When the Cheshire emerges...

I want to say from the top that I'm all for girl power. In the tennis world there are more and more extremely strong women who are totally bringing it, and it's great to see. But the grunting is really really getting too much.

Right now I'm watching Sharapova vs Lisicki in the Australian Open, the former the first woman I really noticed to bring the noise to the professional stage. Lisicki is quiet and goes about her points well. I respect that. And while I really do respect Sharapova's game too I'm just totally turned off. On a separate note, she's probably the prettiest of the 'lanky tall blonde' clan (think Hantuchova, Azarenka et al) but it doesn't do her any favours.

Seven have introduced the shriek meter which has recorded her shrieks at 95.6dB. That's frickin' loud.

When did this become such an annoying problem?

Tweets throughout the last week have labelled Azarenka's grunt as "soothing" (men...), while one asked tonight if Sharapova has a grunt trainer.

Commentary raised an interesting point. Azarenka's received a lot of grief but Sharapova is louder and doesn't have that experience. So what does that mean, because she started it she can get away with it? That doesn't cut it with me, sorry.

I'm not saying the men are any better. Stanislas Wawrinka's extreme grunt is rather creepy. But I'm sure the grunt is wasting more energy for them than necessary and it's something that can be relatively controlled. At least to a proper grunt and not a shriek as Sharapova's is.

A lot were saying they mute the TV... why on Earth should we have to do that? Do they really want to be remembered for that, over their looks or much more importantly their game?

I'd rather hear talk about the dresses than discussion on grunts or the noise itself, as bad as that may sound even as a female. The WTA should be doing more to stamp it out, it's just as much a tactic now as well. Seriously, it's tennis' version of soccer's diving. Just sayin'.

Waiting for Hewitt v Djokovic with thinning patience...