<---Well, hello ... Sharapova sizes up one of the boys in Madrid.The 19-year-old Russian was the centre of attention at the casting event held in a Madrid hotel overnight.
A selection panel that included Sharapova, former champion Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario and film actress Natalia Verbeke was invited to narrow down a field of 15 hopefuls.
The male models, wearing white shorts and figure-hugging t-shirts, were brought up one at a time and tested on their knowledge of tennis, among other things, amidst giggles from Sharapova and everyone else in attendance.
"What is a tiebreak?" and "What would you do if a player asked you for a towel?" proved particularly tricky questions for a couple of contestants, not least those who grasp of English was a bit loose.
Models who could get by in English seemed to win favour with Sharapova, who does not speak much Spanish.
Two candidates were marked down by the world No.3 after being asked who was their favourite female tennis player. One replied Amelie Mauresmo and the other Kim Clijsters.
When one failed to name the 2004 Wimbledon women's champion (Sharapova) quickly, he also appeared to get the thumbs down.
The idea to use male models as ball-boys derived from the Madrid ATP Masters tournament which has courted controversy by using female models as ball-girls.
The WTA event takes place in the Madrid Arena in November and organisers say the $US1 million ($1.29 million) winner's cheque will equal the largest in the history of women's sport.
Earlier, Sharapova demanded women players receive equal prize money to the men.
"I believe women are strong, bold and powerful and deserve to be treated the same as men," she said.
"There has been a long debate about equal prize money but these things take time. If we keep pushing we'll eventually get there."
Of the four grand slam tournaments, Roland Garros and Wimbledon still have a differential in prize money between the men and the women, although the French Open will pay the men's and women's singles champions the same this year.
WTA Tour CEO Larry Scott hopes the championships will help promote prize money parity.
"This will be the elite event in women's tennis with only the top eight players competing at the end of the season for a total prize money of $3 million. The winner will earn $1 million," he said.
The French Open starts in Paris on May 22.
Agence France-Presse
