The days of earth-shattering grunts from tennis players are set to be brought to an end as umpires will be given the technology to monitor decibel levels and the power to punish noisy players.
We’ve all played a bit of tennis. It’s not easy, and you do get tired with all the running around but have you ever felt the need to shout every time you hit the ball? No, us either. We’ve never heard Henry Shefflin or John Mullane scream when they knock over a point either but it seems that tennis players, male and female, do like to make a lot of noise on each shot.
It can be so loud as to be very distracting and now the tennis authorities have decided enough is enough.
“It’s time for us to drive excessive grunting out of the game for future generations,” said Stacey Allaster, the WTA chairman and chief executive in today’s Irish Independent.
“The bottom line is that we want to bring forward across all levels of competition an objective rule through use of technology.”
What that rather tortured phrase boils down to is the introduction of grunt-ometers. A reasonable level of noise will be agreed on by the governing bodies in tennis and any player who breaks that level could be sanctioned. The umpire will monitor the decibel level of noise coming from those on court and any player found in breach of the new rules could be forced to replay the point or be docked points if the offending persists.
Don’t expect anything to happen at Wimbledon just yet. The levels of acceptable noise have yet to be decided and even when they are, the new rules will be phased in at junior and lower-ranking events.
By then, the main offenders, like Maria Sharapova (above), will probably be retired. Still, it’s a start.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ podcast – listen to the latest episode now!
