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TIME: Almanac 1993
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TIME Almanac 1993.iso
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071392
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07139917.000
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1993-04-08
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THE WEEK, Page 20SOCIETYStop That Grunt!
Is Monica Seles' most formidable weapon her racquet -- or her
racket?
The 106th Wimbledon tennis championships promised several
Cinderella stories but delivered none. Old-timers Martina
Navratilova and John McEnroe got as far as the semifinals, then
were whipped. And Monica Seles, the steamrolling Serb with a
shot at a Grand Slam sweep, got to the finals but lost in
straight sets, 6-2, 6-1, to defending champion Steffi Graf.
But if there was no glass slipper for Seles, she was still
the tourney's top story. Late in her quarterfinal match, foes
began charging that the formidable Seles' most effective weapon
is not her racquet but her racket: the unnerving grunts and
shrieks with which she punctuates every stroke. Nathalie Tauziat
of France and Navratilova complained that the screaming was so
loud they could not hear the ball coming off Seles' racquet.
The tabloids quickly dubbed her "Moan-ica" and demanded,
"Stop that grunt!" One writer, claiming to have monitored her
with a "gruntometer," said the noises coming out of the
18-year-old registered 93 decibels, about what a diesel train
would produce. The grunts emitted by Gabriela Sabatini and
Jennifer Capriati were deemed dulcet whimpers compared with
Monica's. Countered Seles: "I don't think I'm going to win a
match because I'm grunting."