The Sexy, Heterosexual-only Centre Court at Wimbledon

One of the summer's hottest sports tickets, Wimbledon, just wrapped up this past weekend, drawing some of the largest television audiences that pro tennis has ever seen.  Venus, Serena, Andy, Roger...the biggest names in the sport made their way to Centre Court to play in the championship rounds.

But one item overlooked during the course of the two-week tournament was an announcement by the All England Club that when it comes to deciding who plays on Centre Court, one of the major considerations is whether the player is (1) attractive, and (2) straight.  Especially when it comes to women.

This piece over on NPR's Web site does a fantastic job of cutting through the sexist (and heterosexist) practices of tennis's grandest event. During the course of the tournament, according to writer Dave Zirin, less known but better looking players got to play in prime spots, while some of the best players in the league were relegated to the cheap seats because they didn't strike the same sex appeal to make them popular with the market that pro tennis wants to appeal to.

Funny, the more things seem to be different from thirty years ago, the more things stay the same.

According to Zirin, the Wimbledon policy is sexism at its worst in tennis:

[Wimbledon's policy shows] tolerance for sexism, an acceptance of the fact that no matter what their skills, women athletes should be prepared to be seen as objects first and athletes second....

Women athletes find themselves in the same vise they have been in for a century: with sexism on one side and homophobia on the other. Accepting this sexist construct has become conventional wisdom for how to market and sell women's sports: sex, and specifically hetero-sex, sells.

Sex sells in women's tennis.  Could that be the reason why Anna Kournikova, who has never won a tournament at all (let alone even made it to the finals of a grand slam event) is the most popular player in the sport?

Dr. Mary Jo Kane, a sports sociologist from the University of Minnesota, added that homophobia also has a huge rule to play here.  In choosing who gets prime playing space, pro tennis officials are mindful that at least when it comes to the women's game, there's a stigma that the sport is filled with too many lesbians.  Here's Kane:

This is also about what runs in the bone marrow of women's sports, namely homophobia. They are very well-meaning but they also want to distance themselves from the lesbian label. How do you do that? You reassure the viewing audiences, the corporate sponsors, the TV networks, and the female athletes themselves, that, No, no, no— sports won't make your daughter gay. Women's sports will be more acceptable if you believe, even though it is stereotypical and inaccurate, that if you are pretty and feminine in a traditional sense then you are not gay.

Kind of ironic for a sport that has given us two of the most famous (and most successful) lesbian athletes in history, Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova.

The real message that needs to be sent to the folks who run Wimbledon and pro tennis is that atypical sports stars - the ones who don't look like Maria Sharapova or who may cuddle with members of the same-sex in their bedroom at night - can be just as successful and popular as anyone else on the tour.  Because what makes people popular in any given sport has a whole heck of a lot more to do with their ability than their prettiness.  Trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator (sex, heterosexuality) only chepeans the sport, and disillusions fans who might otherwise tune in and watch.