There are people in the world of tennis that like to make morals and rules for the game. But are they always right? The most recent development could ban the grunt from tennis!

This is following the rules and codes of conduct that have been implemented by the ATP and other tennis ruling bodies through the years.  They were meant to rein-in rogue players with extreme behavioral attitudes such as Illie Nastase, John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors, just to mention a few of the former bad boys of tennis.

Needless to say, they were all crowd favorites! They grunted, they fought, they argued, they ranted, they screamed profanities, they made lewd gestures, they were punished and they did it again!

I still remember when Roger Taylor, a burly former British miner, literally walked over the net and grabbed Illie Nastase by the neck in Barcelona and threatened to beat the hell out of him if he continued with his antics!

Or Jimmy Connors, when challenged by a brash, young John McEnroe, walked up to McEnroes face at the net and tried to intimidate him with some loud, ape-like gibberish.

Sure these were not pretty times in the world of tennis with it's strawberries and champagne, but it was exciting, darn competitive tennis. We could all feel the storm coming miles away.

And...I would trade the 19 or 20 grand slam finals I have seen Roger Federer play all worried about keeping his hair in place, the shirt collar straight, cleaning his eyebrows and trying not to sweat because it might feel unbecoming to him or is it that he does not like the feeling of dirty wet clothes? Oh yes! I would trade all of that, for 10 minutes of Illie Nastase, John McEnroe or Jimmy Connors antics and tennis magic!

Ok, I agree they were a bit too much, but where is the fighting today? 

These fellows today are almost kissing each other at the end of a match! 

They can not convince me they are fighting even when they yell their loudest 'come on'!  It often sounds hollow almost scripted, weak, unconvincing, like if they were told by someone else to do it and they are too shy about doing it. 

Unlike Jimmy Connors who growled it out loud like the lion in the jungle and got the whole crowd on its feet with a shudder that rippled through their backs and left their hair standing on end all over their bodies!  That was excitement, that was competitive tennis!  That was Bud Collins(T.V. commentator) yelling... C O N N O R S!!!!!!!...... 

Now they want to take the grunting away!

Sure go ahead make it even more boring, lose even more tennis fans, as if tennis needs that, might as well put a little table on the court and serve some tea, champagne and strawberries to the players too please.

By now you are thinking I am a fan of rough play. No, I believe in fair play unequivocally and in respect of the rules, but I do not believe in rules that stymie competition.

Let us take the Williams sisters, up until the final of Wimbledon. They grunted, they yelled, they fought, they screamed, they intimidated, they played some brilliant and exciting tennis and tamed all of the competition. And let us put it this way, they left you and all competition muted and wondering, where does all of that fighting spirit come from?  I am not here to explain that, my job today is the grunting!

Now, if you saw any of the Wimbledon final between the Williams, you must have remarked, there was almost no grunting.  And the match?  Well...so, so, ok.

But I am sure that whenever there was grunting by both sisters in that final, the intensity level and the quality of play increased several notches and you felt...the excitement!! 

Yes! Excitement!  Because you as a spectator, sense that there is a fight brewing and by sympathy your adrenaline level skyrockets, your heart starts beating faster and rapidly blood is pumped into your brain, you get an oxygen high and you are in!  You are in the fight!

Well pity the William sisters did not grunt enough in the Wimbledon final!

And what do you think grunting does to the players that know how to use it?

- Grunting acts like a stimulant of the highest level!

- Produces all the chemical changes I mentioned and drives tremendous impetus in a players mind and body.

- Turns wimps into LIONS!

- Midgets into giants!

- Significantly increases the confidence level of any player.

-  Because at the moment of impact there is a grunting action  that will essentially narrow (or even close) your breathing pipes, therefore compressing the oxygen in your lungs forcefully into your alveolar sacs.  Consequently this action will fix larger amounts of oxygen into the capillary veins carrying carbon-dioxide-rich blood, clean and transform this blood into red celled blood full of oxygen in a complex process called diffusion.

To an athlete this 'recycling of the blood cells' is fundamental for high performance, sustained performance and continuous performance, without accumulating lactic acid (which is partially eliminated by this process and a base) in your muscles.

Lactic acid is the consequence of fatigue, lack of oxygenation and its presence in athletes muscles causes cramps, pain and reduced performance. Grunting helps stall fatigue.

- Grunting excites your nervous system (at the hypothalamus) and brings the fighter out in you, by getting your cells to fire adrenaline, noradrenalin and cortisol into your blood stream and putting a player into the "attack" or aggressive mode. ('The old thing fight or flight from our ancestors')

- Yes, grunting can have an intimidating factor in it, but tennis is about competition! If an opponent can not stand the heat he/she should not have got himself/herself into the frying pan to begin with!

- Finally a player that grunts like in martial arts at the moment of release/impact, gets an extra dose of explosive power and in tennis it is a bonus when needed.

There are dangers to grunting:

- Players can get overly excited.

- Players can lose control of themselves and no longer play with a good thinking mind.

- Players can hyperventilate (breath too fast) inhale to much oxygen too quick, get dizzy or even vomit.

- Players can get tired mentally and physically because of the rollercoaster ride of continuous highs and lows in a long match.

If you are a healthy tennis player supervised by medical staff, trainers and coaches, learning the art of grunting is a fundamental step to become a better player and fighter in competition.

Nevertheless this is not for people with cardiac conditions or any cardio/pulmonary ailments. If in doubt always make sure to consult your physician.

Now, should a bunch of dinosaurian listen to some whimpering, complaining weaklings and make a ruling to stop grunting in tennis or use a decibel machine as I recently heard?

In my opinion no, no! But of course officialdom will decide and if they say yes, the coffin for tennis excitement will have almost all of its nails in place!

For now, enjoy your grunting while you can, it works!

Sergio Cruz

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