Are tennis players acting naughtier than usual lately? They seem to have something besides tennis on their minds, which may or may not always be the case, but they're being more open about it.
For instance, Andre Agassi showed a stranger nude pictures of his wife, Steffi Graf, at a charity auction last week (we think). He was trying to raise the bidding on an item, but the naked-wife route was an interesting way to go about doing it. Another example occurred earlier this week on Twitter, when WTA court jester Andrea Petkovic tweeted, "Is it just me or does anybody out there think this is appropriate? And by that I don't mean the fact that I eat ice cream." She then linked to a picture of a poster that had a cartoon couple sharing an ice cream cone. The sexual innuendo was hard not to miss, and coming from Petkovic, who's fast becoming better known for her off-the-wall sense of humor than her tennis, it wasn't that out of character. Call me a prude, but did she really need to post it on her Twitter feed? But wait, there's more.
Tennis and streaking go hand in hand. Until this week, though, it's usually not the pros doing the streaking during a match (with the exception of putting on a fresh shirt, of course). John McEnroe, Ryan Harrison, Henri Leconte and Michael Llodra were playing a doubles match at the World Tennis Challenge in Australia. In his typical fashion, Leconte started clowning around as Harrison was about to serve. Harrison hiked his shorts above his waist in stereotypical senior-citizen style. In retaliation, Leconte pulled his shorts way down below his hips, I guess to make fun of Harrison's youth and the way kids wear their jeans low-slung these days. Only the shorts kept going down. Then Llodra, who has no problem baring all (just ask Ivan Ljubicic), got in on the fun and took his shorts off. Next thing you know, McEnroe had his shirt off. That led to shoes and socks coming off. And with the players in various stages of undress, the match continued. Sure, it was a crowd-pleasing moment, but I'm glad it stopped where it did. And I'm really glad McEnroe had enough sense to keep his pants on. Still, do we really need to see the pros take over streaking shenanigans when there are real idiots, like this one, willing to do it?
The biggest (almost) news this week was a rumor floating around tennis message boards that a WTA tennis player had a sex tape. (As the kids were saying in the forums, "Google it.") The tennis player was said to be Russian Elena Vesnina, and the co-star was hockey player Konstantin Korneev, who may or may not have fathered Anastasia Myskina's first child. The "scandal" so far hasn't created a sensation on the level of, say, Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian. In fact, it's hardly rocked the tennis world at all. Instead it seems to be just another example of some of the risqué goings-on that keep peppering the sport.
Tennis has always had it's sexy side, especially for the women. But at this rate, we better fasten our seat belts because it's going to be a randy ride this season. I'm not entirely keen on it, but I guess this type of naughty behavior is better than the kind that could really hurt the reputation of the sport. So on that note, go ahead and release the streakers!
—Sarah Thurmond