Tennis
Grunt complaint at Wimbledon
2012-06-27 17:56
London - Big-serving German Sabine Lisicki made an official complaint over the consistent grunting of her Wimbledon opponent Bojana Jovanovski on Wednesday, claiming it masked the sound of the ball.
Lisicki, the 15th seed who made the Wimbledon semi-finals last year, claimed the Serb's constant barrage of noise out on Court 12, which echoed around the arena, was distracting.
"You usually hear the sound of the ball, but I couldn't really hear it because of her grunting," said Lisicki, who still won the second round match 3-6, 6-2, 8-6.
"That why we have the hindrance rule. That's what I talked about to the judge.
"Grunting is part of the game, but it shouldn't be off putting and be an advantage for the opponent, the one who is doing it."
Lisicki admitted that she too sometimes turns up the decibels, but insisted her noise levels were acceptable.
"Sometimes I do, yes, but I hope it's not as bad. No one ever complains," she added.