By Alexandra Willis
27 October 2011
Nick Bollettieri has offered his support to the Women’s Tennis Association in their battle to contain the presence of grunting on the tennis tour, revealing that he and his team are already exploring the ways to teach young juniors not to grunt.
Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, Bollettieri, also a contributing columnist to this website, said that he believed working with juniors to find ways to help them not to grunt was the correct approach.
“You have to go down to the youngsters, the 10 and unders. That’s the time to make an impact. Because it is a hell of a noise.
“We’ve been doing research with our trainers and doctors about how to relax the body without grunting,” he said. “We don’t want them to stop breathing, because they still need to release the air to release the tension. But we are making a bigger push to get them to release the energy in a proactive way.”
Stacey Allaster, chief executive and chairman of the WTA, this week revealed that the WTA plans to send representatives to the Bollettieri Academy during the offseason to discuss the grunting problem with juniors and coaches.
“Stacey is a good friend and I really want to support her,” Bollettieri said. “I think it’s a damn good idea.”
Bollettieri’s comments came after Sam Stosur’s coach David Taylor spoke to Australian journalists about the grunting problem. “It is silly screaming,” Taylor said. “It is after contact & it is in times when the matches are close.”
