents trying to move the other around to suit their strategy. This is why I like Kirilenko so much. She’s not built like a linebacker (not naming names here), but offsets her petite stature with speed and cunning. I love seeing her quick feet and knowledge of the game overcome taller and stronger players. She’s only ranked in the mid twenties in the WTA, but shes’ becoming a highly sought after doubles player, due to her court sense and quickness. I admire her classic approach to the game, and watching her work.

    Having said that, she faces The Wide Load in the next round. Oh well, at least it will be on tv.

  8. Jane Heller says

    June 23, 2011 at 6:50 pm

    Agreed about blunt force trauma. No fun to watch at all. But I miss guys like McEnroe, Becker and Edberg – especially when they faced the baseline counter- punchers.

  9. new yawk lover says

    June 24, 2011 at 8:57 am

    I was just watching Wimbledon coverage, and a young man being interviewed sarcastically suggested that Vika Azarenka ( my choice for worst banshee wailer) sell her screams as ringtones. Can you imagine waking up to that if your phone were to ring during the night?

  10. Jane Heller says

    June 24, 2011 at 10:38 am

    Ringtones! HAHAHA. Now that’s funny, NYL. Just read about the German woman who snapped at the chair ump for mispronouncing her name. Testy!

  11. new yawk lover says

    June 24, 2011 at 3:55 pm

    unlike the utterances themselves, I also found it humorous, Jane. The crowd was really razzing Azarenka about it today, too, which I also got a kick out of. Between points, many spectators were mocking her long, drawn out “wooooo” noise, which led to crowd laughter and many an “aye” as well. So British and so funny. Her match was played under the retractable roof, which only served to amplify the situation, as if it needed to be.

    The worst part of her rendition of the primal “I just hit the ball” scream is that she’s Kirilenko’s most frequent doubles partner.

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About Jane Heller

Jane Heller is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. Her fourteen breezy, witty novels of romantic comedy and suspense are now entertaining millions of readers around the world, along with her two books of nonfiction.

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