Targets at Wimbledon: Women Who Grunt
Months after a highly ranked tennis player was forbidden from playing in Dubai because she is an Israeli Jew, women’s tennis is back in the news. This time, the debate isn’t about nations, but instead, the noises women make on the court, and why they are irksome.
Michelle Larcher de Brito, 16. a fierce competitor from Portugal, has inadvertently become a target in this controversy because of the high-pitched screech she makes each time she volleys. Many women tennis greats from Monica Seles to Maria Sharapova have stamped their game by making sounds (confusingly dubbed “grunts” in tennis lingo) when they hit. The BBC breaks it into decibels.
Certainly, every sport has its noises. NPR’s Frank Deford parsed the sounds of sports recently, a task that elicited imitation grunts from Deford himself. He asks “What’s the matter with a spot of noise in tennis?” Exactly.
Many male and female tennis players grunt when they serve. Why is it only bothersome and receiving of media attention when women do it? Are they expected to kick-ass on the court in “ladylike” silence?
One hightly visible, non-grunting woman seems to be going after all women who grunt. Tennis great, Chris Everet, told ESPN: “It is distracting when you are hearing this and I think the grunts are getting louder and more shrill now with the current players.”
We’ll see who gets the last grunt at the Wimbledon finals this weekend.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
