Glam slam

If one tracks the rise of women���s tennis from the demure, long-skirted ladies of Wimbledon in the 1880s to today���s mega-charged spectator sport, the graph is remarkably similar to the one that would chart the rise of their hemlines.
The outfits��� issue came to head recently at the Hopman Cup, prior to the Australian Open, when Frenchwoman Alize Cornet���s ���see-through��� top was frowned upon, and players warned to cover themselves more discreetly.It may be the cause of laughter now, but Maud Watson, the first woman to win Wimbledon in 1884, wore a corset and a hat!
Now of course, when Venus Williams steps onto court, commentary on her outfits almost outweighs that on her backhand. Women���s tennis is challenging men���s tennis in terms of spectators, and players of both sexes now get equal pay at most of the Grand Slams. In 2005, a mobile phone company announced that it had paid $88 million for a global sponsorship deal with the WTA tour. As Stephen Dabkowski, an Australian sports journalist, wrote then, ���The corporate sector is chasing women���s tennis because it offers them the one thing men���s sport cannot consistently do ��� sex appeal on top of athletic ability.���
Dee Dutta, the company���s vice-president, said his company chose women���s tennis to push its brand because the sport is much more than a game. ���Women���s tennis reaches out to more than just the sporting audience,��� he says. ���It reaches out to the whole area of music, fashion, entertainment.���
No faults in this glam game
Few would argue that the quality of tennis has improved ��� after all, Chris Evert, Billy Jean King and Martina Navratilova all played an exceptional game. What has changed, though, is that television and aggressive marketing has affected the way even players approach the game. That Anna Kournikova, a photog���s dream but an average tennis player, has made millions through endorsements despite not having won even a single Grand Slam, proves that a style statement on court is no frivolous matter. When Toure, a journalist with the website thedailybeast.com, made his list of the Thinking Man���s Sex Symbols, he dismissed Kournikova as a ���cream-puff���, choosing the sexy and accomplished Ana Ivanovic instead. But when Anna withdrew from Wimbledon, as far back as 1998, the headline of major British tabloid screamed ���Notice to all men. Wimbledon is over.���
Grabbing eyeballs, today, means greater revenues, both for the advertisers and the organisers of the game. Playing at the international level is highly taxing as well, and with players burning out at a faster rate than ever these days, it makes sound economic sense for them to put their best, most fashionable foot forward when they step into the glare of the flashbulbs on Centre Court.
As Peter Hanion, an Australian sports commentator, says ���It is hardly breaking news to say that a huge part of the appeal of tennis is sex, and the link between taut strings, fluffy balls and pheromones is not something the tour is about to discourage. While they now harness it more tastefully than the promotion a few seasons back that featured a naked Anastasia Myskina on horseback, the organising bodies are well aware they have some seriously marketable individuals at their disposal.��� So, we guess that though some officials will continue to cry ���fault��� and try to enforce ���proper tennis wear���, this is one ace funda that���s going to be served up pretty regularly!