I bet when the P.R. reps over at Playboy were discussing the matter of how they would handle the announcement that Harkleroad was going to appear in the August issue of the magazine, they were thinking that releasing the news the day before the French Open — one of tennis’ majors — would be the perfect time. Might as well go on the attack while tennis is fresh in everyone’s mind and while ESPN is pushing their coverage of it. I’ll bet in their meetings they never really considered how this would go over if their star made a dubious first-round exit in the grand slam event. Of course, that’s usually how things work out, isn’t it?
So yeah, Harkleroad lost badly to Serena Williams in the first round of the French, and really hasn’t made much of a name for herself as a tennis player. She’s currently ranked around 61st in the world right now — nowhere near even what Kournikova was. And you know what, when it comes to all the possibilities we could have had from female tennis players posing in Playboy, I’ll go with the Bob Uecker, “Frankly, I think we got hosed on that one.” Like Harkleroad’s OK I guess, but she wouldn’t have me running to the newsstand. And she’s not even that good at her sport. I’m kinda scratching my head on this one. And not to mention, think about all the different places Playboy’s efforts could be better focused.
