Tennis totty
The iconic 'Tennis Girl' poster is a real head-turner
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Monday, 23, Jun 2008 03:12
From the cotton-clad eye candy of the old Communist Bloc to Rafa Nadal's bulging biceps, Sarah Henshaw finds out who's putting the 'mmmmm' in Wimbledon for 2008.
It's tough on the SW19 girls this year.
Anna Kournikova has long ditched her distractingly short tennis skirt to romance a pop star with distractingly awful songs. There's a football tournament going on. But, most damning of all, Krispy Kreme has just unveiled a new tournament-themed 'strawberries and Kreme' doughnut that's likely to give red-blooded males across the country something more substantial to get their teeth into than the seasonal crop of willowy blondes on the show courts.
Not if Ashley Harkleroad can help it. The brazen 23-year-old American babe made up for her first-round French Open crushing by Serena Williams last month by teasingly telling reporters she is baring all for the August edition of Playboy.
Switching Centre Court for centrefold, Harkleroad apparently made the decision while recovering from surgery to remove a cyst from her ovary earlier this year.
The world number 74 will be the first professional tennis player ever to strip off for the publication, in a move likely to garner a lot of interest this fortnight - not least from the Draconian dress-coded All England Club.
There are certain to be a few grunts from reigning queen of totty Maria Sharapova, too. The supermodel of SW19 has netted approximately £12 million from her celebrity looks off-court so far, making the raunchy Russian the world's richest sportswoman.
Equally easy on the (hawk)eye is compatriot and number 19 seed Maria Kirilenko. More suited to Glam Slam than Grand Slam, the 21-year-old's sultry good looks have already won catwalk endorsement from fashion icon Stella McCartney, who designs her Adidas clothing and footwear.
As Andy Murray recently conceded to Jonathon Ross: "The Russians are pretty special."
However, it is the Spanish arm-ada of Rafa Nadal who single-handedly provides the real guns of the totty tournament this year.
On first appearances, the world number two may seem an unlikely choice of sex god - mainly because his physiognomy unsettlingly resembles that of a chimp.
While the PG Tips advertorial quality may explain why he's the cuppa-loving housewife's choice in 2008, they hardly account for Nadal's legions of Heat magazine-toting teenage fans.
His bum scratching tendencies might, however. Not since the Athena Tennis Girl posters of the 1970s has dabbling around the derriere been so hot on court.
In his trademark tight pirate shorts, the 22-year-old has picked, tickled and prodded his way to pert-cheeked infamy.
His toned tush is complemented by a rather spectacular torso too. Sporting his trademark green sleeveless vests at Queens this year, he looked more Incredible Hulk than darling of the LTA set.
In fact, it is Nadal's sheer bronzed bulk that probably endears him to female fans after years enduring the blanched cardboard cutout profile of Henmania.
Even Murray, with his deep-fried Scottish heritage, looks positively anorexic next to the Spanish beefcake.
More suited to skinny jeans and a busking set in Glasgow than SW19 sex appeal, the Brit is unlikely to get the home hearts pounding this year, despite spending much of his career in Nadal's home country too.
Let's hope a few of those Krispy Kremes sort him out for 2009, but in the meantime Nadal's Rafa and ready for us right now.
Sarah Henshaw