Maria Sharapova, who is one of the loudest grunters on the WTA, backs the tour's effort to develop a handheld device ("a kind of Hawk-Eye for noise") to objectively measure on-court grunting levels, as well as to educate juniors not to get into the habit of doing it.
World No. 2 Victoria Azarenka, also considered to be one of the WTA's loudest grunters, said she was not consulted before the WTA came to an agreement with the Grand Slams and the ITF. However, sources told TENNIS.com that she was approached and declined to discuss the issue.
"Good luck with that," Azarenka told TENNIS.com about the WTA's decision.
Sharapova said she was consulted, but added that she can't stop grunting.
"Certainly not now, not since I've been doing it since I was four years old," the Russian said. "It's definitely tough and impossible to do when you've played this sport for over 20 years. But it's something, I certainly spoke to WTA CEO Stacy Allastar about it]. We've had numerous conversations. It's the first person actually that's sat down with many people and coaches and sports psychologists and analysts and really reviewed what could be done. I'm really happy with the system that she put forth. Going to the juniors, going to the academies that are producing the young players, and putting a system in place, I think it's extremely smart."
Ana Ivanovic is unsure if it will work.
"Obviously it's been a little bit of an issue lately on tour, but I think it's very hard to determine what's the limit. I mean, how can you set that? Then you say you have to go a little bit less squeaky, a little less loud? I think it would be very hard to implement, to be honest."