[PIPE DOWN, PLEASE: Portuguese Michelle Larcher de Brito's shrieks in last month's French Open were a distraction.]

LONDON - TENNIS legend Martina Navratilova thinks it is cheating, while Serena Williams does not even know she is doing it.

Yes, grunting is back on the agenda at Wimbledon, and a 16-year-old Portuguese girl is threatening to break all shrieking records among the notorious "tennis banshees" - Serena, her sister, Venus, and Maria Sharapova.

Michelle Larcher de Brito made news at last month's French Open when her French opponent Aravane Rezai complained repeatedly about her high-pitched wails, telling the umpire that they were distracting.

Indeed, the International Tennis Federation even responding by threatening to create a "noise hindrance" rule, aimed at curbing excessive grunts.

So, when Larcher de Brito took to the Wimbledon courts on Monday, the whole media attention was on her, and her shrieks.

However, she refused to let themedia have a field day, keeping relatively silent in her 6-2, 7-5 win over Klara Zakopalova.

But, after dodging the media minefield, she insisted that she would pump up the volume as the matches get progressively harder.

She said: "I'm not here really to be quiet for anybody. I'm here to win. That's it. If people don't like my grunting, they can always leave.

"It's just something I've done since a very young age. Nobody can tell me to stop grunting. If they have to fine me, go ahead, because I'd rather get fined than lose a match because I had to stop grunting."

However, nine-time Wimbledon champion Navratilova feels tennis officials should take a stand.

"The grunting has reached an unacceptable level. It is cheating, pure and simple, and it is time for something to be done," she said at an awards ceremony in Paris earlier this month.

Still, female players are under the spotlight as "decibel demons" are unrepentant.

At Sharapova's pre-Wimbledon news conference last Saturday, the first question was about grunting.

She was asked to comment on former champion Michael Stich saying that women players should not grunt because it was not sexy.

"No, I don't have an opinion on that," she replied crisply.

Meanwhile, Wimbledon officials will be all ears.

A tournament spokesman said: "The rules of the game state, 'If a player is hindered on the point by a deliberate act of the opponent, the player shall win the point.'"

Wimbledon umpires will need to decide if the player is grunting on purpose. The ball is firmly in their court.

- REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE