They may have given up the glamour and the fame of tennis at the highest level, but Jana Novotna and Magdalena Maleeva made it perfectly clear yesterday that they do not miss the acclaim.

The Czech and the Bulgarian have been in Bermuda since Wednesday and were involved along with Jim Courier and Cedric Pioline in a entertaining Champions Challenge last night at the Coral Beach Club as the XL Bermuda Open finally let its hair down after a week of cut-throat tennis.

Speaking yesterday afternoon having just returned to the main clubhouse from the practice court, both said they were grateful to now be divorced from the day to day grind of life in professional sport.

?I have to admit it makes me smile coming to a tournament like this and seeing all the players being nervous before their games and I?m happy I do not have to do that anymore,? said Maleeva, who only retired last year after 15 years on the tour during which she won 10 titles.

?It?s a little difficult making the adjustment to normal life when you have spent so long playing tennis. All of a sudden you have to think of what else you are going to do with your life and some players find it hard.

?What I enjoy most though is actually watching tennis again and following the game. When I was playing I never really did that because I was so concerned with my own game. Plus I also get to spend more time at home with my family in Bulgaria which is something I missed a lot.?

Novotna told a similar tale ? although she admitted that she is now starting to become tennis-hungry again after a total break from the game following retirement in 1999.

?When I stopped I wanted nothing more to do with tennis for a while and I did not do anything for about a year and a half,? said the former Wimbledon champion, famous for crying on the shoulder of the Duchess of Kent after squandering her lead against Steffi Graff in the Wimbledon final.

?Now though I am rediscovering my appetite for the game and starting to play a few exhibitions and taking an interest generally. It was bound to happen ? it is in the blood after all.?

It hasn?t escaped the attention of many of the sport?s leading journalists and commentators that the professional women?s game is going through something of a slump at present, particularly given the decision of the Williams sisters to scale back their commitments ? which some feel means that there is even less strength and depth in the female game compared to the men?s.

While Novotna agreed wholeheartedly with this assessment, Magdalena took the opposite view ? hardly surprising perhaps given that the Bulgarian was still playing the game last year.

?For me the women?s game is in pretty bad shape at the moment,? said Novotna, who was inducted into the tennis Hall of Fame last year. ?In the late ?90s, every tournament it was difficult to predict who was going to win and there were a lot of close games.

?That is not the case at the moment and the women?s game lacks a role model to inspire people like the men?s game has in Federer. He is a great ambassador for the game and he is also forcing everybody else to raise their standard which is not happening on the women?s side.?

Magdalena disagreed, however,pointing to the likes of Kim Clijsters, Lindsay Davenport and Maria Sharapova in particular as evidence that the women?s game still has star-power.

?I think there are a lot of exciting things going on in women?s tennis,? she said. ?There are a lot of young players out there who will be good eventually and I do not think there is anything to worry about. Right now women?s tennis probably is not as strong as the men but these things change very quickly.?