Ashley can pose all she wants to. Playboy is an established magazine. I don't even look at the pictures, and only read the excellent articles later collected in book form. She's had a tough year with an ovarian problem where the surgeon removed half her ovaries. She just returned from this to play Serena in the first round and acquitted herself very well with lots of great shots. Hardly anyone is strong enough to fight off Serena. Ashley is playing better than she has before her injuries. The Playboy thing is a nonissue. Sports figures are not role models, and parents shouldn't be teaching kids that they are. The competitive drive in sports can be ugly at times and not what kids should be emulating.
Sports figures can be really great at times but they are few and far between. Even Agassi had an "ego/brat" image early in his career and changed his whole image through his charitable giving and his own maturing over the long years of a great tennis career.
fredlander: usually I agree with your opinions about tennis but on this one I think your own lack of perspective is showing too much. No one is saying it is OK or not OK to pose in a porn magazine. Throw that out the window since the issue comes out in August. People choose to do so and it isn't a crime. Your moral judgment may be right for you but not the next person, and we're all the same, all seeking one thing: a quality day, a good lifetime.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
French Open : Harkleroad to Appear in Playboy
Interview with Ashley HarkleroadQ. I know this is a really weird segue, but ESPN TV reported today that you posed for Playboy.
ASHLEY HARKLEROAD: Right.
Q. When did that happen?
ASHLEY HARKLEROAD: I got — I did that a few weeks ago while I was out, so I’ll just be in the August edition.
Q. Can I just say wow?
ASHLEY HARKLEROAD: Yeah. You can say whatever you want (laughing).
Q. You went through surgery and then posed for Playboy?
ASHLEY HARKLEROAD: Yeah. Like, I don’t know, I was just laying there for three weeks, and, you know, an offer came to me. I thought, Well, I’m not really doing anything right now.
So I thought about it, and, you know, it was something that I did. I’m proud of my body. I was representing a female athlete’s body, you know.
Like Amanda Beard would have done, so, yeah.
Q. I guess the thing that people might be curious about is you had just had surgery, fairly traumatic surgery, so you might not have been in maybe tip top shape.
ASHLEY HARKLEROAD: Actually, I was like super thin, you know. I was like thinner than I probably would have been like muscle wise. But we did it in a course of like four different days, so I was working out like a week. My body was actually getting back to more muscular.
But, see, when I don’t play tennis I lose all my muscle, so I become like a size smaller in jeans and everything like that. But at the same time, you know, there was really nothing. I wasn’t really doing anything, and like I said, the offer came to me and I thought about it and decided that I would do it.
Q. Are you like the Playmate for the month, or is this just a separate thing with sort of the scope of it?
ASHLEY HARKLEROAD: I don’t know. I mean, you just, like, check it out. I think it comes out July 13th. It’s the August edition. So you’ll see for yourself. It’s no big deal to me. But, you know, just that’s really all I can really say, you know.
Q. Are you part of the feature with women athletes or something, or is it just you?
ASHLEY HARKLEROAD: Sometimes they put athletes in there. Like Amanda Beard, like I said or Gabriella Reece. So I’ll be the first tennis player ever. That’s kind of cool.
Q. Most of us don’t get that offer. Speaking for myself, anyway, in case you couldn’t tell. But what kind of experience was that? I mean, interesting or different thing to do? What was it like? Play? Hard work?
ASHLEY HARKLEROAD: It was hard work, but, you know, it was just a completely different experience. It was fun.
Q. Where did you do it?
ASHLEY HARKLEROAD: L.A.
Q. Where in L.A. was it? What was the venue?
ASHLEY HARKLEROAD: Just a few different places. They set up a few different places here and there in L.A.
Q. Indoors? Outdoors?
ASHLEY HARKLEROAD: Two times outdoors, one time indoors.
Q. With water, no water?
ASHLEY HARKLEROAD: No. You know, just, you know, check it out. July 13th it comes out, I think. Something like that, July 11 or July 13. It’s the August edition, so…
Q. I mean, Ashley, you’re weighing the pros and cons of doing that. Can you talk about what you thought the pros were and what the cons would be?
ASHLEY HARKLEROAD: You know, there’s a few reasons why I did it, but I can’t really go into it right now. You know, you can read it and you’ll understand probably more.
But like I said, I really didn’t think it was that big of a deal, you know. I’m proud of my body. I stay in shape and try to stay fit, so like I said, I’m just trying to represent a female athlete and her body. That can be sexy too, you know.
Q. With all due respect, because I heard you talk about this last year, having your career and earnings and money, is money a factor in something like that?
ASHLEY HARKLEROAD: I mean, Playboy treated me well, you know.
Q. But it wasn’t a determining factor? They didn’t say, We’re going to give you all sorts of money, and you said, Yeah, I’ve got to go?
ASHLEY HARKLEROAD: There were pros and cons that I had to deal with, and I took a few days to figure out exactly what I wanted to do and how I wanted to go about it.
So, like I said, they treated me well, and it was a fun experience. You know, you can — it’s really no big deal. It comes out in July, so.
Q. It’s a two parter.
ASHLEY HARKLEROAD: Okay (laughing).
Q. I have to ask, because the men won’t. Were you clothed at all?
ASHLEY HARKLEROAD: Uh huh. I was, sometimes (laughing). You know, it’s Playboy. It’s very classy, so…
Ashley Harkleroad in match in Miami
Ashley Harkleroad in match in Miami
she is very hot! and shes really improved i would bet that she makes a run to the top 30 o maybe 20 by the time she retires that would be ausome
Tennis-Open Star. Ashley Harkleroad fulfils naked ambition with Playboy photosession
Harkleroad, 23, cashed in her fame - if you can call it that - as the 61st ranked women’s tennis player in the world to pose for the August edition of Playboy.
She’s so unknown that Playboy didn’t even announce her appearance in its pages to the media. Harkleroad had to do it herself after getting her clock cleaned by Serena Williams (6-2, 6-1) on Sunday at the French Open.
“I’ll be the first tennis player ever. That’s kind of cool,” Harkleroad said, noting Olympic swimmer Amanda Beard and former volleyball player Gabrielle Reese have already been featured in Hugh Hefner’s creation.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for naked nubile young women. But at least let them have some other claim to fame, a higher ranking and at a bare minimum, force them to demonstrate as much brains and marketing skill as Paris Hilton and Anna Kournikova before the sexploitation begins.
Challenger Champion Ashley Harkleroad
Throughout the week a USTA pro circuit women's challenger tournament took place on the outside courts. I watched only snippets of play but happened to observe both women's semis on Saturday. The afternoon winner was slender Ashley Harkleroad, 20, who had been here with the Fed Cup team several years ago. Harkleroad showed excellent court movement, good ball control, and sound court sense. The evening winner was Russian player Olga Poutchkova, 17, who produced severe rocketry, especially off her two-handed backhand. The sum of her backswing and follow-through must exceed 360 degrees. Ashley defeated Olga in their late-Sunday final by comfortable scores.
Harkleroad set to become first tennis player ever to appear in Playboy.
The 23-year-old tennis player, Ashley Harkleroad, made headlines Sunday, after losing to Serena Williams in the first round of the French Open. She announced that she has posed in a pictorial for Hugh Hefner’s famous Playboy magazine, which will hit newsstands in July, though it is the August issue of the publication.
While others would choose to convalesce on a relaxing vacation or just lounge in front of the television, Harkleroad chose to accept the offer of posing nude for the world's most famous glamour magazine.
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