by Jennifer Matos

WIMBLEDON – July 9, 2006

If you were watching last night’s Wimbledon match, you witnessed Amelie Mauresmo’s stunning 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Justine Henin-Hardenne.

What makes Mauresmo appear to be a real life Dana Fairbanks is the fact that she is a professional tennis player. A lesbian professional tennis player.

The 27 year old Mauresmo came out of the closet at the Australian Open at the age of 19 after defeating player Lindsay Davenport. It was after her win that she came out to the international press about her relationship with Sylvie Bourdon, 11 years her senior. She announced that her victory had more to do with than finding love; it also had to do with coming to terms with her sexuality. To the international press, she said “You can say she is my girlfriend. You can write about her. There were a few moments when I said ‘Maybe I should have stayed private.’” However, she recalled what her life was like one year prior when inquiries about her boyfriends had her ducking interview questions. Of that experience, she said “I wasn’t myself. I don’t want to hide Sylvie. I love her.” She broke up with Bourdon in 2004 and has a new girlfriend, but chooses to keep that relationship private.

The outing of Mauresmo, well-known for her powerful one-handed backhand, was not without incident. Player Martina Hingis called her “half a man” and Davenport claimed that Mauresmo played like a man. Hingis denied making the remark, which was caught on tape, but Mauresmo dismissed the comment as “a little stupid.”

Mauresmo has a “take me or leave me” perspective about her sexuality. When Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova lost sponsorships because of their sexuality, Mauresmo has not. Her sponsors include Nike, Dunlop, Babolat, and Gaz de France. When asked about the potential to lose sponsorships because she is an out lesbian, she had this to say: “If they want to set me aside, there will be dozens more who will take me…and if they let me go [because of my sexuality], they are jerks anyway.”

It seems that her determination and strength of spirit started at an early age. Her coach said of her at age 7, “She wasn’t very big, but she was already able to compete with the boys. She would play football or race with them and she hated to lose.”

Other games are a significant part of Mauresmo’s life. “What I like about games, whether it’s cards or any other type of game, is the challenge. There has to be something at stake. Then I get this great rush of adrenaline.” She is also a self-admitted Scrabble fan. “I love Scrabble. I can play for hours and hours when I’m home or on vacation. But a tip: never play without a dictionary because everyone invents words and everyone is convinced that their word exists.”

Here’s one word that we can agree on when describing Amelie Mauresmo: amazing.

You can learn more about this Wimbledon title winner at www.ameliemauresmo.fr/en/