De Brito tones down her grunting on Wimbledon debut

TEENAGE tennis wildcard Michelle Larcher De Brito toned down her act as she made her senior Wimbledon debut.

LOUD IMPRESSION: Rising star Michelle Larcher De Brito was being closely watched at Wimbledon - but not just for her tennis

De Brito's noisy grunting infuriated her opponent during the recent French Open and was being closely watched following an anti-noise campaign led by Wimbledon legend Martina Navratilova.

But the 16-year old advanced ‘quietly' to the second round against Klara Zakopalova with a 6-2, 7-5 win.

However, she warned the grunt may return - if matches get tougher.

"I tried to be quiet for you guys today," joked De Brito, who confirmed she had not been approached by officials and warned before her match, despite reports of a clampdown.

"I played well and I didn't think it was necessary to go any louder.

"The grunt goes with my intensity and it's something I've done since a very young age.

"If my body feels like it needs to grunt more then it does, if not it stays quiet and there is nothing I can do about it."

De Brito claims her preparations have not been overshadowed by the coverage of her grunting.

And she was unrepentant - despite the criticisms.

"It has been a bit unfair," she added.

"Everybody focuses on my grunting - no-one writes that I beat the number 15 in the world on my way to third round at Roland Garros.

"If the matches get tougher then maybe I might start grunting. If people don't like my grunting they can always leave.

"Nobody can tell me to stop grunting. I'd rather get fined than lose a match because I had to stop grunting."

Meanwhile, fellow teenager Laura Robson has added her voice to the anti-grunting lobby.

The 15-year old British youngster, who lost to Daniela Hantuchova on her senior Wimbledon debut, said: "It's just not an attractive noise.

"If you are screaming at 100 decibels I can't see how that helps. It's just not the noise you want to hear when you're focusing on playing tennis."

 * Leading life assurance and pensions company AEGON is lead partner of British Tennis and is backing the sport at all levels, from grassroots to world class tennis events. For further information visit www.lta.org.uk