Left Field: Wimbledon noises destroy the All England Club's serenity

There is nothing more soothing than the sound of British summer sports. The reassuring "thwack" of leather ball on willow cricket bat, the gentle "thowk" from carefully rolled bowls on to jack ... Even the mosquito-like whine of Formula One racing cars offers seasonal audio-therapy.

Of course, Wimbledon tennis has long produced hits for the season's album; the distinct impact of fluorescent green ball on precision-tensioned racquet, the appreciative "oohs" and "aahs" from the left-right-left swivelling heads of the crowd, the ripple of measured applause and the school-masterly barks of the judges and umpire: "Out!" "Fault!" "Net!"

But this signature summer overture is once more blighted by the caterwauling of the women players, stars such as Victoria Azarenka, Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams among the chief culprits.

Centre Court and the surrounding lawns too often sound like a maternity ward chock-full of labour-pained mums delivering quadruplets; the primal shrieks, the undignified grunts, groans and gasps.

Women players snorting and yelping their way through volleys, aces and sliced shots are now infuriatingly synonymous with one of the finest sport events in the world.

The grating cacophony annually sparks talk about the introduction of a grunt-o-meter to measure to what extent players are creating undue noise pollution and an unfair advantage over their taciturn opponents.

Azarenka's guttural outpourings have been recorded exceeding 105 decibels, and Sharapova, a champion grunter, has been exhaling crescendos as high as an "A6 note" - an octave above a soprano singer - since aged four.