Sten Gazette

Wimbledon’s chief referee, Alan Mills, is retiring at the end of this week’s tournament after 22 years of officialing the tennis world’s premier event. His parting shot is a demand for a rules change, because “grunting” by female players has gotten out of hand.

In an interview with the (London) Sunday Times, Mills said he believed that coaches were “teaching young women players to grunt.”

“I don’t like it at all. Today there is probably more grunting than there has ever been,” he said. “If I was playing an opponent making so much noise, I think I’d just laugh. But it’s what young players are being coached to do. Many of the non-grunting players are unhappy about the noise pollution and a kind of counter-grunt culture has emerged in recent years whereby offended parties ape their opponent’s noises.

“Officials can only act if the player is shown to be making the noise on purpose, which is virtually impossible to do. As far as I am concerned it is certainly a specific matter that the rule makers should address.”

Tennis players at the international tournament level have a lot of coaches– personal trainers, wardrobe, hair and makeup– not surprising they get some grunt coaching. No doubt Mills will draw some flack for singling out the ladies, who, after-all, learned grunting as an intimidation technique from their male counterparts. But that’s far from all they learned, the days of tennis being a genteel sport are long gone. Too much money involved. The only reminder of what Wimbledon used to be like is audience behaviour. Maybe it is time for the umpire to say “Quiet, please…” to the players.

The AP report went on to say that “One of the loudest of the modern grunters is defending women’s champion Maria Sharapova, who, according to the paper, makes a 100-decibel grunt, roughly the same volume as small aircraft landing nearby.”

We don’t know who’s responsible for the comparison– AP or the Sunday Times– but it’s wrong. A 100-decibel grunt is loud. A small aircraft landing is nearly silent.

Tennis players at the international tournament level have a lot of coaches– personal trainers, wardrobe, hair and makeup– not surprising they get some grunt coaching. No doubt Mills will draw some flack for singling out the ladies, who, after-all, learned grunting as an intimidation technique from their male counterparts. But that’s far from all they learned; the days of tennis being a genteel sport are long gone. Too much money involved. The only reminder of what Wimbledon used to be like is audience behaviour. Maybe it is time for the umpire to say “Quiet, please…” to the players.

–SG

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