Fact Pummels Fiction in Hard-Court Drama

Too bad Sports Illustrated felt it had to jump on the latest movie device and make up a hot new female tennis prospect. Because women’s tennis doesn’t really need a virtual babe in short shorts and a belly-baring top.

Anybody who pays attention would know the real players have good stories plus muscles and game.

In this week’s SI, there was a story that chronicled the rise of a 17-year-old player from Tashkent. She had a name, Simonya Popova. She had a digitalized photo. The story and picture apparently fooled some real sports editors into trying to find Simonya. But this Simonya was made up, a take off on the movie Simone, which had a virtual female lead.

What was the point of this fake player? The real flesh and blood women, the ones wearing cat suits, the ones baring their souls, the ones with the knee surgeries and tattoos, the women with lives, are so much more interesting.

Monica Seles beat Martina Hingis in two easy sets Tuesday at the U.S. Open and then spoke emotionally of watching a replay of her 1991 semifinal against Jennifer Capriati. Seles was 17, with a short haircut and a baggy outfit. Capriati was 15 and full of youthful confidence.

It was Seles who won that match, after nearly three hours and until Monday, when rain forced the players into six hours of doing nothing but watching TV, Seles said she had never seen a replay of that thrilling match.

“I was very good!” Seles said. She laughed. A soft laugh, a little bit of a sad laugh. “I have to look back after this tournament is over because I definitely did much better than I do now.”

Seles may be on the verge of retirement. Whenever her Open is over, Seles may walk away from the game. She is 28. She has played through the death of her coach and father and has endured the mental and physical trauma suffered after being stabbed on the court by a man who wanted her chief rival, Steffi Graf, to be No. 1.

“I was playing very well those two, three years before my stabbing,” Seles said Tuesday. “I guess dominating the sport at that stage.” There is still a catch in Seles’s voice when she says “stabbing.”

You can’t capture Seles’ soul in a virtual girl.

Seles plays Venus Williams tonight in a quarterfinal.

Venus, seeded No. 2, was pushed, prodded and pressured by Chanda Rubin into three tense sets. Venus wasn’t happy with the win but she should have been.

Rubin played smartly and bravely by moving forward all the time, coming to the net and volleying. It is a path not taken by many of Venus’ opponents and maybe some will learn from Rubin.

They could also learn from Rubin’s path in life. She has not been deterred by three serious surgeries and she has quietly started her own grassroots tennis program at two Louisiana schools using her own money and donating her own time.

This kind of commitment to the game, both on the court and off, wasn’t part of the plastic tennis girl of the magazine.

And our Simonya had no muscles, no bulges, no curves, no form.

Serena Williams, proudly wearing her skin-tight, one-piece and saying she feels “so free and easy,” is into the semifinals. Serena beat Daniela Hantuchova, 6-2, 6-2, Tuesday.

Critics of her costumes don’t bother Serena. An incarcerated stalker doesn’t bother Serena. “I feel so free and floaty, just carefree,” she said. “I’m just going out there and having fun.”

Take that, Simonya. A champion who is having fun, a No. 1 player who can laugh at herself, at the world. A top-level athlete who considers “entertainer” as part of her job description.

Serena will play Lindsay Davenport in the semifinals. Davenport has recently returned from an eight-month retreat after having serious knee surgery. After beating Elena Bovina, 3-6, 6-0, 6-2, Davenport became introspective.

“I’ve started to reflect on things I’ve gone through,” she said. “I just wanted to play here so badly and do well. It’s not to be emotional or dramatic about it, but just not being able to move my leg more than 25 degrees for the first few days, fighting just to get one more degree for the day. Then to come out and still be in the semifinals of a Grand Slam. It’s so emotional.”

And this is what makes Davenport a real person and not a Simonya. She is emotional and she’s not sure why.

It is at the start of Week 2 at the Open. It is the time when the tennis is as entertaining as the clothing, when the points played are as enthralling as guessing who’s a real blond and who’s not. All the women are real here. The game is not in need of virtual babes.

Diane Pucin can be reached at diane.pucin@latimes.com