In a bid to finally address the issue of excessive grunting, the WTA has reported come with an agreement with the ITF and the Grand Slams to come up with a handheld device that can measure on-court noise levels among players – a sort of “Hawk-eye” technology for noise levels.
According to WTA CEO Stacey Allaster, it is the best “time for us to drive excessive grunting out of the game for future generations.
A new rule is expected to be established that will set acceptable noise levels based on the data analysis and gathering. At this point, Allaster said that the device should not be labelled as “grunt-o-meter,” a term that was used in nineties by British tabloid newspapers when former top-ranked Monica Seles had a magnificent run to the Wimbledon final in 1992.
“I’m not going to use that word,” said Allaster.
“The bottom line is that we want to bring forward across all levels of competition an objective rule through use of technology to make it much easier for athletes and chair umpires,” she added.
The WTA has talked with several experts in the field of sports science, tennis players and coaches.
“What is clear from experts is that it would have a clear, damaging effect on performance of the existing generation,” Allaster said.
“It’s going to take some time. I don’t want to get ahead of ourselves because it’s a collective effort of the sport and we need everyone to buy in,” she added.
