How Martina Navratilova once said tennis players were ‘cheating’ which still happens today

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Martina Navratilova called out tennis players for doing something which she deemed to be unnecessary.

Navratilova is one of the greatest WTA players of all time, having won 18 Grand Slam singles titles in her career.

She has since transitioned her on-court prowess to the media, with Navratilova often unafraid to hold back her opinions.

This includes Navratilova criticising tennis players for doing something which she described as ‘cheating’.

Martina Navratilova called tennis players out for grunting in 2009

When Navratilova was speaking to the Wimbledon media in 2009, The Championships where Roger Federer beat Andy Roddick in the final, she called out tennis players for grunting.

Navratilova did not name any specific players, but described it as both ‘cheating’ and ‘not necessary’.

The former world number one then called for stricter punishments to be brought in for players who did grunt, suggesting the idea of point penalties.

“Well I’m not saying that the players are cheating on purpose, but it is cheating in that if you don’t hear the ball hitting the racket, you depend on that,” began Navratilova. “Whether the players are doing it on purpose or not is irrelevant, they should not be doing it and the umpire needs to take care of that.

“The players not saying to the umpire, ‘Hey, the players taking too much time you need to watch the clock,’ the same thing they shouldn’t be saying she’s making too much noise, the umpire needs to take care of that.

“I shouldn’t have to make that noise to handicap the other player, so it is not direct cheating, but it is cheating in a way, because you are making it difficult for the opponent to hear the ball hitting the racket and that should not be…It’s not even grunting, it’s shrieking has got to subside, if not disappear altogether, because it is not necessary.

“There is no reason to be making that noise when you are hitting a ball, we are not lifting 200 pounds over our head, and quite frankly I think it’s counterproductive, because it takes a lot of effort and energy to make that kind of noise and when players get really, really tired, they’re not making that noise anymore, because they don’t have the energy for it.

“So, I would actually suggest to my player that you are actually making it worse for yourself, so I would be coaching my player not to do it, never mind that it’s against the rules, but it’s bad for my player.

“But it is against the rule, I mean if it’s a hindrance and it is a hindrance when they are yelling that loud, it’s a hindrance. So, the umpire needs to step up to the player and say ‘You need to calm down and if you don’t then it’s a point penalty,’ and I guarantee you once you start giving out point penalties then they are going to stop it.”

What Stefanos Tsitsipas said when complaining about Carlos Alcaraz’s grunt last year

This issue that Navratilova had 16 years ago has recently been brought up again, with Caroline Wozniacki calling for a rule to prevent excessive grunting, which is still commonplace in modern tennis.

Nowadays, a lot of the conversation around grunting is often linked to world number one Aryna Sabalenka, but it is actually the top ranked men’s tennis player who received a complaint related to this.

Carlos Alcaraz is one of the louder grunters in tennis right now, and he was criticised for it during his quarterfinal match against Stefanos Tsitsipas at the 2024 French Open.

During the second set tie-break, Tsitsipas spoke to the umpire about the timing of Alcaraz’s grunting.

“When I’m about to hit the shot, there is an extended grunt,” Tsitsipas said. “The grunt is extended. It’s like a millisecond before I hit it.”

He added later on, “It’s more that it happened when I was about to hit that forehand down the line, remember? There, it happened more. Before it was manageable, but that last forehand was a little bit borderline too much.”

While it could be argued that Tsitsipas was only irritated as he was losing the match, Grand Slam champions John McEnroe and Mats Wilander also noticed both the length and volume of Alcaraz’s grunt.

“That’s a loud grunt,” McEnroe said on commentary. “It’s not the first time Carlos has done it. You’ve got to be used to that.”

Wilander added: “It was an extended grunt. I think he finished it before Tsitsipas hit the ball for sure, but it was the longest grunt of the evening from Carlos Alcaraz. I can understand how that can be a little bit disturbing.”