Simmering over Simonya

WTA upset with Wertheim over fictitious SI article

Your wildest dreams Click the image to launch the clip A player that could challenge Serena on the court and Anna off it is a figment of Wertheim's imagination. Start Video Plus Visit Video Plus for all the latest video and audio.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Sports Illustrated writer Jon Wertheim has some advice for WTA officials. "They need to relax," he said. "They take themselves far too seriously."

Wertheim wrote this week about Simonya Popova, a gorgeous 17-year-old junior player from Uzbekistan. She sounds too good to be true, maybe because she's not true.

"That's the great thing about fiction," Wertheim said.

The WTA, however, was not amused.

Spokesman Chris De Maria called the story deceiving and was annoyed at its emphasis on Simonya's sexuality.

"It was misleading and irritating," he said. "There are a lot of great stories out there. We didn't need a fake one."

Wertheim dropped hints throughout the piece that Simonya is a made-up character.

"It was meant in good fun, playful and hopefully creative," he said. "It was not meant as some grand hoax."

SI has dabbled in fiction before. In 1985, George Plimpton wrote about New York Mets pitching prospect Sidd Finch, who had a 168 mph fastball. Like Simonya, no one ever located Finch, least of all the Mets.

 

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