Controversial "Grunting" at Wimbledon Validated by HSU Professor's Study
The word "grunting" is always good for a few laughs. But there's a debate raging in the tennis world about that funny sounding word and some say grunting is really all about cheating.
Hardin-Simmons University Professor Dr. Dennis O'Connell is probably the world's foremost expert on grunting. It may sound like an odd thing to have expertise on, but O'Connell says if you want to power up your tennis serve, a good grunt will do it for you.
The debate over the escalation of grunts emitted by professional tennis players at Wimbledon was the subject of a radio program broadcast throughout Canada this morning. Dr. O'Connell was one of the guests on the Canadian Broadcast Corporation radio talk show called Currents. He revealed his study on the subject and he is clearly in favor of the vocalization if you want to increase the velocity of your serve.
The question at hand is, are sudden bursts of vocalized air from the diaphragm a legitimate way to blow off pent up energy and increase velocity, or is grunting a strategy of distraction and intimidation that amounts to cheating?
Dr. O'Connell told the radio audience about an intensive study he has conducted of college level tennis players in Division 2 and Division 3 of the NCAA. O'Connell, a professor of physical therapy in the Doctor of Physical Therapy program says, "A grunt increases the server's forehand velocity by about four to six miles per hour."
O'Connell says the practice of grunting is a very old theory, but until he conducted his research, it was still unproven and just a theory. In the study, O'Connell shows how a burst of air from the diaphragm increases muscle activity and supports the upward change in velocity. "It's a matter of more muscle recruitment," he says. "Let's say you have one-hundred strands of muscle, but just because they are there doesn't mean they are used. The grunt brings about that muscle recruitment. More recruitment of muscle fiber results in more velocity on the tennis ball."
O'Connell was supposed to present his study at the American Physical Therapy Association annual conference in Baltimore this month. However his flight was cancilled due to bad weather. Instead, he will make his presentation at the conference when it meets in Boston.
The show O'Connell appeared on is hosted by award winning journalist Anna Maria Tremonti. Also interviewed was famed tennis coach of Monica Seles and Maria Sharapova, Nick Bollettieri.
According to the Canadian Broadcasting website,"The Current is a meeting place of perspectives, ideas and voices, with a fresh take on issues that affect Canadians today. We bring new insight to stories that Canadians are talking about now, and we uncover stories they'll be talking about next week and next year."
They will at least be talking about it for another week or so. Wimbledon is currently in day three and will continue through July 5th.
O'Connell's interview can be heard at http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/2009/200906/20090624.html beginning tomorrow.
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