Anna Kournikova recreates the famous Marilyn Monroe scene from The Seven Year Itch during a photo shoot for adidas.

There was 23-year-old American Lilia Osterloh outfitted in a black skirt with a V-neck top. As a USA Network camera began focusing more on Osterloh's cleavage, Austin feared one of the most embarrassing moments in Open history was about to unfold on national television.

"I was just concerned she was going to come out because that V-neck couldn't be cut one inch lower," Austin said. "I wasn't trying to be critical on air. I was just like, 'Wow! I couldn't believe she came out in a skirt and top like that.'"

Osterloh's fashion buzz, courtesy of her Nike manufacturer, came shortly after 16-year-old American Ashley Harkleroad created a big stir in her opening-round loss by also wearing a provocative Nike outfit. It got so much attention that 43 reporters showed up for the post-match news conference of a player currently ranked No.255 in the world.

At a time when the Women's Tennis Association has been invigorated by a number of talented, marketable athletes vying to be No.1, it's clear the sport is also benefiting from the willingness of many players to provide unprecedented exposure.

Women's tennis is going more mainstream than ever before. Hingis has been featured on the cover of GQ magazine. Venus and Serena Williams were splashed across the front of Elle magazine and several other non-tennis publications. Anna Kournikova's image is everywhere, from TV commercials to movies to music videos to being one of the most downloaded women on the Internet.

Even in those instances when players might be, well, a little over the top, the WTA isn't complaining.

"The envelope is being pushed a bit and I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing," said WTA director of communications Jim Fuhse, who oversees a lot of player promotions.

After all, women's tennis is in the business of entertainment and attracting fans. And as the off-the-charts celebrity status of Kournikova has proven, a little sex appeal doesn't exactly hurt the on-court product.

"We let our athletes show their personalities and be interesting in terms of fashion and style," said Kevin Wulff, the WTA's newly appointed chief executive officer. "We let the athletes be who they are. We don't market sex appeal. That's the individual choice of the players."

In this hip-hop, dare-to-be-different age, it's clear that a lot of the WTA's high-profile members -- with the blessing of agents and clothing manufacturers -- are highly mindful of the importance of marketing. In whatever form that visibility might take.

Besides appearing in pop singer Enrique Iglesias' video, Kournikova also did a photo shoot for her apparel company, adidas, in which she recreated the famous Marilyn Monroe movie scene from The Seven Year Itch where her skirt flew upward by a wind rush from a subway grate in New York. Though Kournikova's publicity photo (taken in Southern California) is less revealing than the Monroe scene, the subliminal message was unmistakable.

"Women's tennis isn't an old-school sport," said Alexandra Stevenson, an American ranked No.26 in the world. "It sells sex. In the 1970s, it wasn't portrayed as a feminine sport. Now every girl is striving to be a better athlete."

And in a competitive, entertainment-driven process, women's tennis finds itself on the upswing. Television ratings in the past few years have been consistently superior to the men's game. The first ever prime-time U.S. Open final between the Williams sisters drew a 6.8 rating, nearly doubling the Notre Dame-Nebraska football game shown on another network.

Much of the credit for the boom in women's tennis goes to a large core of top players who aren't afraid to let their personalities -- or their stylish fashion tastes -- show on and off the court.

"First of all, they're incredibly gifted athletes," Fuhse said. "On top of that, there's some very attractive, healthy women. It's not something we run away from, overly promote or apologize for. It's part of our overall package."

Though not everyone has that combination of talent, looks and popularity to make advertisers beat down their door, most of the WTA players -- even those who may wince at the attention Kournikova receives -- accept the fact that promoting their sport has to go beyond tennis.

"What the public wants to see is those personalities, that's what makes the tour fun," said Austin, a two-time U.S. Open champion and formerly the top-ranked player in the world. "Everybody is so diverse and that makes it interesting. We have a ton of superstars from different countries at or near the top. Some of them love wearing outfits that are in vogue, maybe a little revealing. Others prefer not to do that and that's fine, too.

"It's not the WTA's job to promote players. They just let the players choose the way they want to be. Right now, we have a lot of interesting women with strong personalities."

On and off the court, almost anything goes.

Hingis has engaged in public spats with Venus and Serena Williams and their father, Richard. The amazing comeback story of top-ranked Jennifer Capriati from a troubled adolescence has drawn attention in and out of the mainstream press.

