One of the big turnoffs with women’s tennis is all the grunting. Some people refuse to watch because they can’t stand the noise. Even Wimbledon’s organizers tried to decrease the amount of grunting at the tournament because they realized people dislike it. The funny thing is I don’t recall this being an issue until the last 10 years or so.
To the best of my memory, it wasn’t until Monica Seles started kicking butt on tour and grunting her way to majors that the practice caught on. In fact, Venus Williams says Seles was her noise-making inspiration.
Venus told Tennis.com that she watched a lot of Monica Seles growing up. “I started grunting because she grunted and guess I never looked back,” Venus says. “I don’t even know why Serena grunts, but regardless—now I’m a grunter.”
Great, so we can all blame Monica Seles for the grunting phenomenon. It was like a domino effect — once she started doing it and winning, everyone else mimicked it. Maybe they think it’s an intimidation tactic on the court. I don’t know why so many women do it, but I wish they would stop. It’s really agitating and it’s not like grunting is helping them hit the ball.
