Williams appeared on the “Late Show with David Letterman” on CBS on Monday night, two days after beating her sister in the Wimbledon final then teaming with Venus to win the doubles title. Williams joked with Letterman about the cacophony some players make, which was the target of media criticism during Wimbledon.
Asked if the noise can be distracting to quieter opponents, Williams said, “I often wonder that.”
“I’m thinking like we were playing just recently in the finals and Venus and I were grunting really loud in the doubles and the other girls weren’t doing anything,” she added. “And after the point, I was thinking, ’Wow, that was pretty loud. Was that distracting for them?”’
Williams said she was inspired by Monica Seles growing up.
“She’s like the first person that I know that really used to grunt really loud and really hard, so that’s kind of how I modeled my grunt after,” Williams said. “Yeah, because you have to have role models when it comes to grunting.”
She added that grunting “advanced in everything.”
“Like if I play golf, I grunt,” she said. “If I’m playing soccer and I kick the ball, I grunt.”
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