Maria Sharapova is one of many young players who have the talent and presence to become international celebrities. -- Clieve Brunskill/Getty

Not all of the publicity, in the WTA's mind, has been favorable. Tour officials were aghast that one player, 25-year-old Vanessa Menga, made a splash by posing for the Brazilian edition of Playboy magazine that featured tennis-related items in the photos. If you never heard of Menga, there's a reason. She's ranked No.385 in the world.

"That was her choice," said WTA vice president of communications Chris DeMaria. "It's a huge misperception that everything that happens with a player publicity-related is what we did. We don't even do a bikini shoot with our WTA calender because we don't think it's appropriate.

"We don't make a concerted effort to push the sexuality part of [marketing] and never have, but we also don't ignore it. We realize there's a bit of a tightrope to walk here."

The Anna factor

It's late Monday afternoon at the Bausch & Lomb Championships at Amelia Island. Anastasia Myskina takes notice that seats are filling up fast on the grandstand court.

Myskina, one of several young Russian players who could be future stars on the WTA Tour, knows exactly why a big crowd has formed during an uneventful doubles match: Kournikova plays the next match against Argentina's Paola Suarez.

While Kournikova may be in the biggest slump of her career -- three consecutive first-round exits and a world ranking that has plummeted to No.69 -- her drawing power hasn't suffered. People don't seem to care that tennis' endorsement queen is struggling to find her game after missing nearly all of last year with a broken foot.

They still want to see the 20-year-old starlet who rakes in millions from hawking various products. People want an up-close glimpse of the girl whose striking beauty has her on the radar screen of both corporations and men all over the world.

"Anna's not even top 50 right now, but she looks really good and everybody comes for her match," Myskina said. "People come to see how you play, but everybody likes it when the beautiful girls play. It's important for every girl out here to make herself look really nice."

When asked why, Myskina replied: "Anna. She changed everything when she came to the tour."

Not that Kournikova didn't have a little help along the way to becoming perhaps the closest female athlete to Tiger Woods in terms of endorsement income. Since bursting on to the world stage in 1997 with an appearance in the Wimbledon semifinals, Kournikova has achieved mind-boggling fame for a player still without a tour singles title.

"She's a real personality," said her agent, Phil de Piccioto, president of the Octagon agency that also represents hundreds of athletes, including Hingis, Lleyton Hewitt and Gustavo Kuerten. "We're living in a time where celebrity stature has never been greater and technology has made celebrities into global personalities."

Of course, it doesn't hurt that Kournikova -- once ranked as high as No.8 -- has the physical features to go along with the vehicle that tennis provided to get into that universal spotlight.

"If you look at Anna's whole image, I'd say she's probably the biggest sex symbol that's ever been in the game," said tour player Amanda Coetzer. "She's gone beyond tennis."

And that, the WTA says, is exactly what it wants its top players to do -- take the game to audiences that ordinarily wouldn't give tennis a second look if not for, well, looks.

"In the world that we live in, if you have good looks, you do have a definite advantage and that's sad," said Venus Williams, the two-time defending Wimbledon and U.S. Open champion. "But that's the way it is."

Kournikova is defensive about her image. Despite the wealth she has earned through her supermodel looks, Kournikova would rather have the fame of being a tennis champion instead of the perception that she's a beauty queen who happens to play tennis.

De Piccioto says Octagon and his client are extremely selective about what Kournikova endorses and how she will pitch those products. Nearly every Anna endorsement -- be it adidas, Omega watches, Berlei underwear or Lycos -- involves a long-term contract with a leading company in their particular band of merchandising.

"I'm not going to do something that I don't like," Kournikova said after her straight-sets loss to Suarez. "I have a great relationship with all my sponsors. Basically, we work very close together. Otherwise, it's not going to work."

Alexandra Stevenson is one of many young players who have the talent and presence to become international celebrities. -- Clieve Brunskill/Getty

Tour executives are adamant about not trying to blatantly promote sex appeal. But they do make a concerted effort to encourage players to market themselves in fashion and style publications.

"Women's tennis isn't just in the sports pages," said former tour player and ESPN analyst Mary Joe Fernandez. "It's everywhere, especially fashion magazines."

And if that means a glamorous-looking pictorial spread of its big-name players in various attire, the WTA will live with the critics who insist that's using sex to sell the game.

"We've never gone to a player and said, 'You know, when you go to that photo shoot, you ought to have a skimpy top on,'" DeMaria said. "That's beyond the boundary of taste. And if the player's not comfortable wearing whatever, then it's just an oddity that doesn't work."

A deeper pool

When Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova ruled women's tennis in the late 1970s and '80s, the frequently asked question was who would carry the marketing mantle when they retired?

