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Man, women's tennis is causing heaps of interest all of a sudden!  The men's tournament at the Australian Open acted as a sideshow to the beguiling main attraction, which packaged beauty and bitchy behaviour as much as backhands.

 With the dreamy team of Martina Hingis and Anna Kournikova sweeping to the women's doubles title and Nike resorting to dressing guys in drag to advertise Mary Pierce's line of clothing, the media spotlight was focused on the girls.

 And then there was French, er, woman Amelie Mauresmo who some of the players likened to the Pierce lookalikes in the stands.

 Sure, the 19-year-old has broad shoulders that generate awesome topspin and she moves about the court at an extraordinary rate but she would not have caused an eyebrow to be raised if she had not upped and beat Lindsay Davenport.

 Now big Lindsay, the world number one, comes over as a likeable lass who speaks freely and openly about the game.

 But she fell headlong into a media trap with her eyes, and mouth, wide open. With the Petr Korda drug debate still raging, journalists were bound to ask searching questions about the powerful Mauresmo.

 And Davenport, in a moment of naivety, gave them what they wanted by saying there were times she thought she was playing 'a guy'.

 With that little gem on tape, the media pack went in search of Mauresmo's past as well as tracking her in the present.

 As other sportswomen who don't quite fit the mould, like Olympic swimming gold medallist Michelle de Bruin, have discovered to their cost, the smallest slur can trigger a torrent of innuendo.

 In De Bruin's case, it was revealed that she was married to a Dutch athlete who had been banned for taking steroids; with Mauresmo it was her muscular appearance which was highlighted.

 While Davenport was rounding on the press for taking her remark out of context, but stopping short of offering an apology, it was left to the more diplomatic Hingis to put things into perspective.

 'On court she moves very quickly and gets a lot of topspin. She plays like a man but we said that about Lindsay,' was a neat way to lob the ball back into play.

 Hingis, of course, went on to show that for all the power of Mauresmo there is no substitute for guile. The graceful assassin had few problems dealing with an opponent who was thrown off balance by the frenzy surrounding her win over Davenport and the American's subsequent comments.

 Although it's sad that Mauresmo was put through the wringer, the controversy has further thrown the spotlight on the possible misuse of drugs in tennis.

 Korda seems to have escaped without punishment after selling his innocence plea but the regulations must be tightened up if tennis wants to maintain its clean image.



Powerful Mauresmo takes it like a true woman