Maria Sharapova wins reputation of world's loudest tennis star

The 101.2 decibel screaming may help the Russian tennis player win Wimbledon 2005

Maria Sharapova, the winner of Wimbledon 2004, has won a victory today over her country-fellow, Nadezhda Petrova, in the struggle for the semifinal of the most prestigious tennis tournament at Wimbledon. In the final game Sharapova clipped the net on consecutive points - and won both. Bookmakers believe that the 18-year-old Russian tennis star has all chances to win Wimbledon 2005. 

In an interview to Russian media Maria told she had a plan to take a rest in the company of her team on the threshold of the tennis match with Petrova. As one could see by the results of her match with Petrova, Sharapova had a good rest indeed. According to Maria, she tries to forget about tennis and relax at every weekend so that she could work herself out to the maximum on the court afterwards.  

Maria Sharapova currently enjoys the reputation of the “screaming tennis player.” She disregarded a serious remark from a British referee, who threatened to disqualify the Russian girl for her deafening screams on the court.

Maria Sharapova at Wimbledon 2005 - photo gallery

President Putin congratulated Sharapova on her victory in the All England Tennis Club a year ago. Sharapova became the first Russian female tennis player, who managed to make such an accomplishment. Wimbledon became the starting point in Maria's sweeping career in tennis. Maria Sharapova can easily repeat her own success, leave her Belgian rival, Justine Henin-Hardenne, behind and win Wimbledon again.

In the meantime, Wimbledon referee Alan Mills stated that the Russian tennis star could be disqualified for the excessive noise level, which she creates during her game. Specialists say that Sharapova's screams are too loud: such a peculiar reaction may confuse Maria's rivals during a peak moment of the game, for example. Furthermore, Sharapova's screams annoy TV viewers too: many of them expressed their indignation after Australian Open. Alan Mills suggested all tennis players should be disqualified if they cannot hold their emotions during the game. The referee said that he would be happy to simply laugh at yelling tennis players on the court, but the noise pollution does affect Maria's opponents.

Maria Sharapova responded that she had been screaming so since her early childhood. “I can't do anything about it,” she said. Apparently, the 18-year-old Russian girl does tend to give up such a bad habit of hers – it could be seen already during the current Wimbledon tournament. The Russian tennis star broke her own record in screaming playing Nuria Llagostera Vives of Spain.  Sharapova was yelling at the volume of 101.2 decibels, which coincides with the sound of the police car alarm.