Russian Tennis Beauty Maria Sharapova?s Deafening Shrieks Became the Talk of Wimbledon as BBC Forced to Make Bizarre Move for Fans in 2011

Apart from the mellifluous sound of the tennis ball hitting the strings of the tennis racket during the poetic exchange of rallies between two bitter rivals, there’s another sound that tennis fans are quite familiar with, and it’s not necessarily as pleasing to the ears they would like it to be. If you’re a follower of the sport, you’ve probably guessed it by now – the grunts and squeals of many tennis players as they try to whack the ball into the opponent’s court.

And when it comes to loud grunts on the tennis court, there’s one name that instantly comes to mind – Maria Sharapova. In 2011, the BBC had to resort to a unique way to check the volume of the noisy grunts of the players before that year’s Wimbledon.

When Maria Sharapova & other grunters made BBC come up with a unique solution

The grunts of many top-ranked stars in the circuit, perhaps most notably that of Maria Sharapova, have been recorded to cross the 100-decibel mark – which is almost similar to that of an airplane taking off. As a result, many tennis viewers in the past have complained about the ear-splitting shrieks demanding to reduce the volume of the howls during match telecasts.

As reported by the Daily Mail, this led BBC to introduce a grunt control tool ahead of Wimbledon in 2011 named Wimbledon Net Mix which was made available on the BBC’s Radio Player. The then head of technology of BBC’s Audio and Music Department said, “The BBC receives lots of complaints from the public regarding sound balance – with many of them wanting the sound of the commentators turned up and the noise for a match turned down. Wimbledon was a clear choice to launch this product for as there are always so many comments about the amount of grunting from the players”.

This feature allowed the listeners to turn down the volume of grunts and increase the volume of the match commentary, thereby providing a pleasant listening experience. Grunting in tennis has remained an ever-existent phenomenon.

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Famous grunters who grace the tennis court

The act of grunting and squawking on the tennis court has been a matter of much debate over the years with fans and experts having varying opinions on the matter. However, grunting on the tennis court has become more common and widespread over the years. From heavyweight names like Jimmy Connors and Monica Seles in the past, to Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams, and Rafael Nadal in recent years, grunting has been associated with many legends of the game.

Amid all the hullabaloo and fuss around it over the years, grunting has been accepted as a natural part of the games. And tennis fans are now used to hearing many of their favorite players grunting their way to victory!

Are you used to the grunting in Tennis? Let us know in the comments.

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