Considering how little tennis I watch, I could care less whether players grunted or not. Hell, they could scream their heads off on every point and I wouldn't care - because I'm not watching.But I guess the 11 people out there that do care about tennis are beginning to get a bit mad at Maria Sharapova for grunting repeatedly. Sharapova's grunting has been recorded at 101.2 decibels - the equivalent, apparently, of a police siren at close range or a small aircraft landing nearby.
Some people say grunting constitutes "cheating," because it's a deliberate tactic to prevent an opposing player from hearing the sound of the ball on the racquet. Ok, that's somewhat believable.
But this next idea for how to combat it is ridiculous.
Judy Dalton, one of the Womens Tennis Association founders, and a multiple-time grand slam champion, said she thinks Sharapova's opponents should forfeit matches until she stops grunting so loud.
"If that was me and I was playing Sharapova, I would be saying, 'If you continue with that, you can have the match - I'll walk off and I'll lodge a complaint.' The other girls should say, 'Fine, I'll forfeit the match'. They can only forfeit so many matches and that might get the message across."Yes, that's quite productive. Rather than, say, threaten to suspend her, advise everyone to forfeit to her. That'll make me even less likely to watch tennis, if that's even possible.
But I think the real question most people are wondering about is, does Sharapova's grunting translate elsewhere? The answer is apparently no.
-WCK
