Wimbledon finalist calls for ban on 'disturbing' tactic and most stars would be punished

Ahead of her first Wimbledon final against Jasmine Paolini on Saturday, Barbora Krejcikova has spoken out against the use of aggressive grunting during matches. The Czech star was enjoying some downtime during the tournament by participating in a Q&A with her social media followers when asked about changes she would like to see made to tennis.

On the 28-year-old’s day off she planned to enjoy watching some matches, having come through her fourth-round contest with American star Danielle Collins, but frequent rain delays forced her to help entertain fans on X (formerly known as Twitter) instead.

“Rain delay,” Krejcikova wrote. “So let’s do a Q&A.” The 2021 French Open champion was then asked if she could change one rule in tennis, what that would be.

And she took aim at one rule and another tactic used by players on tour. Krejcikova replied: “More time for serve than 25 seconds. And tbh I am not a fan of grunting, especially when it’s inconsistent, meaning when your opponent start to grunt or grunts louder during key points, it can be disturbing. Idk if it makes sense.”

Players can be punished for deliberately distracting their opponent through grunting. Rule 26 in the International Tennis Federation’s (ITF) Rules of Tennis states that grunting in such a manner can come under the Hindrance Rule.

A point can be awarded to the opponent if their over-the-top grunting is deemed to be deliberate. Although there is no noise limit, the rule can be enforced if the chair umpire feels that a grunt is too loud or becomes a distraction.

Players have previously been accused of grunting louder on purpose with the sole intent of putting their opponent off, but it is a claim that can be difficult to back up with evidence, though grunts can disguise when a ball hits a player's racket and hinder the opposition greatly.

However, the vast majority of players grunt when playing professional tennis matches and should the shriek be outlawed completely, almost every player could face a punishment.

World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka has often been criticised for her loud grunts, especially during her run to the US Open final, but doing so consistently has convinced officials that she is not trying to be detrimental to her rivals on the tour.

Krejcikova’s complaints have long been echoed by Martina Navratilova, who described loud grunting as cheating. "I'm not saying that the players are cheating on purpose but it is cheating in that if you don't hear the ball hitting the racket.

"They should not be doing it and the umpire needs to take care of that because if the player is saying to the umpire: 'Hey, the player is taking too much time, you need to watch the clock', same thing. They should be saying: 'Hey, she is making noise, the umpire needs to take care of that.

"We're not lifting 200 pounds over our head and quite frankly, I think it's counterproductive because it takes a lot of effort and energy to make that kind of noise.”