Hark, the road goes to Playboy's Ashley Harkleroad

And what did we learn about women's tennis star player Ashley Harkleroad from nine pages devoted to her in the August issue of entertainment for men's Playboy, which hit the newsstands this past weekend?

==The 23-year-old has a house in Malibu and goes to a nearby fitness club.

==At press time, she ranks No. 61 in the world, but her goal is to reach a top 25 spot.

==She's a "son-of-a-bitch tenacious competitor," says trainer Nick Bollettieri.

==Her nickname is Pebbles, because she grew up in Flintstone, Georgia.

=="I do think athletes have better sex," she asserts with a bashful giggle. "Who wants a waify girl with no definition to her body? I like that I have some power and that everything's tight."

==She has a Jesus fish tattoo right above her ... and a flower pattern tattoo right above her ...

=="Tennis players don't mind showing off their bodies," she said. "Often in the locker room I feel other girls' eyes on me."

==On the fact her ex-husband, Alex Bogomolov, claims to be Anna Kournikova's cousin and lived in her guest house for a time, which meant she'd go over and see Kournikova on occasion: "Anna is stunning to look at, but she's probably a bit damaged from what she's been through. That's how she acts -- a bit damaged."

==On questions about whether some women's tennis players use steroids: "It's out there, definitely. If you look at some of these girls and then look at their parents, you can see something's fishy."

==On life in Malibu: "Coming to L.A. was an eye-opener. You see beautiful women in beautiful cars, and it makes you a little competitive. But I love it."

==Oh, and this quote:
"I'm just a normal girl," she say swith a gentle shrug and the slightest of drawls.

A look at previous sports-related Playboy covers in the pop-culture history (or you can go to this link):