Grunting doesn't cause distraction effect in tennis: Study

Grunting may not make it harder to predict the tennis ball's trajectory by masking the sound of the racket striking the ball, according to a study.

Exceeding noise levels of 100 decibels, the grunting sounds produced by some tennis players when hitting the ball are on par with motorbikes or chainsaws, said researchers from Friedrich Schiller University in Germany.

While fans react to these impressive exhalations with either annoyance or amusement, the habit has also been a source of intense debate among professionals, they said.

For instance, American tennis star Serena Williams has said that she is not bothered by opponents grunting in the heat of the competition.

In contrast, former world number one Martina Navratilova has complained that grunting masks the sound of the racket striking the ball, making it -- unfairly -- harder to predict the ball's trajectory, researchers said.

In the study published in PLoS ONE journal, researchers conducted a series of experiments in which ...