Azarenka hits back at Centre Court crowd

Victoria Azarenka, after her titanic tussle against Serena Williams, was extremely critical of the Centre Court crowd, who repeatedly laughed at her grunting. Williams, with her huge serves, won this  match 6-3 2-6 3-6.

The crowd made a lot of noise regarding the duos’ grunts and the umpire even had to tell them to remain quiet during points.

In Azarenka’s views many men grunt more that her. “It’s so annoying because guys grunt,” said Azarenka.“I was practising next to Rafael Nadal, and he grunts louder than me, and nobody notices that. Why? I don’t understand why. Both women on the court were trying their hardest and giving everything, and they make noises.

“Is that a problem for tennis? It happens in every sport. So I think maybe it’s time to just put it aside and not talk about it all the time because this is not what is important when there are two players on the Centre Court. We’ve got to look a little bit past that and see: ‘Oh, my God, Serena played 24 aces.’ Look at the good stuff, stop bringing this ridiculous stuff. Let’s put aside the noise and how she looks, and look at the game. The game proved itself today.”
Regarding her opinions about the behavior of the crowd, she said: ” I think they might have had a little too many Pimm’s or whatever,”
“When people are drinking, every time the announcer says ‘Make sure you hydrate yourself’, I think he means with water, not alcohol.
Serena Williams too said that the brouhaha created by the crowd can be a bit difficult to deal with at times. “It can be a little bit distracting sometimes, if you’re trying to listen to a line judge’s call or something,” said Williams.
Serena Williams will now face Maria Sharapova. Sharapova would look to beat Williams this time around – having failed to do so since her 2004 win, that’s eleven years! Hope we have a great match rather than an underwhelming one.