HAVING expressed my indifference to tennis recently my opinion was reinforced by a chance encounter on Saturday when I lit upon a singles match between two Russian ladies.

I was astounded that one of the ladies, who I later identified as Maria Sharapova, emitted the most incredible scream after every shot.

I had no means of measuring the noise level but having worked in factories where I did record such measurements, I would estimate the scream to have been above 100 decibels.

I cannot understand how she is allowed to get away with this.

It is intimidating and pure gamesmanship, amounting to cheating.

The player should have been banned from playing until she was able to conduct herself in a sporting and civilised manner.

V J Connor, Bishop Auckland