'Unsportsmanlike' grunting doesn't annoy tennis opponents – it tricks them, study finds

Along with random bursts of rain, overpriced strawberries and the perennial agony of supporting Andy Murray, tennis fans have often complained about another feature of the modern game: grunting.

The controversial feature of professional tennis, thought to have been initiated by Jimmy Connors in the 1970s - who famously once said he hated to lose more than he loved to win - has been blamed not only for spoiling some games, but also for influencing the results.

Maria Sharapova, the 2004 Wimbledon champion, has been heard to shriek on court at 109 decibels, the point at which an average human experiences pain and the equivalent of standing 200 feet away from a jet aircraft taking off.

Former world champion Martina Navratilova has in the past said the excessive crepitations heard around court is “cheating pure and simple”.


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/05/06/cannot-serious-unsportsmanlike-grunting-doesnt-annoy-tennis/

That's one of the very reasons I don't watch tennis anymore.

Vintage wrote:That's one of the very reasons I don't watch tennis anymore.

Yeah, added to that it’s a verrrrry borrring sport.....

also for many a long year, predictable.

eddie wrote:

Vintage wrote:That's one of the very reasons I don't watch tennis anymore.

Yeah, added to that it’s a verrrrry borrring sport.....

It's a stop/start sport, and they don't move along like they should.

The ultimate in slow sports is golf.  I usually try to catch a nap til the next hole.  It's like watching grass grow, and rooting for the Bermuda Blades over the Kentucky Blues.

Original Quill wrote:

eddie wrote:

Vintage wrote:That's one of the very reasons I don't watch tennis anymore.

Yeah, added to that it’s a verrrrry borrring sport.....

It's a stop/start sport, and they don't move along like they should.

The ultimate in slow sports is golf.  I usually try to catch a nap til the next hole.  It's like watching grass grow, and rooting for the Bermuda Blades over the Kentucky Blues.

Boxing became like that. Too much holding on to the opponent and wasting time. I liked the older fights and fighters ...Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Sugar Ray Robinson, Roberto Duran...
Those were the days of fighting.

Golf, a nice walk spoiled !

eddie wrote:

Original Quill wrote:

It's a stop/start sport, and they don't move along like they should.

The ultimate in slow sports is golf.  I usually try to catch a nap til the next hole.  It's like watching grass grow, and rooting for the Bermuda Blades over the Kentucky Blues.

Boxing became like that. Too much holding on to the opponent and wasting time.  I liked the older fights and fighters ...Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Sugar Ray Robinson, Roberto Duran...
Those were the days of fighting.

The best division boxers to watch have always been the 'cruiserweights'  (176lbs/80kg up to 200 lbs..), and down through the light-heavyweights and super-middleweights, to the 'middleweights'  (155lbs/71kg  to 160lbs/73kg..).

The 'heavyweights' are too heavy and slow these days..

While the flyweights, featherweights and bantamweights dance and prance around too much..

The cruiserweights and middleweights usually show "the best of both worlds",  and some of those past greats actually came in under 200lbs --  and were sometimes fighting professionally a division or two higher towards the end of their careers,  gaining more belts, more titles and more money in the process.

In the amateur (and Olympic) competition, they have more divisions -- with slightly lower weight limits in each division :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weight_class_(boxing)

Yeah, heavyweights are a little sluggish. Old-time boxing was the best imo.