AN annual chestnut at Wimbledon seems to have taken on a more prominent position in this year's competition, but I can't help feeling women's tennis is still stuck with a dilemma it cannot solve - Anna Kournikova.

Every year without fail the argument as to whether women's prize money should match that of the men has come to the fore, but during yesterday's halt for rain the debate got a betting airing than usual on the BBC.

With the programme's anchor Sue Barker linking up with Virginia Wade and Chris Evert in the commentary box on Centre Court and with a similarly positioned Pam Shriver and Sam Smith on Court One, a good half hour was spent working through the reasons why the women were still refused parity at Wimbledon.

To me the answer is simple, the people who run the All England Club are the same types that England cricketer Ian Botham used to describe as gin-slinging old duffers on the MCC committee.

Hiding behind "tradition", it is their sort who still get excited if someone's kit is even slightly out of kilter with their all-white ruling and probably would far prefer it if women weren't allowed through the doors of the club in the first place.

However, the female quintet did a fine job of pushing a series of good reasons as to why women players deserve equal pay - above and beyond the straight forward question of "Why not?"

Certainly it is easy to agree with the argument in terms of entertainment.

Watching two guys power serves at one another with only an outside chance of making a return is not really that thrilling, though the Williams sisters are taking the women's game in that direction rather rapidly.

But there was one point that Evert, Shriver, Barker et al failed to touch, that the overpowering image associated with women's tennis is that of golden girl Kournikova.

The Russian youngster is the second highest earner in the women's game without ever having won a major and of late she hasn't even got through the first round of a major.

So it is easy to summise that the fact that she earns so well has little to do with her tennis but her fashion model looks.

For women's tennis the attention is no doubt hugely welcome, but does the fact that one of their biggest marketing points is a player who sells on looks alone rather undermine the argument that the women's game is on a par with the men's?

For the sake of women's tennis it is to be hoped that the gin-slinging old duffers join the modern world and give the women the equal pay they deserve and/or that Anna Kournikova actually starts to performer like a top player.