Screaming tennis players are a distraction for opponents and the current crop of female stars have taken the problem to new levels, US legend Chris Evert said yesterday.
Victoria Azarenka and teenager Michelle Larcher de Brito have been at the center of fevered debate at this year’s Wimbledon about the decibel levels during matches.
Now the International Tennis Federation is believed to be considering outlawing such distractions as “noise hindrance” under its code of conduct.
Nine-time Wimbledon champion Martina Navratilova believes the “scream queens” are gaining an unfair advantage and Evert agrees with her.
Evert, winner of 18 Grand Slam singles titles, said a particular concern was that the noise from grunters often appeared to increase on key shots.
“Grunting is one thing, but the shrill sound that you hear with players nowadays, and especially [when] they get louder when they hit a winner, that’s the thing that I observe as a player,” Evert said. “It comes before they hit the shot. That’s the first thing you hear and you are thrown off guard as a player, and then before you know [it] the ball gets past you.”
“Really, the next time you watch say Maria Sharapova, the grunting is consistent, but all of a sudden when she has a set up, she has a winner, the grunting gets louder,” Evert said.
Evert said tennis went through a similar problem with former world No. 1 Monica Seles in the 1990s, but now it is more widespread.
“Because Monica Seles is such a lovely girl, we didn’t want to rub it in too much,” Evert said. “But it is distracting when you are hearing this and I think the grunts are getting louder and more shrill now with the current players.”
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
Former Formosa Dreamers player Ilkan Karaman was killed in a traffic accident in Datca, Turkey, Turkish media reported yesterday. He was 34. The former Turkish national team player was reportedly hit by a car, the driver of which was allegedly drunk, while he was standing on a sidewalk, Turkish newspaper Sozcu reported. Karaman and his friends were on their way to the beach town of Dalaman to go scuba diving when they stopped at a gas station to buy gasoline, it reported. Karaman was hit by the car while waiting on a sidewalk as his friends were buying gasoline, it
ANKLE PROBLEM: Taiwan’s Ye Hong-wei and Lee Chia-hsin had a disappointing end to their tournament after an injury forced them out of their mixed doubles semi-final Taiwanese badminton ace Tai Tzu-ying on Friday was knocked out in the women’s singles quarter-finals at her last Taipei Open. The world No. 3 lost 21-18, 16-21, 22-24 to Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia in a match that stretched 68 minutes at the Taipei Arena. Despite her higher ranking, Tai said she was not too sad about the loss, given her struggle with a lingering knee injury. “Wins and losses are just part of the game. Actually, I think I’m going to lose every single match considering my condition now,” said the five-time champion of the Super 300 event, who has announced plans