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Leagues and Governing Bodies

AT AUSTRALIAN OPEN, MAURESMO'S SEXUALITY IS ALL THE BUZZ

          Women's tennis has been "getting top billing lately,"
     and the women's final of the Australian Open between Martina
     Hingis and Amelie Mauresmo is "expected to attract greater
     attention than the men's final Sunday," according to USA
     TODAY's Doug Smith.  WTA Tour CEO Bart McGuire: "We have so
     many more marquee players and more depth."  McGuire also
     acknowledged that "sex appeal" is a factor in the tour's
     popularity: "I'm not the least apologetic about the fact
     that we have attractive people on the tour.  You have to be
     careful to promote them tastefully and try to make sure that
     lines aren't crossed."  Meanwhile, Mauresmo "stirred a bit
     of controversy earlier this week when she announced she was"
     at the tournament with her 31-year-old girlfriend, Sylvie
     Bourdon.  But McGuire felt that won't hurt the Tour's image:
     "You try to accept people for who they are.  I hope that we
     will continue to be able to do that" (USA TODAY, 1/29).  In
     Toronto, Tom Tebbutt writes that "all the focus" at the
     tournament was "about the 19-year-old French woman's
     sexuality."  Tebbutt adds "that a prominent French Tennis
     Federation official told Mauresmo there was nothing wrong
     with being gay but that she should tone down her liaison in
     public" (Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 1/29).  In Boston, Bud
     Collins: "It will take more than sniping to beat the
     cheerful, engaging Mauresmo, who has been straightforwardly
     casual about her personal life" (BOSTON GLOBE, 1/29).  

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