Speaking to Reuters about the pervasiveness of shrieking on the court in women's tennis, Scott said the harridan howls has been an issue for decades. But the calls for the squeals to be illegal has really ramped up only recently.
“Based on [the increased complaints of grunting], we have started a process of looking at it more carefully,” said Scott.
Scott went on to say that chair umpires can issue warnings to shriekers-in-chief like Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka, but as lifelong watchers of tennis tournaments can attest, you’d be hard-pressed to recall a time in which a warning has ever been issued.
Monica Seles the First Tennis Screamer?
It’s hard to pinpoint who dawned in the Era of Squealing. Perhaps it was Monica Seles. As great a competitor as she was— boasting 53 career titles and 10 grand slam titles over her injury-shortened career —she’s perhaps best known for her distinguishing “Hawwww…eeeeee,” with each and every swing of the racket.
Tennis purists will argue that grunting has become apart of the game, that some women can’t help but shriek as they unleash a devastating forehand or backhand in their dogged attempts to put away their opponent. But it wasn’t a part of the game for Steffi Graf. It wasn’t a part of the game for Chris Evert. And it wasn’t a part of the game for Martina Navratilova, and countless other women’s tennis titans of yore.
So what’s changed? Perhaps the shrieking and grunting derives from women trying to “psych out” their opponent, that the sound will throw off their equilibrium, or that it will frustrate them into a number of foibles and flubs to furnish a “game, set, and match.”
But this argument loses its luster when both women are shrieking – which is so often the case. Then, the only thing shrieking frustrates are the hundreds in attendance— and the millions watching at home who get to hear the peels of squeals in high-quality, dolby digital surround sound.
Lovely.
With Larry Scott on the outs, his replacement can make his voice heard by putting the kibosh on grunting.
How to Penalize Screaming in Tennis
The best way to make the measure meaningful is to dock violators one point after the first warning (e.g. if a competitor squeals after an initial warning, a match that was once 15-15 becomes 30-15 in favor of the non-squealing party).
What counts as an acceptable grunt and a noise-polluting grunt is a judgment call, granted. But that’s what the line judges and chair judges are there for: to judge.
These complaints may seem petty, but pettiness is standard operating procedure in tennis, a sport that forbids any noise of any kind from fans in attendance before someone lobs up a serve.
Thus, if judges demand quiet from fans in attendance before a competitor’s service, isn’t it about time fans demand quiet from the competitors?
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