Victoria Azarenka Disses Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic For Being Heavy Grunters

Two-time Grand Slam champion Victoria Azarenka fired back at the criticisms hurled at her for being a noisy screamer, saying men's singles champions such as Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic are heavy grunters too.

In an interview with ESPN UK, the former world's No.1 women's singles player said Nadal and Djokovic have been also grunting during their matches.

Azarenka, who was often criticized for the distracting noise she produced during her matches, said the U.S. Open men's singles final between Nadal and Djokovic also featured the loudest grunts in the tournament.

"It's the same with the guys' tennis. You watch Nadal and Djokovic. I mean how less intense was that (US Open final)? And nobody talks about it. This doesn't make sense in my head," said Azarenka, who finished runner-up to Serena Williams in the U.S. Open women's singles final.

The 24-year-old Belarusian beauty added other athletes are also frequent grunters too, but unlike in women's tennis, no one is complaining about this habit.

"In tennis it's weird because everybody keeps complaining that people grunt but if you watch any other sport [they do]," the reigning two-time Australian Open champion said.

"You take each other to the limit of battle and give 100% in every point and when you play in the final of the US Open against a player like Serena you've got to do that because that's what she does and that's how she pushes you," she added.

Azarenka's comments came in after receiving harsh criticisms about her habit, which created a noise as loud as 100 decibels. Tennis followers and fellow tennis players such as Caroline Wozniacki and Agnieszka Radwanska raised this issue every time they play well-known grunters like Azarenka, Maria Sharapova, Francesca Shciavone and Serena Williams.

"I think there are some players who grunt on purpose. They don't do it in practice and then they come into the match and they grunt. I think the officials could definitely cut it. If you grunt really loudly your opponent cannot hear how you hit the ball. Because the grunt is so loud, you think the ball is coming fast and suddenly the ball just goes slowly," said Wozniacki.

As for Azarenka, she believes grunting is the habit she developed over the years while playing tennis.  

"It's the way I am, the way I play, the way I used to play when I was a kid. As a child I was really weak, so I had to give that little extra power there. It kind of stuck with me, so that's it," Azarenka told Tennis Tonic.