Ashley Harkleroad, first Tennis Star in Playboy…Good or bad?

UPDATE:  Now with PICTURES.

“15-Love”, “Deuces”, “Strokes”…Let the tennis puns begin!

Ashley Harkleroad, who is most recently known for losing to Serena Williams in the French Open on Sunday, has decided to disrobe for the most popular men’s magazine of all-time, Playboy. She will appear in the August issue of the magazine, and made her announcement after her match with Williams. From USA Today,

“I thought about it, and it was something that I did,” Harkleroad said after the match. “I’m proud of my body. I was representing a female athlete’s body.”

The 23-year-old noted other athletes who have appeared in the magazine, including Olympic swimmer Amanda Beard and former volleyball player Gabrielle Reese.

“I’ll be the first tennis player ever. That’s kind of cool,” Harkleroad said.

What can you really say about this? Playboy always brings up interesting discussions because of the morality and ethics issues, i.e. “that woman is exploiting herself to get ahead”, etc. But on its face, how different is Playboy than any other endorsement deal? It is an athlete selling themselves as a commodity for some business and the athlete and the business get some sort of benefit; the business hopefully gets their product sold and the athlete gets compensation from the business and notoriety from their appearance.

So in the end, is Playboy the right decision for the female athlete? It all depends. From a business standpoint, it obviously works (how many people knew about Harkleroad before her decision to pose in Playboy?) and if the athlete can get over any internal issues they might have, then who are we to judge?

USA Today: Tennis’ Harkleroad to be in ‘Playboy’ Magazine