?You End Up Like a Traffic Policeman? – Ex-Wimbledon Referee Gets Real About Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka?s Persistent Grunting With a Less Popular Rafael Nadal Example

The act of grunting or squawking on the tennis court has been an age-old subject of controversy and a matter of debate over the years. Fans and experts have remained divided on opinions regarding this issue. Arguments on whether grunting should be banned or penalized have also been rife. The former world number 1 and legendary tennis player Martina Navratilova once even claimed that grunting ought to be considered as cheating and thereby be made illegal in competitive matches. Now, the former Wimbledon referee Andrew Jarrett weighed in on what he thinks about the use of ‘gruntometers’ citing the example of the famous Rafael Nadal grunts.

Andrew Jarrett uses Rafael Nadal example to dismiss gruntometer demands

Grunts and squawks of players like Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka have been measured to be as loud as over 100 decibels in certain instances in the past, which can almost be compared to that of an airplane taking off.

In order to curb this, propositions of installing gruntometers to measure the loudness of grunts were made quite a few times in the past. In his book ‘Championship Points’, former Wimbledon referee Andrew Jarrett shed light on why he thinks the idea of a gruntometer would be absurd, reports The Telegraph.

“We?ve had tabloids demanding ?Gruntometers? just because a Sharapova or an Azarenka is loud. Problem is, Nadal is also loud but has a lower pitch and so is less noticeable. If you use technology to measure the noise, you end up like a traffic policeman penalising people for going 33mph in a 30mph zone. Imagine that at match point in a grand slam final!”, an excerpt from the book read.

By referring to Rafael Nadal’s grunts, Jarret pointed out that the squawks of male players often go unnoticed, as compared to their female counterparts who possess a more high-pitched voice. Therefore, he feels, gruntometers would have been a bad idea to implement.

READ MORE: Gender Equality Controversy Stirred Days Ahead of Wimbledon as ATP Given a Bizarre Advice to Be on the Same Level as Their WTA Counterparts

Why do tennis players grunt?

From Jimmy Connors and Monica Seles in the past to Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka today, many heavyweight names have been or are known to be loud grunters. Of course, the more famous names are probably Maria Sharapova and Rafael Nadal. But why do they have to resort to grunting?

It is believed that grunting helps some players increase the intensity of their shots and acts as an expression of the sheer effort exerted into each shot. There are players whose gruntings have become part of their on-court identity.

Amid all controversies and discussions surrounding it, grunting has now become very widespread and a common occurrence on both the ATP and WTA tours.?

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