The TRUTH behind Obnoxious Tennis Grunting

AGHH! WEAHH! BWEHH! If you're a tennis fan, you've certainly heard some... "interesting" sounds coming from the sport's biggest stars. Though tennis used to be considered the "silent sport", you'd be hard pressed to find many top players today who don't let out some variation of a grunt while hitting the tennis ball, leaving many spectators to wonder... Is all that REALLY necessary? Today, we're investigating why excessive grunting has become so widespread in professional tennis, and what top sporting officials are doing to crack down on the trend.

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[MrBen]

For those who aren't aware, the decibel scale is logarithmic. 100 dB is significantly louder than 90.

[theovolz]

I'm pretty sure I can hear my sister and her boyfriend practising tennis late into the night, with the amount of loud grunting I hear from her bedroom.

[hesido]

The occasional grunt when hitting a hard ball is totally fine but repeatedy hearing the same tone grunt (regardless of the loudness) just annoys the heck out of me.

[nobodyspecial]

Freedom to grunt.
Freedom to be silent.
No freedom to intentionally distract an opponent.

[gerardmackay]

It’s pure gamesmanship. Navratilova has said hearing the noise your opponent’s racquet makes on hitting the ball tells you a lot about how cleanly they have hit it and what kind of return you can anticipate. The screaming and shrieking effectively masks this which is unsportsmanlike at best blatant cheating at worst.

[FootFaultTennis]

The power of 'BWEH' is a force one cannot explain...

[Tan]

I really think it's just a matter of degree. The Sharapovas and Azarenkas of the world drive me nuts when they play, but lower pitch/volume, shorter grunts that sound normal for accompanying an intense muscular effort have never bothered me at all.

[TheWitchesHat]

The new delayed grunt some young players do is unacceptable though. They’re basically screaming their lungs off right as the opponent is supposed to hit the ball

[gachagamer]

As someone who plays tennis, ive only ever grunted when i was tired. It helped me stay focused and not give up plus i felt like i was exerting more power when i was swinging

[AnkhArcRod]

Actually, the really terrible thing about grunting is not just the noise but the implied force of hitting the ball. Players like Seles were masters at grunting loudly while hitting the ball softly and all shades in between. It was this trait that really used to piss me off as a spectator as the grunts were clearly used for distraction.

[acasius]

There's grunting at the point of exhaling when hitting the ball, and then there's deliberate noise making just before the opponent is about to hit the ball. That's cheating and there are a number of ATP players who cheat. Must be banned.

[passivehouseaustralia]

As a tennis coach (I am 50 now) I have lived through this phenomena, clearly its designed to hide the sound of the ball off the racquet, which gives you a large amount of information about what the ball is doing... like velocity and spin. In my opinion its a cheat.

[shikhargovil]

you should have also mentioned lorenzo sonego's grunts here. he literally makes sex noises on court and grunts almost when the ball has reached other side of court.

[gazza]

I was in a sport that required a LOT of quick, explosive reaction. Both myself and others were not there screaming like an ali-express opera signer during tournaments. When we got around to playing tennis (as we did for physical training) we'd typically play against the local tennis club the difference was staggering, they were over the other side screaming like they had been shot while we're on the other side with very minimal noise. I then went and played a couple years at their club (I was 16 at the time) and I was told off many times for being 'too quiet' and that "I'm telling you its so I can hear how you control your breath" but then in my 2nd year I was told "Yeah nah, its a lie really. We want to throw off the opposition." When it came to playing games I would listen to scream-o 'metal' and just blurred out the death sounds from the other side and not make them myself, at the level I played it was 100% for the scummy tactic for distraction and nothing else.

[WivoRN]

I swear to god I've never seen such marvellous editing in my life, the fact that it's done only by one person is crazy. Gladly it's getting the appreciation it deserves! Another great video/topic, you never cease to amaze us my friend! ❤️

[kayranm]

I think Gustavo Kuerten’s grunt was the only that actually sounded like a breath exhaling technique

[filipnikolovski]

This guy could literally talk about paint drying and it would still be interesting

[mrmidnight]

Let’s be real, when you exhale is so loud and lasts long enough for the ball to be returned before you’re done. It’s excessive lol

There is a grunt and a scream, the two are not the same.

[ch-e]

I was never taught to grunt but I started doing it *quietly* after I was playing longer matches because I began to get out of breath and needed the extra power to keep up. It was definitely way less than screaming but sometimes my teammate could hear me that's about it

[thomas_delaney]

These are awesome videos. Historical, scientific, and analytical. Great work!