If you watched TTC during RG you already know how Martina feels about grunting in tennis.
Me? I guess I don't really care so long as it's the same grunt all the time. If it's rhythmic then it's pretty easy to tune out. That's what's so off-putting about the Burrito's banshee scream. It's different with each stroke and, more importantly, it extends into when the other player's hitting the ball. There's no reason for that.
But regardless of where you stand on the issue, I think the dialogue is interesting insofar as it highlights, again, the kookiness of tennis as a sport. I mean, it's *just* hitting a ball. Does it really require absolute silence? And I don't mean to denigrate the difficulty of the sport at all. But look at baseball. There you have a guy standing only 60 feet away hurling a rock at you that has unpredictable spin and movement at 90mph, and you have (a) start your swing before the pitcher even releases the ball, (b) identify the pitch, (c) hit a round ball with a cylindrical bat, and (d) all while you're being heckled, drums are beating, flashes are going off, and people are screaming at you.
I would argue that the difference is training. The fact is that when you grow up playing baseball you become accustomed to playing in a rowdy environment whereas if you play tennis or golf, you're used to peace and quiet (unless you play at my club, in which case you get used to playing through a slew of profanities from neighboring courts).
But if the difference is training, haven't modern players become accustomed to the "typical" grunting that occurs on both sides of the tour? No one complains about Rafa's grunting, Ana's three part squeaking, or even Masha/Serena/Venus's shrieking. It's just part of the game now.
So yeah, while Martina might have been really distracted by Monica back in the day because it was a completely new phenomenon (not unlike Burrito's "new" style of screaming), maybe it's not as big of a deal now. And maybe the players today just don't really care as much as commentators do.
Want to put a stop to it because you think it annoys the fans and taints the image of tennis? Ok, I think that's at least a more legitimate argument (though I personally think the grunting actually emphasizes the physicality of tennis, which is a good thing from a U.S. sports fan perspective). But to say that it affects the players nowadays? I'm not quite convinced.
