Grunt Work

I bet Aravane Rezai is reeeeeeeeally popular in the locker room right now. I have this mental image of Maria Sharapova, Victoria Azarenka, Serena Williams and Michelle Larcher de Brito shoving her into a locker. Why? Because the ITF - finally - is thinking about doing something about grunting.

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I read this statistic that said that Sharapova's grunt was nearly the same decibel level as a lion's roar. Larcher de Brito's grunt wasn't on the list of decibels, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was louder. Everyone has noticed this - viewers round the world have been muting their TV sets on Sharapova and co. for years. But since the Rezai incident at the French Open, where she basically pointed out the elephant in the room, the ITF has been forced into action.

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At the most extreme, the way I understand it, a player can be defaulted for grunting, and this to me seems a bit extreme. Sure, grunting is a pain, but I am pretty sure it's relatively involuntary. I wonder if there's a sort of yardstick they're going to use. The criterion is whether or not it distracts the opponent, but you can imagine that some gamesmanship might go on there, exploiting that rule. And if you've been a grunter for life, can you break yourself of the habit?

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I don't really have a formed opinion on this subject. I'll have to ponder it more. But I'll be very interested to see what rules come in.

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Over to the actual tennis. The winners of Queen's and Halle last year turned out to be the Wimbledon finalists, but I will be quite surprised if that turns out to be the case this year. Kudos to Murray and major kudos to Haas, who really deserved a victory (especially one where he defeated a top four player) after he came so close in Roland Garros. Nice work, boys!

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Today's Results

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Gerry Weber Open (Halle)

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Tommy Haas def. Novak Djokovic, 6-3 6-7 (4-7) 6-1

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AEGON Championships (Queen's)

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Andy Murray def. James Blake, 7-5 6-4

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AEGON International (Eastbourne)

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Janko Tipsarevic def. Paul-Henri Mathieu, 6-4 6-2

Ivan Ljubicic def. Andreas Seppi, 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-5)

Robby Ginepri def. Andrey Golubev, 6-3 6-4

Denis Istomin def. Kevin Kim, 7-6 (7-5) 7-5

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Ordina Open (s'Hertogenbosch)

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Men's Draw

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Fernando Verdasco def. Pablo Andujar, 6-3 7-5

Igor Kunitsyn def. Arnaud Clement, 6-2 6-3

Dudi Sela def. Christophe Rochus, 6-2 6-4

Raemon Sluiter def. Daniel Gimeno-Traver, 6-2 7-5

Ivan Navarro def. Gilles Muller, 7-5 7-5

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Women's Draw

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Sorana Cirstea def. Monica Niculescu, 5-7 6-3 6-3

Iveta Benesova def. Mara Santangelo, 6-2 6-3

Kristina Barrois def. Elena Vesnina, 6-4 6-4

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AEGON Classic (Birmingham)

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Magdalena Rybarikova def. Li Na, 6-0 7-6 (7-2)