Professional sports buzzed

in and out of Fayette County last week, albeit under the radar.

For nearly a decade, the Peachtree

City Tennis Center has hosted some of the best and brightest players on

the women's scene. Granted, these are not the players at the very top

of the pro tour, but when you consider how many tens of millions of people

around the world play tennis regularly, and some of the top 200 in the

world played in Peachtree City last week, that's an impressive event.

The appeal of a tournament

like this, which is part of the USTA Professional Circuit, is similar

to what I find enjoyable about minor league baseball. Indeed, there are

many similarities; the most noticeable, perhaps, is the gap in money and

glamour between the highest level of professional play in each sport and

its respective farm system.

Like minor league baseball

players, the young women in the Peachtree City tournament, known officially

as the Goody Products USTA Pro Women's Championships, are not deterred

aren't any. There was little press coverage at all, aside from The Citizen.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution mentioned the tourney in advance the

Sunday before it began and not again until two days ago, when the final

results were reported.

The entire purse for the tournament

was $25,000. That was shared among every 32 singles players and 16 doubles

teams. To give you some perspective, another professional female tennis

player, Justine Henin-Hardenne, collected $900,000 all by herself when

she won the U.S. Open a couple of weeks ago.

Kristina Brandi, the winner

here, got $3,000. Allison Bradshaw, the runner-up, received $1,700. The

top doubles team split $1,200. It's not hard to see that only a handful

of the players here last week broke even, considering travel expenses

and the fact that many of them brought coaches along. But like minor league

baseball, you don't play at this level for the money. You play here to

move up, and if you don't move up in a matter of time, you move on to

another line of work.

"They're playing for the

points [that determine the rankings]," said Dessie Samuels, a USTA

official who ran this tournament and travels the country throughout the

year doing other tournament. "If they get enough points, they can

move up to a WTA event [the big leagues for women] and make more money."

Like minor league baseball,

many tennis players must contend with language and cultural differences

while working their way through the system and trying to get better. It's

one thing to live on the road; it's another to do it in a foreign country.

More than a dozen nations were represented at the Tennis Center last week

in the main draw.

All of these factors motivate

the players in ways that guaranteed contracts and first-class accommodations

do not. Simply put, minor league ballplayers, no matter what sport, are

more likely to play their tails off. When that happens, whatever the outcome,

the spectator is the winner.

But remember, everyone has

to start somewhere. Regular fans of the Macon Braves, who moved to Rome

this season, saw a steady stream during the 1990s of guys with names like

Chipper Jones and Andruw Jones. There is a lot of talent at the minor

league level, and it doesn't cost much to watch (admission to the Tennis

Center last week was zero).

Sometimes, like major league

baseball players who make brief returns to AA ball to help them play their

way back from injuries, a top-tier tennis star will do the same thing

on this circuit. Several years ago, when Andre Agassi fell to 150th or

so, he used tournaments like this as part of his rehabilitation, earning

points and playing time.

Just this year, right here

in Georgia at Sea Island, a tournament the same size as Peachtree City's

got a publicity boost when Anna Kournikova showed up. Alas, she didn't

make the trip to Fayette County last week, which probably disappointed

some people (but not my wife).

Last year's winner in Peachtree

City, Maria Sharapova of Russia, has seen some good things happen lately.

She reached the round of 16 at Wimbledon this year and won a match at

the U.S. Open. If she keeps improving, some local tennis fans can say

that they saw her "back when."

With a local tournament, Fayette

is a winner as well. There is some prestige within the tennis community,

and as with many big-time events throughout the year at the Tennis Center,

it means a hundred or so hotel rooms and a few thousand meals bought and

paid for inside the county and Peachtree City. Meanwhile, the Tennis Center

keeps on racking up awards from state and national tennis officials.

As for Brandi, she entered

this year's tournament ranked 112th in the world and will surely move

up. Is the top 10 in her future? You never know. But I got my picture

taken with her, just in case.