Wimbledon Wailing: WTA Chief Can Make Statement with Shrieking Shutdown

With the women’s Grand Slam tennis season in full swing, there are a number of regular rituals that make tennis a joy for the senses:

For the eyes, the swaying of finely-toned hips as they prepare for the incoming 100 mph serve.

For the ears, the “oohs” and “aahhs” of the crowd after an impressive volley.

And for the nose (for those fortunate enough to be in the crowd), the unmistakable smell of freshly opened tennis canisters that propagate the courts of clay, grass, or turf.

But there’s one ritual that my ears could do without. And if the reports are true, the WTA could do without it as well.

With the Wimbledon finals just days away, the World Tennis Association is considering whether or not to make the ear-splitting shrieking of female tennis competitors end by banning the noise pollution from competitive play.

Speaking to Reuters about the pervasiveness of the harridan howls, outgoing WTA head Larry Scott said this has been an issue for decades, but the calls for squeals to end has ramped up in intensity fairly 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 a lifelong watcher of tennis tournaments, I’m hard-pressed to recall a time in which that’s ever taken place.

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 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? 

My best guess is that 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. Then, the only thing it 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.

The best way to make the measure meaningful is to dock violators one point after the first warning (i.e. 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, I grant you.  But that’s what the line judges and chair judges are there for: To judge. 

My complaints may seem petty, but pettiness is standard operating procedure in tennis, a sport that few that restricts 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?