10 Jul 2015

Azarenka gives boozy Wimbledon fans a serve

6:27 pm on 10 July 2015

Former women's world tennis number one Victoria Azarenka claims women players are being unfairly criticised for on-court shrieking and grunting.

She's also fed up with boozy Wimbledon fans mocking her and rivals Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova.

Azarenka and Williams cranked up the volume on Centre Court during their quarter-final, which Williams won in three sets to advance to the semi-finals, where she went on to beat Sharapova.

As the quarter-final match went on, so did the mimicking of the fans at the 15,000-capacity arena.

It annoyed Azarenka who says she was recently practicing next to Rafael Nadal claimed he grunts louder than her but no-one seems to notice.

"This is not what is important when there are two players playing on the centre court. We've got to look past that and see 'Oh Serena played 24 aces... any of the guys do that?"

"Look at the good stuff, stop bringing this ridiculous stuff (up). Let's put aside the noise and how she looks and look at the game."

Azarenka believes fans on Centre Court, many of them revelling in the tournament's status as a major English social summer event as well as a sporting spectacle, should learn to behave.

Victoria Azarenka is fed up with boozy Wimbledon fans

Victoria Azarenka is fed up with boozy Wimbledon fans Photo: Photosport

The Belarusian advised them to ease up on their alcohol intake when they are sprending all day in the sun watching the tennis.

"I think they might have had a little too many glasses of Pimm's or whatever," she said in reference to the gin-based cocktail which is as closely associated with Wimbledon as strawberries and cream.

"When people are drinking, every time the announcer says, Make sure you hydrate yourself, I think he means with water, not with alcohol."

Sharapova has long been derided for her grunting and shrieking. Britain's famously inventive tabloid press have even utilised a "gruntometer" to measure the often ear-splitting shrieks of the top players.