The familiar debate over on-court decibel levels produced by tennis players has resurfaced after the Belarusian player Aryna Sabalenka on Tuesday night drew mockery from the Melbourne Park crowd during her first-round Australian Open defeat to home hope Ashleigh Barty.
The 19-year-old from Minsk was her usual vocal self from the outset on Rod Laver Arena and the partisan crowd let their displeasure known by imitating her shrieks in between points.
At one stage, the umpire was forced to ask for quiet in the stands, although her choice of words — “Ladies and gentlemen please, during the rally, do not scream” — only seemed to make the crowd redouble their efforts and Sabalenka’s service preparation was interrupted by further impressions.
Photo: EPA
Barty appeared unimpressed by the crowd’s behavior at the time and afterward the Australian No. 1 said she had not been phased by the noise from Sabalenka.
“We knew it was coming,” she said. “I hadn’t seen a lot of her matches, but my coach had watched vision. He was aware it was coming. A lot of players grunt. A lot of players don’t grunt. It’s just the way they are, the way they play.”
While Barty said she was not unduly affected, plenty viewing from afar were.
“Sabalenka has 347 different sounding grunts. What a talent,” former US player Pam Shriver wrote on Twitter.
Sabalenka is not alone in practicing in-play grunting and the likes of Maria Sharapova, Victoria Azarenka and the Willams sisters, Serena and Venus, are among the most high-profile players to make noise when playing shots.
Nor is the practice limited to the women’s game, with Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic also well-known for their on-court vocalizations, but public criticism is more often than not reserved for female players.
The debate over grunting centers on whether the noise is loud enough to the point of distraction for an opponent and if so, whether that constitutes a form of gamesmanship.
There was support for Sabalenka in the face of the fierce backlash, with some decrying the “bullying” nature of the crowd’s taunts and asking questions over the role of the official master of ceremonies on the court, who himself impersonated the player into the microphone.
SSC Napoli’s Italian Serie A title hopes suffered a late setback on Sunday when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home against Genoa, setting up a thrilling season finale with closest rivals Inter just one point behind. The hosts remain top with 78 points, holding a slim lead over Inter, who won 2-0 at Torino earlier on Sunday, with two rounds remaining. To make matters worse for Napoli, midfielder Stanislav Lobotka, struggling with an ankle injury, was forced off just minutes after the match began. Scott McTominay delivered a perfect pass into the box where Romelu Lukaku got
Harry Kane opened the scoring ahead of lifting his first career silverware as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0, with veteran Thomas Mueller playing his last home game for the club. Bayern officially won the title on May 4 when defending champions Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg, but were presented with the Bundesliga shield in front of their home fans at full-time. Dripping wet after being showered with beer by teammates, Kane said the title win was “an incredible feeling,” and hoped it would be “the first of many.” “It’s been lot of hard work, a lot of
A stunning Lamine Yamal strike on Thursday helped crown Barcelona La Liga champions with a 2-0 win over local rivals RCD Espanyol, with victory ensuring Real Madrid cannot catch them at the top of the table. Yamal’s effort and Fermin Lopez’s goal took Hansi Flick’s side seven points clear of Los Blancos with two matches remaining, to clinch Barcelona’s 28th title and complete a superb domestic treble. Only the UEFA Champions League title escaped an exciting young Barca side this season, as they won the league for the second time in six years, at Espanyol’s ground again just as in 2022-2023. Back then,
Jannik Sinner on Thursday marched into the semi-finals of the Italian Open after destroying Casper Ruud in straight sets 6-0, 6-1, while Coco Gauff won a marathon three-set battle with China’s Zheng Qinwen to advance to the women’s singles final. American Gauff is to face Italy’s Jasmine Paolini in today’s title match after pulling through 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 7-6 (7/4) in a match that lasted over three-and-a-half hours. Ruud was supposed to be Sinner’s toughest test in Rome since he came back from his three-month doping ban, as the Norwegian came into the match in hot form on clay after winning in
RSS