Tennis: No howls of protest if tennis clamps down

The sort of din associated with the live disembowelment of cats may no longer be tolerated in tennis.

Spectators of women's tennis, in particular, increasingly run the risk of perforated eardrums.

Many opponents and spectators have come to view their caterwauling as an offensive distraction, suspecting downright gamesmanship.

If so, the regulators will perhaps be grateful for the emergence of a 16-year-old from Portugal named Michelle Larcher de Brito. As a relatively soft target, she has become the cue for what many - not least Martina Navratilova - consider overdue reform.

Up until now, those debating the phenomenon have tended to describe it as "grunting". Larcher de Brito shows that to be a wholly inadequate term.

As was evident at the Liverpool International Open this week, Larcher de Brito takes things to unprecedented, bloodcurdling extremes. At the French Open, Aravane Rezai became so distressed by her opponent that she complained to the umpire, who issued an unofficial warning. If anything, it was Larcher de Brito who then became distracted and she lost the match.

It is already possible for umpires to dock a point for "noise hindrance" but now consideration is being given to upgrading the offence so that even a match might be forfeited. And Wimbledon is thought the obvious place to restore a sense of etiquette to the "ladies".

But the dilemma remains how to establish culpable intent. Some coaches tell youngsters that exhaling aggressively on the point of impact brings physiological and psychological benefits.

But athletes in other exacting sports seem to manage without this kind of vivid agony. Maria Sharapova is liable to approach 100 decibels in feathering a drop volley.

Navratilova points out that it is important to be able to hear the racket hit the ball and that the inability to do so confers a corresponding tactical advantage. Bill Babcock of the International Tennis Federation, has meanwhile traced fresh concern to the duration of Larcher de Brito's howls.

"The noise extends into the hitting preparation time of her opponent," he noted.

- INDEPENDENT