Da Grunt

The biggest obstacle in the life of a Maria Sharapova Fan. The critics of the ubiquitous grunt. I think I've heard them all.

"She puts it on to cheat."

"It's annoying."

"It's too loud."

And a helluva lot more.

I'm sure that all over the world, Sharapova fans like me have heard this crap a million times before. It's annoying. A lot of the time it's just some jealous wannabes who hate how she wins a lot. But sometimes it's Martina Navratilova. She drives a fair point. Players should hear the ball hit the strings. But, if she is cheating, I'd think she'd win a lot more matches. Players not being able to cope with the screaming would equate to her winning every match with minimal opposition because her opponents can't handle the screams. She doesn't have a level of success that suggests foul play that gives her a tremendous advantage.

The scream could probably be interpreted as just a factor of playing her. Like Venus Williams fluro dresses could be seen as a sight impediment when playing her in broad daylight. Like Serena Williams also grunts, Melanie Oudin punctuates every mistake you make with a come on. It's inevitable that players' different quirks will serve to make the game more difficult when you play them.

I also hate how people still haven't gotten in their heads that she's not going to change. Why can't people respect her? She has the right to grunt. Not EVERYONE complains about it. In fact, there aren't many players that complain about it at all. The legends, Serena, Venus, Justine don't complain about it at all. People have cracked down on her grunting for her entire career and she hasn't changed. WHAT MAKES YOU THINK THAT CONTINUING TO CRITICIZE HER WILL?

Just had to let that out :)