Martina Navratilova

[herringla]

Wow she still looks pretty fit and young still.

[MrRokePoke]

@herringla I know! She was 52 years old at the time of this video and she's was probably just as fit here as I am now at 23, and I'm a Fitness Instructor. lol She's incredible!

[fivecougarzoz]

Sharapova and the Williams brothers are probably the worst offenders, soooo annoying to listen to, and Martina is right that it is a form of cheating

[zedlacredit]

Yes, I agree with her. And I have always notice how the Williams sister get loud or louder when the point or points are more curcial.

[kevin12061989]

@zedlacredit And how about Sharapova ?

[duffydusty]

Best player ever.

[kaleidoskope]

ABSOLUTELY! And the viewers should complain too! I wish someone would invent a device for my TV that would allow me to cut that noise and only hear the ball hitting the ground and the racquets...

Just get a decibel meter and start handing out penalty points to whoever is louder than a bell and you will see some mighty fast changes...

[FedorEight]

This moron escapes her Communist homeland, and then becomes a bleedin'-heart Socialist! I guess you can't teach a moron any tricks, old or new.

Who gives a crap what she thinks about grunting? The attention-whore that she is, as soon as she retired (yeah, I know, she retired 53 times) she did anything to attract attention to herself, including bitching about the younger players which she envied with barely hidden contempt.

Nasty piece of work.

[DEBASUHR]

@FedorEight *facepalm* Martina is no moron, and definetely not a nobody. You're assuming that her left-wing political tendencies make her opinion worthless and her defects massive, but that is because you're a close minded clueless lamer. Wake up, no one cares about YOUR opinion.

[assindiastignani]

@FedorEight Charming...and so eloquently put..."whore"..."moron"...wond­erful vocabulary. How proud your parents must be.

[idontsignin]

she is correct, a person in the stand isnt allowed to shout out during a point

[chouchougr]

You shuld tel that to your fellow eastern European players such as Sharapova, Azaranka and etc...who are queens of grunting or screams.......

[youngdones]

She was a lesbian?

[XenaTheBacchaeSlayer]

@youngdones She IS a lesbian

[RaleighNC306]

Isn't being bascially a man on the womens' tour cheating,too, Martina? God, I loathe her. She's always been a whiner.

[showbiz2009]

As for the comment about the crowd .... It's not as if the crowd are making a loud noise during the points (ok the crowd do get involved during very exciting points but it's not like it's every single point, the grunters make loud noises every single point.

[showbiz2009]

As a spectator, I like the grunting though. I think it was more of a hindrance in the past when Monica came on the tour. Now most of the players grunt loudly - the one's who don't grunt/scream are probably in a minority, but I imagine it still could be a hindrance to the minority.

[showbiz2009]

I have watched the '92 Wimbledon semi-final between Monica and Martina several times; it was a fantastic match. I do not remember Martina complaining about Monica's grunting during the match: if she did complain during the match, it was certainly not a vociferous complaint but her facial expression showed that she was distracted by it. I do remember her complaining after the match.

[idontsignin]

@showbiz2009 martina did complain to the umpire during the match. i think it was towards the end of the third set.

[showbiz2009]

Nathalie Tauziat was the first player to complain about Monica's grunting and that was in the '92 Wimbledon Quarterfinal, but no one ever mentions that - instead the consensus is to criticise Martina for complaining, it's so unfair on Martina - she so often receives unjust criticism!

[trent8002003]

Oh please, Martina, Not again. I love you but you need to take a rest on this pt. You complained agst Monica Seles in 92 only to apologize to her post match. Grunting is an extension of breathing. Whether as a ploy or not, you have to let people be. Impossible to police and frankly, if you can't tune our the other player's gruting,how can you tune out the crowd when they root agst you? You wanna outlaw the crowd, too?

[eajj13]

Martina is my all-time favorite tennis player; however, I totally disagree with her on this point. I love the grunting which shows the intensity of the players.

[littlepamo]

I agree with Martina completely. When I play tennis with a grunter it doesn't really bother me, I think it's a complete waste of energy and sounds silly, and is more for show than anything else. It all just sounds phoney, there's no reason to grunt like a pig with each shot, especially those simple low energy drop shots at the net, why anyone whould grunt with those kinds of shots is beyond all logic. I've seen some people on the practice court just practicing their grunting. How silly.

[whitehousetexas]

Chris Evert was a closet grunter.  Then that Monica Seles girl started the "ehhhhh-oooonh!" "ehhhhh-oooonh!" stuff like it was the beginning of Hee Haw in her language or something.

[Jdeman]

SO TRUE

[volumecorps]

Martina has always had a problem with the grunting. I remember her complaining about it to a chair umpire when she played Monica Seles. I never saw it affect her playing though. Martina didn't lose very often, grunts or not.

She's got a point. Some players probably do it louder on purpose to throw off concentration.

[Beyonceluver345]

I personally could care less about the grunts. I play with a friend who grunts all the time, and it doesn't affect me whatsoever.

[Jdeman]

are you good? are you hitting crosscourt winners off your back foot? are you a pro?

[Beyonceluver345]

It doens't matter who I am, or what I do. My opinion is mine, and tons of other professional players share the same mindset as me.

[wamji84]

she's so right,it's annoying and it should have a rule for it.

