Wimbledon Official Wants Ladies To Quit the Grunting

Ladies, enough already with the grunting.

So says Ian Ritchie, chief executive of the All England Lawn and Tennis Club where Wimbledon is played.

He told the Telegraph that officials “would prefer to see less” of it and and even said players have the option of complaining to umpires if the grunting proves too distracting.

In a match on Monday, Victoria Azarenka of Belarus hit 95 decibels on the “grunt-o-meter,” with shrieks lasting longer than 1.5 seconds. She says she’s been doing it since she was 10 and it helps her “put more power to the ball.”

In case you’re wondering, Maria Sharapova holds the all-time record for the loudest wail, hitting 105 decibels in 2009.

Disgruntled, she is not.

[Washington Post]