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Unnhh! Ahhrroooo!
Some sound like growls, others sound like sirens, but no matter what a tennis player’s grunt sounds like, new research has found it actually helps by throwing their opponent off their game.
In a study conducted by Scott Sinnett, a psychology professor at the University of Hawaii, 33 undergraduate students watched tennis players hitting balls – with some of the tennis players grunting as they hit. Researchers then had the students indicate the direction of the shot immediately afterwards.
Turns out grunting not only slowed down the students’ response time – it caused them to make more mistakes in guessing the direction of the shots.
“In a nutshell, if the shot included a grunt, the students were slower and less accurate with their response,” says Sinnett. It's kind of like "icing" an NFL kicker, which we've written about before.
Sinnett hopes that his research will help to shed light on some of the controversy that’s bubbled up the last few years with regard to grunting in women’s tennis. During the 2009 Wimbledon Championship, for instance, both spectators and tennis players complained about the loud shrieks and grunts coming from some of the players.
It's not just tennis. Loud, obnoxious grunting causes frequent complaints in fitness gyms and at least one high-profile lawsuit over a dispute in a New York spinning class.
Portuguese tennis star Michelle Larcher de Brito – a notorious grunter – has even been booed off the court after being accused of using her banshee-like grunts and shrieks to distract opponents. Her grunts have reportedly reached a decibel reading of 109. (That's louder than a subway train or a motorcycle, and it's almost as loud as a rock concert.)
“There are a number of findings that would suggest that a consistent grunt should actually help an opponent by drawing and focusing attention on the ball being struck, but this obviously isn’t how many players and spectators feel,” says Sinnett, who hopes to test out his findings on professionals tennis players next. “This project allowed us to look at the theoretical question of whether the basic lab findings can be extended to a real world situation while at the same time look at a debate in professional tennis.”
David Partikian, a 45-year-old Seattle merchant marine who’s played tennis for most of his life, says using some annoying trait to psych out an opponent is nothing new in tennis.
“There are all sorts of little things that super competitive people will do,” he says. “I used to play a guy who smoked while he served. He was daring you to smack it at him. This is how racket sports can be. It’s a psych out.”
Might these new findings might inspire a cacophony of groans, howls, and shrieks at the health club tennis court?
“I think a grunt should be reserved for a serve that’s going over a hundred miles per hour,” says Partikian. “Unless you’re at a pro level and ... it’s a huge athletic effort, it’s a bit of an exaggeration."
Do you grunt when you play sports or workout? Tell us about it in the comments.
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Leave a Comment:
The tennis grunt to be much more than a psych-out. The type of spin on the ball is what categorizes the shot. Different shots cause different sounds coming off the racket. The grunt is a way of disguising not only where the shot is headed, but how its rotating.
The tennis grunt could also be used as a mechanism to encourage breathing and focus like "tsuu tsuu" heard with a boxing punch or "high-ya" in martial arts.
Tennis used to be a classy sport. Now, with all the grunting, both men and women alike are bringing the sport to a new noisy low or high. I like the sound of the balls hitting the racquets not a grunt cry. Dump the grunts!
Agree with justice fleeting. I used to love tennis, now I wouldn't watch in on TV or go see a match even if was at Wimbledon, center court, & free. Pretty silly that the crowd can't make a sound but the players can grunt & scream. That "racket" should be banned!!!!!
oh fer cyrin' out loud... really? grunting while we play? I think if we're truly having fun (and we happen to be a grunter) we'll that's just part of having fun! imagine dodgeball without the grunt! ... OK; so perhaps tennis is supposed to be really 'classy' but if I was earning any amount of money for playing I would do whatever was necessary, and within the rules of course, to maximize my chances of winning. Whether the grunting helped me focus, hid the sound of the balls rotation, or just made me feel like I was going primeval on my opponent ;)
Now for the crowd that wants a 'refined' and/or classy sport ... well there's always those dog competitions ;) not too much grunting going on there!
My son's tennis coach actually teaches them to grunt. It does help with timing and breathing. At times it can psyche out, or annoy the opponent. Though, my guess is, at the professional level if you're focused enough to block out thousands of fans watching your every move, or cheering against you during a tough rally, an opponent's grunts aren't going to bother you too much. If they do, you need to work on your own mental game.
As for the classiness of the sport - take heart! They do still wear white at Wimbledon. But they don't use the old white balls. Things change. Bottom line, sports are for gladiators -- you want quiet, go to a chess match. Though a few well place grunts might even help you there.
Don't mind the grunting and bring your Vuvuzelas!
A good hard thrusting shot is gonna produce a grunt of some type, but not the grunting that they are doing in tennis now. I can see if the racket weighed 30lbs. I never did watch tennis too much, but when the grunting started I quit watching it altogether.
Tennis use to be a CLASSY sport including the clothing. These past decades have seen changes that are not always for the betterment of the sport. Check out some of the newsreels of the 40's and 50's. Tennis should be taught in grammar school. You can play tennis way in to senior life. Katherine Hepburn did!!!!!:)