The weekly Outside the Lines on Sunday, July 1, at 9 a.m. ET will devote its entire show to an issue causing much noise around the grounds of Wimbledon – the issue of grunting in tennis.

The show will consist of a seven-minute feature teeing up a roundtable discussion with Chris Evert, Brad Gilbert, Patrick McEnroe and Pam Shriver taped this week at Wimbledon.  The feature includes comments from WTA CEO Stacey Allaster; tennis great Martina Navratilova, an outspoken opponent of grunting; legendary tennis instructor Nick Bollettieri,  whose academy is now teaching players breathing techniques that eliminate grunting; and current stars Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka – the top two ranked women and two the loudest players on the women’s tour.  There is also an interview with 13-year old Nandini Das.  A native of India, she trains with Bollettieri and says it took her five minutes to break the habit of grunting.

Quotes from the feature, reported by ESPN correspondent Kelly Naqi:

 “It’s hurting the game. It’s not just the players that are affected, it’s the fans. We’re losing fans. I cannot tell you how many times people come up to me and say, ‘Can you do something about the grunting?  It’s driving me crazy.’” — Martina Navratilova, winner of 18 Grand Slam singles titles

“If you made an ultimatum to (current pro players to) stop it now, not a squeak, I believe that would hurt them, because it takes time to break a habit.” — Nick Bollettieri, founder of IMG Bollettieri Academy in Bradenton, Fla., and former coach of Monica Seles, Venus & Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova

“We aim, hopefully, to ultimately have a noise meter that would be just for the chair umpire, and if the noise level got too high, it would set that off. So we want to use science as a way to help us define what that noise level should be, and then they will have an objective rule that we can implement.” — Stacey Allaster, CEO, Women’s Tennis Association

Some of the issues discussed by the ESPN commentators:

• Is grunting – or shrieking as some call it – a hindrance to opponents or merely annoying?

 

• Is the noise a turn-off to fans?  Is it affecting ticket sales, TV ratings or sponsorship?

 

• Is it sexism that the focus is on women players, or simply a result that the No. 1 and 2 women are two of the loudest players and few of the top male players are particularly loud?

 

• How do you stop it?  Should match officials begin penalizing players now, or in a year?  Or do you let today’s players continue and start with the next generation and attack the problem at the grass roots?

 

• Whose responsibility is it to step in?  The ATP, WTA and Grand Slams?  The game’s stars?  Or will it simply take one lower-ranked player who stops playing during the first game of a match against a top player and complains?

Quotes from the discussion:

“I think that they should be asked to get it down a decibel, just not as loud.  You don’t have to shriek, you can blow out, and you can just have a noise, but it doesn’t have to be a shrieking noise.” – Chris Evert

“(when playing) You hear this scream and sometimes you think they hit it hard, then your realize they didn’t hit it very hard.” – Brad Gilbert

“You start talking about the grunting, and you know what?  The guy and lady at home that has the clicker aren’t tuning in and watching tennis because of that.  That’s hurting tennis.” – Gilbert

“Let’s face it.  To legislate against anything that’s annoying to any of our senses — whether it’s our eyes or ears — is a slippery slope.  Right now we’re talking about the noise of a grunt, but there are a lot of people that are visually put off by things that happen on a tennis court or golf, whether it’s with spitting.” – Pam Shriver

Wimbledon on ESPN

ESPN’s 10^th Wimbledon is unprecedented for U.S. fans, with complete and exclusive live coverage across its networks, climaxing with the Ladies’ and Gentlemen’s Finals, Saturday, July 7, and Sunday, July 8, respectively.  ESPN3 is presenting more than 800 hours with up to nine screens of action while ABC will have a highlights show on the “middle Sunday,” July 1  – traditionally a scheduled day off at Wimbledon – and a same-day reairs of both Finals.  All the action on ESPN and ESPN2 is also available through WatchESPN online at WatchESPN.com and on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app.  In addition, ESPN 3D will televise live the final five days of action from Centre Court beginning with the Gentlemen’s quarterfinals Wednesday, July 4. 

ESPN & WIMBLEDON 2012

Date	Time (ET)	Event	Network
Sat, June 30	7 – 8 a.m.	Breakfast at Wimbledon	ESPN / ESPN3	Live
	8 a.m. – 3 p.m.	Early Round Action	ESPN / ESPN3	Live
Sun, July 1	3 – 6 p.m.	Highlights of Week One	ABC	Tape
Mon, July 2	7 a.m. – 5 p.m.	Round of 16	ESPN2 / ESPN3	Live
	8 a.m. – 3 p.m.	Round of 16, Centre Court	ESPN / ESPN3	Live
Tue, July 3	7 a.m. – 4 p.m.	Ladies’ Quarterfinals	ESPN2 / ESPN3	Live
	8 a.m. – 1 p.m.	Ladies’ Quarterfinals,  Centre Court	ESPN / ESPN3	Live
Wed, July 4	7 a.m. – 4 p.m.	Gentlemen’s Quarterfinals	ESPN2 / ESPN3	Live
	8 a.m. – 3 p.m.	Gentlemen’s Quarterfinals, Centre Court	ESPN / ESPN3D / ESPN3	Live
Thur, July 5	7 – 8 a.m.	Breakfast at Wimbledon	ESPN / ESPN3	Live
	8 a.m. – 1 p.m.	Ladies’ Semifinals	ESPN / ESPN3D / ESPN3	Live
Fri, July 6	7 – 8 a.m.	Breakfast at Wimbledon	ESPN / ESPN3	Live
	8 a.m. – 2 p.m.	Gentlemen’s Semifinals	ESPN / ESPN3D / ESPN3	Live
Sat, July 7	8 a.m. – 9 a.m.	Breakfast at Wimbledon	ESPN / ESPN3	Live
	9 a.m. – 2 p.m.	Ladies’ Final	ESPN / ESPN3D / ESPN3	Live
	3 – 6 p.m.	Ladies’ Final	ABC	Tape
Sun, July 8	8 a.m. – 9 a.m.	Breakfast at Wimbledon	ESPN / ESPN3	Live
	9 a.m. – 3 p.m.	Gentlemen’s Final	ESPN / ESPN3D / ESPN3	Live
	3 – 6 p.m.	Gentlemen’s Final	ABC	Tape

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