Grunting is hard to categorize.

The sound shouted by a tennis player when the ball hits the racket can range from a strong release of air to what some call the sound of a “dying cat.”

Then again, is this grunting helping performance? Or is it considered cheating?

Wimbledon brought the grunting into question in 2009 when 16-year-old Michelle Larcher de Brito received a warning for shrieks that could be heard three courts away.

“Noise hindrance” is the proper term for something that many professional athletes call cheating.

Surprisingly, the sudden shout has changed genders.

One of the original grunters, Jimmy Connors, a winner of eight Grand Slams, first started the practice during the 1970s.

Andre Agassi’s grunting was questioned at the 1988 U.S. Open, but popular grunters today are generally women.

Maria Sharapova leads the list, followed by Monica Seles, Serena Williams, Lindsay Davenport and Venus Williams.

While the grunt isn’t taught, young tennis players commonly pick up this loud habit.

ASU sophomore Michelle Brycki, possibly the loudest grunter on ASU women’s tennis team, said the noise is just a natural part of the game.

“It’s a release of energy,” Brycki said. “I hold my breath just before I hit.”

But cheating?

Larcher de Brito’s shout was said to have lasted longer than the time it took the ball to cross the court.

The audience was so unhappy with the grunting that it booed her off the court.

Points can be deducted, but arguments are split.

Explanations generally fall into two categories:

Natural Source

The most common defense of grunting centers around the individual’s natural tendency to grunt.

ASU senior Nadia Abdala said that it isn’t taught, but picked up depending on the player.

“If it’s not on purpose, you can’t control it,” Abdala said. “Sometimes, I don’t even know if I grunt. I could be really loud, but I would not know.”

The surreal loudness is what stands out among top shouters.

Larcher de Brito and Sharapova each register over 100 decibels on their grunts.

A lion’s roar measures in at 110 decibels, while Larcher de Brito reaches 109 and Sharapova hits 101.

“Individually, that works for [Sharapova],” senior Ashlee Brown said. “I don’t think she was trained to set it up.”

The grunt, which is generally released as the ball comes off the racket, can also be calming.

The consistency of the grunt gives the player a rhythm and a quick release of tension, often creating more power.

“It relaxes you,” Abdala said.

Extra Advantage

Anti-grunters approach it from a different angle.

The complaint is not the volume of the shrieks, but the persistence of them.

Competitors often use the sound of the ball coming off the racket and the court to gain their own rhythm, but the grunt covers those sounds.

“Someone was saying that it’s a way of cheating, because it takes away the sound of the contact so the opponent gets less information about your shot,” Brown said. “I’m sure we don’t [grunt] for that reason.”

The Sun Devils agreed that the noise is a part of the game, but that excessive grunters can become annoying.

In a recent tournament, Abdala faced off against one of these excessive grunters, but said, while irritating, the noise can be put out of mind.

Brown said it’s much more frustrating when the grunt is not timed with the ball hitting the racket.

“It’s delayed,” she said. “[Abdala’s opponent] would hit it, and you would hear the contact and then as the ball is bouncing that’s when you would hear [the grunt].”

Comparatively

The hard part is finding similarities to other sports.

Is it along the same lines as a linebacker yelling out snap counts? Or does it compare more to how the linebacker yells while making a tackle?

The grunt is about as natural as Amar’e Stoudemire yelling “and one” after every shot he takes.

There really isn’t much else to it.

Roger Federer isn’t loud and he is arguably the greatest tennis player ever.

ASU sophomore Sianna Simmons, a comparatively quiet player, said she doesn’t think about it during a match.

“Unless I need to psych myself up to try harder maybe, but I don’t really grunt,” she said.

That’s just the type of player she is.

Reach the reporter at nathan.meacham@asu.edu