[h0652507]

there is only shit coming out of this lesbos mouth

[TheMelancholist]

i have to say martina, henman, michael stich etc. they are right. i mean a "normal" sporty grunt is ok but most of the girls are screaming like hell (just to get attention). i think sabatini, capriati they really had sporty grunts... but this screaming has to stop!

[irelandsgreatest]

Irelandsworst? Oh dear.

[AdvertChild98]

In your dream. Irelandsworst.

[AdvertChild98]

Since when the last time you saw Serena won a game without screaming? Again she thinks her shrieks help herself fine, keep her volume down. Centre court is a classic arena, not some kind of butcher shop. Same go for Sharapova.

oh now you call Martina's statements as opinion? You made a fool out of yourself. most people don't change the tennis history, but martina does.

Yes tennis is for professional class people, some muppets like you shouldn't talk about tennis without knowing a thing.

[AdvertChild98]

Because those non-grunters are not cheaters, they don't believe that's a fair game to play if they learn to shriek.

Players like Sharapova or Serena just can't win a game skillfully without including intimidated shrieks that sound like a pig being butchered. Their noises are already so loud on TV, can iu magine how loud it will be for their opponents in courts.

[AdvertChild98]

If she gives an opinion without saying right or wrong, how is she gonna pursuade the people? Do you talk like that when you were asked to give an opinion on something? Martina meant to say players may not grunt to cheat intentionally, it could be just their natural reaction when playing., but the result is still cheating because the grunts causing players losing focuses and not being able to hear the sounds of the ball hit on the racket which is very important for players. Do you understand?

[irelandsgreatest]

So now ur interpreting what she 'meant' to say even though thats not what she said at all..?!

She doesnt say "I dont think" or "in my opinion" she just says they shouldnt be doing it and its cheating. Giving ur opinion should have nothing to do with 'persuading the people'..! Surely people can make up their own mind without this stuck up cow telling us what is right and wrong?!

losing focus? breaking ur opponent or hitting an amazing shot may cause them to lose focus, is that also wrong..??

[AdvertChild98]

Are you deaf? she clearly meant what I interpreted You can always watch this video to check.

SHE IS making an opinion, everyone in their sane mind would understand she is expressing her opinions, and she's backed up with her reasons. How could you pursuade people not to smoke if you don't say why smoking is wrong? Same thing here.

Why is distracting your opponent so wrong? Why not do a funny face while your opponent hitting the ball to cause him/her lose a point? does that sound right 4 u

[irelandsgreatest]

"Making an opinion"??

She clearly says they dont make any noise when they're tired (which is wrong) and they make it worse for themselves...now how in the name of sweet Jesus do you interpret that as "they dont do it intentionally, its just a natural reaction"..?!

Seriously, will you read my comments, this shouldnt be about persuading people so will u quit saying it is!

Wel since you ask, your opponent wouldnt be looking at your face so you can if you want...

[AdvertChild98]

oh my freaking god, You have missed the beginning and the middle part of her statements. That's why you are not understanding. for the 2nd time, yes it's about letting people know shrieking is a serious bad habit and is a selfish behaviour. It's time to do seriously about it. If this isn't about persuading people why is she making such a fuss about it? Think about it..

Idiot. Tennis is not a child play, if you want to play clown, do it in circus. Tennis is a professional sport.

[AdvertChild98]

Wrong. Rudseski got heavily fined in 2003 2rd or 3th round Wimbledon against Roddick because he used bad language. Hewitt used to intimidated his opponents by shouting "Comon" every time he won a point. He got warning later on.

If a player has sportsmanship or has confidence in him/herself, no shrieking shouldn't be a problem for them. Using shrieking to distract one's opponent is like a cheater in exam which should be given penalty. We want tennis skills, not a vocal contest.

[kstocklin]

Go Martina! She is so right. Plus there's always been a double standard on shreiking - the stars get away with it and the rest don't.

[AdvertChild98]

What do you mean the stars get away with it and the rest don't? No one had said a thing about againsting this bad habit before, so the tennis stars nowadays can get away with it. But trust me, i have a feeling that tennis audience are getting more and more resented toward shrieking. Martina of course has become the first legend who spoke out this issue. I believe in near future, there will be a rule against shrieking in grand slam events.

[AdvertChild98]

It's interesting to see many female grunters use gruntings to achieve different things.Monica and Sharapove grunt to annoy their opponents; Serena Williams grunts to "scare" her opponents; Venus Williams grunts to withstand her opponents; and the likes of Henin, Safina or Amelie use their grunts merely to express their heavy efforts while hiting.I think only Henin. Safina and Mauresmo type of grunts seem positive enough to stay because their grunts are not very loud and dont' happen very often.

[cvids15]

safina moans on every point and hers is the worst and most annoying........

[AdvertChild98]

Are you kidding? You would rather hear Sharapova's and serena's nuclear noises than Safina's little grunts? I am not a fan of Safina, but her grunts are far from the most annoying.

[cvids15]

she sounds like she is a dying baby......sharapova and larcher de brito are the loudest bt safina has the most annoying. larcher de bito has the ONLY grunt tht should be illegal due to its longevity

[AdvertChild98]

I agree with you Martina. If the audience isn't allowed to make noise to distract the players, why shouldn't do the same to the players who use shrieking or grunting to distract the player on the other side? I know that shrieking isn't against the rules so players like Sharapova or Serena williams may get away with it, but i think it's time to set up a positive thread that shrieking should disappear.