Is 2016 the year the WTA Tour drives much-mocked player grunting out of the game?
Perhaps, as WTA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Stacey Allaster said she will at long last be ready to come forward with a recommendation that may include an audible measuring device courtside.
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ALLASTER
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“We remain committed to driving excessive grunting out of the sport,” Allaster said. By adding an adjective before the term “grunting,” she is signaling that some form of the noise will remain tolerable.
The WTA first started tackling the issue in 2012 after persistent complaints from fans and experts that grunting is off-putting to watching the game. Since then, the WTA has been talking to thousands of junior players around the world in an effort to get them to stop, Allaster said.
However, she said the recommendation would encompass the tour and could involve a device that would measure how loud someone is grunting.
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Tennis’ biggest stars, including Serena Williams, say they won’t quiet their play.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
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The shrieking and wailing at a WTA match is often shrill and hard to take, but some of the sport’s biggest stars, from Maria Sharapova to Serena Williams, are grunters and have said they will not stop. Both Sharapova and Williams are represented by WME-IMG, which has an executive on the WTA board.
Next year also could bring to fruition another long-running WTA effort, a new top sponsor. Allaster said she anticipated the WTA to have one in place by the end of this year. The WTA has not had a lead sponsor since Sony left after 2012.
Not occurring next year, however, is a WTA team event that the tour floated in 2014 as a possibility. The issue has been finding a place for it on the calendar, Allaster said.
“No commitments have been made,” she said. “We are looking hard at how this event can be scheduled.”
Market receptivity to a team event has been good, Allaster added.
The tour also is encouraging its 39 events, which are independently owned, to try more fan-friendly initiatives, and is suggesting them as best practices. The initiatives include having players hit with fans, a buddy walk-on like in soccer where players walk onto the field with kids, and letting fans keep balls hit into the stands.
The tour recently formed its own fan engagement group, which is led by Gabriela Duch.
