After learning nothing from last week’s journey into sports, Undaunted has decided to don his whites, eschew the bowl of Strawberries and cream and head straight to Centre Court. It’s WIMBLEDON!
The gleaming whites have slotted themselves into my brain since childhood. It kind of reminds me of Neil Diamond. Bear with me as I explain.
Throughout my childhood they were both just there. I wasn’t au fait with the rules of tennis in the same way that I never owned a Neil Diamond album but they were both just there.
Fast forward to 2015 and the recesses of my mind enabled me to head to a Neil Diamond concert and and find myself humming every tune.
How did that happen?
In the same way, I’m able to sit in front of a sprawling five set thriller and feel that I am an expert. Childhood memories flood back.
Those memories are of Borg, McEnroe, Connors and Becker on the men’s side while Navratilova, Evert, and Graf were the pre-eminant female players which held me in their thrall.
They were athletes. Yes, in my more boyish moments, I sniggered at the ‘manliness’ of some female players but they had both style and skill. As with everything in my childhood, it was a golden age.
Then the Millennium changed and there were new kids on the block. They were young. They were edgy. They grunted.
Why oh why?
They have amazing skills. They are role models. They grunt. What does that mean?
It means this:
Ah c’mon. Do you really need to do it?
Yes the video is all about Sharapova but when was last time you were able to sit through a Women’s single match without having to turn the volume down?
It’s creeping into the Men’s game too. I have a feeling it is a safety blanket. Players must think the grunt adds power to their shot. The beautiful noise to make them win.
I tried to find out was there any specific research done as to WHY they grunt.
The good news is I found this report by a Cornell Professor who agreed that while a grunt did add power to a shot, it also had the potential to put the opponent off.
That gets closer to what Martina Navratilova classed as 'cheating'. you can read the article here.
So the science is pretty sketchy. It's just a not too beautiful noise in my book.
Now pass the clotted cream for my strawberries.
