Were it not so hazy a Saturday afternoon, they would have the best view of Manhattan in the five boroughs.

From the top row of the massive Ashe Stadium, they can proclaim their all-out affection for one Anna Kournikova -- No. 12 seed at the 2000 U.S. Open, world leader in website downloads and advertising campaigns.

Sadly, Arthur Ashe Stadium is so big, even the buzz for Kournikova is somewhat muted there. Her third-round match with Justine Henin -- ending in a 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) win for Henin that again sent Kournikova to early disappointment -- did offer men everywhere in the stadium the chance to hoot, howl, whistle and offer the word "Anna" over and over.

But unless the session is among the ones to run next weekend, when titles are on the line, Ashe Stadium is an equal-opportunity kind of place. Plenty of room for everyone.

It's not cramped the way the side court was on Friday when Kournikova practiced, or the way Louis Armstrong Stadium was when Kournikova won her second-round match a day earlier. Or later that same day on Court 4, when the only way to watch Kournikova play doubles with partner Jennifer Capriati was to rent a blimp.

Whatever the circumstances, the guys with the blond wigs and "The Kournikovas" sign have been wherever Kournikova is, following every move. However long she can stay alive in doubles, a fate to be determined Saturday night against Martina Navratilova and Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, they will follow her.

The leaders of the group are two young men from South America, Conrado Nakata of Brazil and Clem Vergara of Argentina.

Nakata, who owns a restaurant in Sao Paolo, paid the Brazilian equivalent of $30 for his professionally made sign (it also offers a pledge of support to Brazil's Gustavo Kuerten, a first-round loser) and $10 for the wigs.

They sit in the top row to stretch the sign across 10 seats. They attract attention from everywhere, a show within the show. Fans walk up from the lower section of the upper deck to take pictures of these Kournikovas in drag.

And on CBS, they earned some serious air time and a plug from Dick Enberg.

Nakata was incredulous when told the news.

"We were on national television? We were trying to say 'hi' to the cameras," Nakata said.

In Spanish, he informed his friend Vergara.

"En serio?" Vergara said.

Seriously.

Wigs were available to a couple of strangers who decided on the spur of the moment Friday to buy tickets to Saturday's session via a phone-charge service and drive in a 1984 Honda Accord from a rural county in Maryland to see Kournikova.

"I'm not completely obsessed," said Rob Buntin, a college student. "But pretty close to it."

Buntin's friend, Zac Yinger, recalled their trip to an exhibition Kournikova played in Baltimore last fall and Buntin's aggressive work through the crowd to get an autograph.

"Rob didn't throw anybody out of the way," Yinger said. But, as his voice trailed off, Yinger gave the sense his friend came close.

"He made sure he got his autograph," Yinger said.

None of these men begrudge Kournikova for the fact she has yet to win a tournament. Or that she struggled so obviously against Henin.

"I think she just draws people to the sport," Yinger said.

Said Nakata, in his Portuguese lilt, "First of all, she's very beautiful. And also, she plays great tennis. But that's the main reason we're here, is for her beauty. It's the most important reason we're here."

It is why most of her faithful trail her every move, why she is making far more millions off her endorsements than her tennis.

A chaplain from Bradenton, Fla., Rick Chaffin, wandered up from his lower-deck seat. He came to snap pictures of the guys in wigs.

"They're enjoying it," he said. "And it adds fun for everybody else, too. When you have that much fun at a big event like this, it's great."

An icon in progress, no matter how she performs on the court.

Kournikova ended her singles run, brief as it was, with an eminently hittable forehand on which she could have passed Henin as the 18-year-old Belgian prepared for a defensive volley. Kournikova's shot went into the net.

It was over.

But it didn't change the strange curiosity about Kournikova.

Win or lose, she is an athlete who brings together young men from South America and the U.S., young men perfectly willing to play the clown and wear a long, blond Kournikova wig on one of the most uncomfortable days of the summer, from the worst seat in the big stadium.