Wimbledon – Too Much Grunting – From The Ladies

When you hear the word Wimbledon you think finesse, power, speed, white clothing and now grunts.  Wimbledon sets the stage for world tennis with the best competing each year.  It's a tradition dominated by a sea of generally white clothing on the courts.  White clothing, a tradition that has slowly changed and more changes are on the way.

Now the clothing isn't all white, the players are not always polite, to each other or the officials.  Now we see a tattoo or two appearing but even more sinister, grunting...yes grunting as the ball is struck.  We're talking about the women especially.  It seems Wimbledon officials are thinking the sport is becoming less gentile with all the animal-like noises emanating from the courts.  Officials are actually thinking of installing devices that will measure the volume of grunts emanating from players as the ball is hit!  I haven't done enough research to tell you what sort of fine or penalty would be accessed but could this slow the game down anymore?

Imagine the device "hears" a grunt that is too loud.  What do officials do?  Stop play to access the fine at the point of origin?  At the end of each set do officials add or subtract points and then replay the set until a winner is determined after the deductions are computed?  This could get real nasty!  Even nastier than the grunts could be the fisticuffs that break out if the players disagree with the "grunt meters" or the officials.

Wow, back in the day all Wimbledon officials had to worry about was whether or not Jimmy Connors or some other uncouth renegade in white would yell or curse at them!

This proposed "grunt meter" also seems to be a discriminatory thing.  As far as I can tell it's planned for use during the ladies matches.  I wonder what Billie Jean King or Martina Navratilova have to say about this?

What's really interesting is the fact that the ladies don't seem to grunt during practice.  Makes you wonder if it's just a "show" put on for the ticket holders.  Whatever, it seems to be a growing trend and the ladies who grunt seem to win more, unofficially.

I personally think this rule will  be too hard to enforce and a ban on exposed tattoos will really be a difficult issue.  I don't think even the British will try to legislate what a player does with his or her body.  Can you imagine determining if a tattoo is actually exposed or covered as a player serves or returns a ball.  Might have been covered while the player was static but with movement it was exposed by half an inch.  Um, what might that penalty be?

Grunting.  Who cares?  Tattoos that's another question.  Guys and gals think about those artful designs as you age and your skin tone diminishes.  Will that soaring eagle you once had turn into a sagging vulture?  Will that hidden tattoo suddenly (or slowly) become more and more exposed as your muscle tone lets the eagle drain down your arm and become a pool of ink at the bottom of your wrist?