Tennis-Open-Harkleroad fulfils naked ambition with Playboy shoot

By Miles Evans

PARIS, May 25 (Reuters) - She may have been defeated by Serena Williams at the French Open on Sunday, but Ashley Harkleroad claimed a more glamorous coup over her American rival -- by appearing on the pages of Playboy magazine.

The 23-year-old Harkleroad found herself kicking her heels earlier this year when she was recovering from surgery to remove a cyst from her ovaries.

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.

"I was just laying there for three weeks, and, you know, an offer came to me," the woman from smalltown Georgia told goggle-eyed reporters.

"I thought, well, I'm not really doing anything right now so I thought about it and it was something that I did. I'm proud of my body. I was representing a female athlete's body."

REFRESHING CHANGE

She said she would be the first tennis player to appear in the magazine, August's edition the male journalists furiously noted, and that it had been a refreshing change to the treadmill of the women's tour.

"It was hard work, but, you know, it was just a completely different experience. It was fun. I think it comes out July 13th. It's the August edition. So you'll see for yourself.