Serena Williams returned to major championship tennis earlier this week, taking part in the French Open in her first tournament since taking a year off to have a baby,

Williams is without a doubt one of the greatest female tennis players of all time, and her return to major tournament tennis is a triumph for her — not only because she took more than a year off to have a child, but also because at age 36, she is 15 years older than many of the players she is competing against.

So, what was the major story after her first-round victory? It was, of course, the outfit she was wearing. I’m not kidding, The Associated Press wrote a 500-word article about her outfit, which was a skin tight bodysuit instead of the normal skirt most female tennis players wear. The article breathlessly reported the outfit was similar to the black “catsuit” Williams wore in the 2002 U.S. Open, although Williams had a more reasonable explanation for wearing it — it helped with the circulation in her legs.

A few days before Williams began her French Open fashion show, Danica Patrick competed in her final professional race, the Indianapolis 500.

Patrick has long been a polarizing figure in motorsports, first in the IndyCar Series and then in NASCAR. One of those reasons is her relative lack of success compared with her publicity.

Patrick had one career win, an IndyCar race in Japan in 2008. While she was a capable open-wheel driver, her time in NASCAR was pretty much a failure. However, she is by far the most marketed female racing driver ever, thanks in part to swimsuit photo shoots and godaddy.com commercials that featured scantily clad women.

Perhaps that’s why so much attention was paid to non-racing items in the two stories The Associated Press wrote about her. In a preview about her final race, the reporter made it a point to mention Patrick was wearing cut-off jeans, a tank top and $500 shoes, while sporting a tan and “a little gray around the temples.”

But that was nothing compared to the article that described her final race, which ended in a crash on lap 68. Three (three!) paragraphs were devoted to Patrick standing on the starting grid before the race listening to the national anthem. It included this, I’m sure, Pulitzer Prize-winning comment: “Patrick’s face was glistening, sweat rolling down her back in near-record-breaking heat. A crew member quickly turned on a small, powerful fan. Patrick’s hair started blowing in the wind, turning her pose into an impromptu photo-shoot — likely her last one in a firesuit.”

Of course, none of these comments get mentioned when talking about a male athlete. I mean, I’ve never seen an article wax eloquently about a fan blowing Jimmy Johnson’s hair before a race.

In this era where women are fighting to become more empowered, it’s interesting that the sports world seems to be in a little bit of limbo.

Do we want to acknowledge women for their greatness as athletes? Or does that take a backseat to their looks, fashion or marketability? The answer is murky. Of course, there are attractive male athletes who are into fashion and appear on the red carpet. Tom Brady comes immediately to mind.

But have you ever read a sentence about Tom Brady’s hair blowing in the wind while sweat rolls down his back before a game? Most likely not. We instead focus on the fact he is one of the greatest NFL quarterbacks ever.

It’s as if it’s not enough for women to be good at sports. We will only pay attention to them if they also look good in an evening gown or swimsuit. Some female athletes know this and use it to gain popularity. I’m not against that at all. However, the athletes who might not look stunning in a bikini don’t really have that option.

I have three daughters who are into sports. My oldest, age 14, is especially into soccer and has the ambition of being great. I don’t want her to think she has to break out a new fashion line or pose in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue in order to be famous.

Hopefully, by then we will recognize greatness in a female athlete by what she does on the field or court, not by what she’s wearing while doing it.

— Jeff Edwards can be reached at jeff@athensnews-courier.com.