Sports is not exactly the most important thing in my life, but it’s still quite important (Damn, that’s sounds so sad! Could it be more obvious that I don’t have a boyfriend?). There is an absolutely terrific soccer championship coming to a close in Austria and Switzerland this weekend (the Euro 2008 final between Germany and Spain on Sunday), and also the ongoing tennis tournament at Wimbledon is about to close its first week. But no matter how interested I might be in both tennis and soccer, this of course is not just about the athletic achievements.

Euro 2008 serves up such hotness as German Lukas Podolski, Spaniards Fernando Torres and Cesc Fabregas, Dutch Robin van Persie, Klaas Huntelaar, and Portuguese heartthrob Cristiano Ronaldo. But the reasons for my interest in the Wimbledon proceedings might be even more shallow. Spain’s Rafael Nadal is not only the world’s second best player, he is not also disturbingly sexy, with his extraordinary physique and tender smile. No one else can quite compare to Nadal, but players like American Andy Roddick and Russian Marat Safin are not bad for eye-candy either. Sadly, Roddick has already been knocked out, and Safin is a long shot, at best. I’m not one to complain, however, since Nadal is expected to face off in another epic final against Swiss Roger Federer a week from now.

I should be quick to note that my interest in tennis, though not always as passionate, goes back more than ten years, to the heydays of such classic recent players as Brazilian Gustavo Kuerten and Americans Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi. Kuerten was my first tennis crush, even if he was not the one to draw me to this elegant and highly suspenseful sport in the first place.

I’m looking forward to next week, and catching Federer for the first time this year.