Forget the hype, anyone for tennis?

TENNIS/Wimbledon Championships: On an outside court we paid homage to the co-ordinated fashion of Anna Kournikova. She came with a flourishing wristy wave and a shake of her braided hair. We waited. Tatiana Panova conquered. This is what we do on day one of Wimbledon.

We seek distractions as the seeded players spar with virtual unknowns and we find ourselves away from Centre Court, far from American Serena Williams walloping some fodder 6-1, 6-1, or Jennifer Capriati loosening up 6-1, 6-4 against an unseeded Slovakian.

That's how it goes these days for Kournikova, the 1997 Wimbledon semi-finalist. They put her on courts where the public have easier access because they fear her appearances are becoming more ephemeral. They subject her to the "we love you Anna" legions and the wolf whistlers, the element at Wimbledon you may even call raucous.

But the officials are playing Anna's game. In the three tournaments she has played here since 2000, the Russian has won only one match. She has never won a WTA tournament and her last singles semi-final was in Miami in 1998.

"Do you think your off-court career distracts you?" she was asked after the 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 defeat.

"Well, first of all I'm not involved in a lot of stuff like you guys say. You know, It's 99 per cent less than everyone says. It's not even close," she replied. "Trust me. If I wasn't 100 per cent committed to playing here I wouldn't be here."

It is clear to everyone except the player herself that, at 21, she has become consumed by her own celebrity. Kournikova was a better player when she was 17, before Berlei asked her to sell the idea that only the balls should bounce, before she became one of the highest paid female athletes in the world. It should be regarded as a shocking trend but there are no obvious signs that Kournikova sees it that way.

Yesterday they put a WTA official on the press entrance to the intimate little court just off the main mall to stem the flood of photographers and in the middle of the match four Elvis look-a-likes stood up. For a split second the lenses of the paparazzi actually left Kournikova as she handed over the first set in just 20 unfussy minutes.

From then on it was business as usual, Kournikova hitting a shot of pace and accuracy, then missing the next by five feet. Panova, for all of her fight and pugnacity, and standing a full seven inches shorter, simply gave her opponent the rope.

Kournikova knew what to do with it. She smiled and waved at the cheering crowd as she left, Panova, unknown and unnoticed, keeping to her compatriot's shadow. But in chorus with the oohs and ahhs and the freakish nature of the Kournikova show, there is something pathetic about watching the Russian. Perhaps it is the waste, or simply the glorious manner of it. And throughout Kournikova has often emerged as manipulative and mercenary. Yesterday that facade did not fracture, but there was a little self-revelation.

"I'm changing. There has been a lot of changes in general to my life, coming back after injury, starting to play, all that stuff," she said. Capriati said that once, Monica Seles too. Perhaps there is time.

Beside the festival court two, Daniela Hantuchova had to push her way through the mass of Kournikova fans. The 11th seed, in the second round after beating Spain's Cristina Torrens Valero, has also been regarded as a magazine pin-up, and was asked how she felt about comparisons with Kournikova.

"I think I know how to handle it," she said."The most important thing is not to lose my mind and just be focused on tennis." That will be found out in the coming weeks. In the absence of Kournikova, someone must fill the vacuum.

Day one at Wimbledon is over. Just 12 more to go. And you thought it was all about tennis.