Acoustic consultants concerned about the noise levels in Wimbledon once took a digital sound-level meter to record the volley of shrieks let out by Maria Sharapova in 2007. At 103.7, it was a yell equivalent to an ambulance siren.
Keen observers, they also noted that her grunting steadily grew louder after she lost the first set but her noisiest offering came when she served for the first time in the second set. They returned in 2008 to see if Sharapova had become any better, more eco-friendly perhaps. Although the decibel level was down by a few fractions, the consultants declared that she was still louder than a motorcycle or a lawnmower.