Wimbledon Officials Criticize Grunting

FINALLY!!!

Ian Ritchie, the chairman of the All England Tennis and Lawn Club, recently gave an interview that stated his intentions to reduce the very loud grunting that has taken over the women's game.

Blaming the increase in women's grunting on the players not being "educated" enough about the issue, he noted that grunting from the women seems to be on an increase throughout the entire tour. One player who was noted to be quite loud so far in the tournament was Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, whose wails would routinely last 1.5 seconds.

How loud is loud?
Lawnmower: 90 decibels
Victoria Azarenka: 95 decibels

There is actually a study going on examining the effects of grunting in tennis, in relation to whether or not it gives the grunter a tactical advantage.  Conclusions from the study:

It is difficult to ascertain whether many of the most prolific grunters intentionally grunt to distract their opponent. There is little doubt, however, that they are cheating their opponents. Grunting not only decreases their opponent's ability to  judge the direction of a shot, it also reduces the amount of time they have to respond to every shot. These consequences on faster tennis surfaces, such as the grass courts  of  Wimbledon,  or  the  hard courts of the Australian and US Open, are likely to be profound.