There are few such worries today. With the exception of 28-year-old Monica Seles, all of the world's top 10 players are either in their prime or still approaching it. Half of them are 21 or under.

"You can create a lot of things, but you can't immediately create talent," Wulff said. "We're in a tremendous talent period and these stars are very marketable."

And beyond the Williams sisters, Capriati, Hingis and Kournikova -- all of whom are instantly recognized by just their first name -- many believe there are several players behind them such as Kim Clijsters and Jelena Dokic that are not far off from jumping into that elite marketing group.

"There's a lot of girls out here [to market]," said Stevenson, who reached the '99 Wimbledon semifinals and got more unexpected fame when it was revealed her biological father is basketball legend Julius Erving. "Nobody is marketing me to be glamorous. I'm not 5-foot-6 and blonde, but I think I'm pretty.

"You see Anna [Kournikova] everywhere and that's not a bad thing. We need to do it with more girls."

Already, tennis insiders say IMG, the most high-profile agency for athletic representation, is drooling over the possibility that one of its clients -- Maria Sharapova, who turns 15 on Friday -- may be the next Kournikova.

The comparisons are obvious. Sharapova, the youngest finalist ever at the Australian Junior Open, is a native Russian who was quickly Americanized when she moved to the Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton at age 7. The blonde, green-eyed teenager, like Kournikova, has created a buzz with her looks and her game. She received a wild card at Indian Wells last month and beat American Brie Rippner before losing to Seles in the second round.

Though Sharapova (5-9, 110 pounds) just came on to the WTA computer rankings at No.532, many believe that number will jump up considerably once she's allowed to play the tour full-time when she turns 16. This year, rules limit her to nine total pro tournaments, but only two wild-card entries into Tier I events. She just reached the quarterfinals this week at a challenger event in Japan.

Her agent, Max Eisenbud, is trying to put the brakes on the Maria hype, but knows it's inevitable if her game continues to develop as it has this year. She has beaten six players ranked in the top 300.

"Maria understands people will make those comparisons [to Kournikova], but she just wants to be herself," Eisenbud said. "She's not into the glamour. That may change when she gets older. She's got a while to go with all that stuff.

"She's tall and skinny, certainly not matured yet physically. She's still a kid. Not many kids portray glamour and sex. She still has a stamp collection, so enough said."

The next Kournikova, whoever she is, can wait because women's tennis in its current state is seeing unprecedented growth. With $51 million in prize money, 66 events in 33 different countries and more than four million spectators at last year's matches, the WTA has enough diverse, marketable players to spice things up. In whatever form that spice may take.

"If we take advantage of the opportunity in front of us, we could be the next major sports jetstream," Wulff said. "We've got the athletes on a global basis to do it. It's up to us to take it to the next level."

How they get there can be a slippery slope, especially in striking the right balance on using sex appeal. That's more of a player thing than a WTA thing. But if the perception remains that sex appeal comes across in the marketing of its players, the WTA can live with the consequences.

After all, exposure has women's tennis reaching the top of its game.

Thrill

If you're looking for the next wave of potential stars that could have a big impact on the future of the Women's Tennis Association, the pool appears to be getting deeper. Here's a top-10 list of players who have the talent and marketing presence to possibly achieve that celebrity status:

Who's got next?

Player Age Country Rank Comment
Elena Dementieva 20 Russia 16 U.S. Open semifinalist whose polite, humble nature compared to Steffi Graf

Jelena Dokic 19 Yugoslavia 8 Five-time tour winner has the game to overshadow her father's antics

Gisela Dulko 17 Argentina 197 Won four ITF events last year, qualified into main draw at Nasdaq-100 Open

Daniela Hantuchova 18 Slovakia 15 Beating Martina Hingis to win Pan Pacific put her on the radar screen

Ashley Harkleroad 16 USA 255 Fashion statement at U.S. Open created buzz; does game have staying power?

Lina Krasnoroutskaya 17 Russia 73 Currently injured, but many think she's the best of young Russian crop

Anastasia Myskina 20 Russia 26 Possesses the no-fear attitude to slug it out with the power players

Maria Sharapova 14 Russia 532 Hyped as the next Anna, youngest finalist ever at Australian Junior Open

Alexandra Stevenson 21 USA 26 Media-savvy '99 Wimbledon semifinalist making a push to be among elite

Iroda Tulyaganova 20 Uzbekistan 20 Beat Dementieva, Kim Clijsters last year to win back-to-back tournaments

-- Gene Frenette