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Being there would be too much to bear. On TV I can turn the sound down, but it's still not the same atmosphere without the sound fo the crowd cheering and clapping.
That tennis grunt is incredibly irritating and completely spoils the game, imho.
Perhaps it's an illness! ;)
</rant>
I very rarely watch the women though, same reasons as you or perhaps I just like watching the athletic men :)
I just like watching the athletic men
Come on now Suzy - keep the party clean! ;)
Regarding grunting, I watched that ladies game yesterday for five minutes and had to turn it off. The grunting was unbearable to me. Unless this is tennis tourette's then no one can tell me that this is not gamesmanship. It must be incredibly irritating to play against one of these creatures.
The bottom line is that it really should be banned.
The only worse sound at Wimbledon was when the geriatric crooner Mr Clifford Richards got up to sing.
the purpose of the grunt (more like a "adult" scream in many cases) is to hide the sound of the ball hitting the racket.
iirc monica seles was the OG.
The first time I heard someone with tennis skills comment on the grunts was about 1980. A former player explained, that some tennis coaches taught beginners to utter a sound in order to unleash all their energy when they hit the ball. And that not all players un-learned that habit when they became so skilled that they did not need it anymore.
The first time I heard the "camouflage explanation", was years later, and it was indeed connected to Seles. I think it was Navratilova, who publicly stated that those screams were annoying for the opponent and gave an unfair advantage.
(A side note: I believe that in table tennis it is quite common to stamp at the moment of service to camouflage the sound.)
You guys have missed the reason for the grunt.
Umm, no.
Umm, no.
Okay! Works for me. :)
The same thing happens to soldiers, who are trained to have an intimate relationship with their rifles. They too grunt on the battlefield.
;)
I checked on bbc but couldn't find out!
RJ
Yes, later, after the ladies match.
>If spectators start complaining and viewing figures were affected
It's affected already. I refuse to watch the womens matches, and i'm sure i'm not alone. I don't mind the occasional grunt, but, it's gotten out of hand, imho
I really don't mind the grunts...
And quite funny to my playing partners.
I refuse to watch the womens matches, and i'm sure i'm not alone.
You're not. I could not watch this nonsense. It really grates on me.
Well done to Andy Murray this afternoon. I took the time off to watch his game and he was awesome against Juan Carlos Ferrero.
