Shame she's not real . . .

http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,5051505%255E13762,00.html

MICHAEL BEACH
September 08, 2002

SIMONYA Popova is sexier than Anna Kournikova and a better tennis player.

The only problem is she doesn't exist.

But that hasn't stopped Popova from becoming the talk of the women's tour after Sports Illustrated magazine published a hoax article about the fictional teenager. It even drew an angry reaction from the Women's Tennis Association.

"It says we can't get a player like that," WTA spokesman Chris De Maria said. "We're a hot sport right now and we've never had to rely on good looks."

The Sports Illustrated article suggested otherwise. It featured a computer-generated image of 17-year-old Popova beside a detailed description of her tennis and marketing prowess.

She was described as a 185cm blonde bombshell from Uzbekistan with a 202km/h serve and an all-court game.

The magazine left three clues. Her name is a play on a new Al Pacino movie, Simone, about a computer-generated actor. The pictures were described as a "photo illustration". And the last line of the 2000-word story says: "If only she existed." But several American newspaper sports editors were fooled.

Sports Illustrated manufactured the hoax as part of a broadside at the women's tour, which it described as "gilded with fool's gold".

"The WTA and various management groups have reaped short-term gains from hyping the players' sex appeal," Sports Illustrated wrote.

"Kournikova was the most obvious example, but other stars like (Martina) Hingis and even the religious Williams sisters were happy to vamp. Recently, however, the tour has been backed into a corner as more players have made it clear that they want to be perceived only as athletes."

Sports Illustrated suggested the WTA was desperately looking for someone with Popova's talent, attitude and sex appeal.

It said only two women were capable of winning major tournaments – Venus and Serena Williams.