Belarusian tennis player Victoria Azarenka may have lost to Serena Williams in Tuesday's quarterfinals at Wimbledon, but she made the most of her post-match presser. Azarenka lit a reporter on fire for asking about the two players' grunts, rather than the hard-fought game they had just played.
As it has been so many times before, the ladies' grunting was a focus of the Azarenka-Williams matchup. When asked about the attention it was getting namely from the Wimbledon crowd in attendance, the No. 24 ranked player wondered aloud why the same question is rarely ever asked of male players (to boot, neither do we hear much discussion of the males' on-court attire).
"I'm so tired of these questions all the time," she told reporters after the match. "It's so, in a way, annoying because guys grunt."
A clip from the women's match on Tuesday.
But the tennis player didn't stop there, totally eviscerating the debate over women tennis players grunting altogether.
I was practicing next to [Rafael] Nadal and he grunts louder than me and nobody noticed it. And why? I don't understand. Because why? The women on the court, both trying their hardest and giving everything they have and they make a noise. Is that a problem of tennis? It happens in every sport. So I think it's maybe it's time to just put it aside and not talk about it all the time because this is not what is important when there are two players playing on the Centre Court. We got to look a little bit past that, and see 'Oh my God, Serena played 24 aces.' Did any of the guys do [it] maybe in that match? Look at the good stuff, stop bringing this ridiculous stuff. Let's put aside the noise and how she looks, or how -- and look at the game. And the game proved itself today.
If Azarenka's response sounds familiar, it's because she was asked roughly the same thing two years ago. Back then, she also pointed out that Nadal and Novak Djokovic do the same thing.
Are critics fair in lambasting the levels of grunting that take place on the court? Maybe. In some cases, it has reached a point where it seems more for show and psyche than an actual release of physical exertion. If the Women's Tennis Association wants to and can address the issue, then so be it.
But if we're going to complain or make changes, let's complain about both men and women players equally, and make changes across the board. Because any time Williams (who, by the way, is on her way to possibly winning her 21st Grand Slam title), grunts, it's the source for a myriad of headlines, but men's grunting is still seemingly an "under-the-radar" issue.
After Roger Federer complained about Nadal's grunting, for example, some outlets dismissed Federer's complaint as nothing more than "something minor" and a "nuisance," to what should really be the focus: his opponents skills on the court.
In fact, rather than debate what the WTA and Association of Tennis Professionals could do about both women and men grunting, some people have decided to instead just rank how sexual the women sound. Seriously. That's a real list that actually exists. (Eagerly awaiting the follow-up to which male tennis player gives the best O-face when returning a serve.)
Seriously?
Tennis legend Billie Jean King has chalked up the focus on the woman's grunt to the fact that the higher pitch makes it stand out more. Others have made the case that it simply boils down to gender stereotypes and what's most "ladylike" on the court.
But in our opinion, Azarenka should have dropped the mic after her answer. She should feel free to grunt as loudly as she likes, at least until someone tells her and the men to stop.