Tradition is as much a part of the Wimbledon experience as the grass itself, from the predominantly white clothing rule to the strawberries and cream sold around the grounds of the All England Club.

But when Wimbledon begins this week, mixed in with the cheers will be one thing the world’s leading tennis players do not appreciate quite so much: the Wimbledon groan.

Urrrr. Low-pitched, almost tailing off at the end, it is a sigh of disappointment, of lost hope. Urrrr. Often after a double fault or a simple mistake, it can affect anyone but seems louder and clearer when a home player misses on an important point.

“I hated that, I really hated that,” said Pat Cash, the Australian who won Wimbledon in 1987. “My sports psychologist actually worked with me on that. You make a mistake and everyone went urrrr.”