If you’ve ever watched Serena Williams in action on the tennis court, you’ve probably wondered what the deal is behind the sounds she makes when hitting the ball. You know, those powerful grunts that can only come from a fierce player like Williams – whose average serve clocks in at 106 miles per hour, by the way – and makes you feel really sorry for the tennis ball on the other end of her swing. Listen for yourself here:
Now, the star is sharing the story behind her on-court battle cry. In a July 4 episode of “Hot Ones,” Williams told host Sean Evans that she started grunting in honor of one of her favorite players, Monica Seles, who was ranked the number one player in the world in 1991 and considered one of the OGs on-court grunting.
“So I grunt because growing up I liked this tennis player named Monica Seles and she grunts. She had this really cool grunt. And I loved that, I was like, ‘That’s so cool,’” she said while testing her taste buds with a sampling of seriously spicy wings. “And so I literally would grunt because of her and then it just became natural and then my grunt just became like a... It was really loud.”
But now, after nearly 30 years on the professional tennis circuit, Williams says the grunt has become like second nature and sometimes comes out when she’s not playing tennis.
“I guess it’s a form of breathing,” she said. “I grunt playing golf now. It’s like a part of my life.”
During her conversation with Evans, Williams also talked about her face-off with big sister Venus at the 2003 Australian Open – a match Serena calls one of the most intense between the two.
Williams said the pressure was high since it was her first opportunity to win four Grand Slam titles in a row - a feat now known as the “Serena Slam.”
“That was a tough match because, actually, she played really, really well. And to be honest, she should have won. And I remember she missed a shot that she wouldn’t have missed in any other match,” she said. “And I could see that something had just failed...even for a split second...It was tough.”