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).
