So often at school the girls who take an interest in sport are viewed with suspicion. All that running about, getting hot and sweaty, is perceived as a testosterone zone. Boys are welcome to the hurly burly. The PE class is only marginally worse than sitting next to Mary Jessop in Form 1, the one who has a galloping problem with personal hygiene.

Yet in an era when the benefits of health and fitness are so starkly highlighted and the need for every generation to step up their exercise levels from a crawl to at least walking pace it is crucial to encourage more girls to become involved in sport.

As the World Cup approaches boys can latch on to a raft of heroes, role models they can aspire to, even some from their own country. The names just roll off the tongue - Romario, Ronaldo, Bergkamp, Collins, all with glittering skills to inspire young hopefuls.

But for girls the task is harder. The Spice Girls aren't going to make them take up the pentathlon although at least Posh Spice can advocate the upside of a footballing hero as a fiance.

Help, however, could be at hand. While home-bred female role models may be thin on the ground, tennis has always had an edge of glamour and excitement. It was once a world of frilly knickers and chi-chi tennis dresses and at the height of the summer provoked a stampede to the local courts to emulate the antics of the greats - the grace of Goolagong, the volleying brilliance of Navratilova, the strength of Graf.

But somehow it lost its way. In recent years the thrash and crash of the men's game has seen it lose much of its attraction as has the seemingly bland personalities of its leading exponents. Increasingly the television public are turning to the women's game. Indeed in the last three Grand Slam tournaments, the Australian Open, the US Open and Wimbledon, women's viewing figures were 20% higher than the men's.

So it was no surprise this week when a leading promotions company signed a multi-million pound deal with the Women's Tennis Association to promote the women's game and its young telegenic performers. The company has already had plenty of experience with beautiful, temperamental stars for it produced the hit films Pretty Woman and L A Confidential, which starred role models of the class room Julia Roberts and Kim Basinger.

Big companies only latch on deals like these when they see an opening for themselves and so over the next few years women's tennis looks set to take off. The photogenic Anna Kournikova, the athletic Williams sisters, and the Swiss Miss who thrashes them all, Martina Hingis, have led to a revival of interest.

Unfortunately, however, while Greg and Tim have rushed up the charts in the past few years, a glance over the top 100 women players reveals plenty from Spain, the US, the Czech Republic, and Germany (all attracted, no doubt, to the sport by the successes of their countrywomen) but a complete blank from Britain.

Perhaps the increased coverage will inspire a young girl from this country to brush down the racket mouldering in the back of a cupboard and get out and try to emulate the new Young Kids on the Court.

The problem of female role models is also causing concern in another sport in the US. Nancy Lopez captured the attention of millions of golfers in 1978 when she had five straight wins on the LPGA tour in her first year. Now she says the women's tour desperately needs someone to do something similar. Lopez believes the women's tour is losing popularity and says things won't change until someone emerges with enough personality and talent to seize much-needed attention.

''We have great players. They hit the ball a long way but people want to relate to personalities and Tiger Woods did that. The women's tour desperately needs something like that,'' she says. And so opportunity knocks for a girl to snatch Lopez's crown and claim a place in the hearts of the American golfing public.

Judging by the size of many of the spectators at tournaments across the Atlantic the sooner that person emerges the better. The thinner the better too for the sake of health and fitness.

Who knows maybe in a few years Mary Jessop from Form 1 will be right up there with Greg and Tim as an inspiration to the next generation of couch potato schoolgirls.