One hopes the psychic wounds inflicted on young Amelie Mauresmo, the French teen whose physique and sexual orientation blew just about everything else off the front pages during the Australian Open, heal as quickly as any she suffered in losing in straight sets to Martina Hingis in the women's singles final Friday night.

Because tennis needs the Amelie Mauresmos of the world, if only to make the rest of the tour confront an issue that has simmered under the surface for decades and needs to be addressed and then put to rest. It may seem obvious to say, but if Mauresmo hadn't come along, someone else with the same profile would have, at some other tournament, in some other part of the world.

And someone would have made a remark akin to that made by Martina Hingis. And tennis's dirty little secret would have been exposed. What's the secret? Not that there are lesbians playing on the women's tennis tour or that there is a sizable lesbian contingent lurking in the locker rooms waiting to corrupt each new crop of youngsters that comes through.

The former is a given, the latter is a fiction derived from an isolated incident here or there and inflated into a trend. No, in reality the reverse appears to be true; that lesbians are still a distinct minority on the women's tour and are subjected to the same biases and prejudices as their sisters in the real world — with some of the biggest offenders being their own peers.

Talk to enough female athletes and you get a picture of a deep chasm between straight and gay athletes, whether opponents or teammates on the same basketball or softball team. It's a phenomenon that goes almost totally unexamined, largely because of the peril of coming off as politically incorrect.

One highly-ranked American tennis player told me several years ago that it was frustrating being heterosexual in a sport which is perceived as a lesbian haven. But the opposite is true as well; gay female athletes are still expected to keep up the appearance that they're straight, lest they offend fans, teammates or potential sponsors. So who gets the raw end of that deal?

All of this only makes Mauresmo seem that much more courageous for not being cowed by the social mores that so many of her peers must surely chafe under. Now, the real test will come if she continues to ascend in the rankings and develops into a consistent top-10 player, one with endorsement potential.

The cynical view is that the company whose clothing Mauresmo currently wears, the one named after a Greek goddess, will use this opportunity to its advantage by suddenly claiming to be in the forefront of gender issues. Come to think of it, if that's what it takes for regular folks to feel comfortable with the idea that it's OK to be different, maybe it isn't so bad after all.