Agnieszka Radwanska's Nude Photo Shoot Gets Her Dropped By Catholic Youth Crusade Group

Top Catholic Tennis Star's Nude Photo Scandal Upsets Youth Group
A reader looks at a reprint of ESPN Magazine's nude photo of Polish tennis star Agnieszka Radwanska on July 15, 2013 in Warsaw. Radwanska was excluded from a Catholic movement in Poland to have posed nude for the publication 'Body Issue' of the magazine ESPN. AFP PHOTO/JANEK SKARZYNSKI (Photo credit should read JANEK SKARZYNSKI/AFP/Getty Images)
A reader looks at a reprint of ESPN Magazine's nude photo of Polish tennis star Agnieszka Radwanska on July 15, 2013 in Warsaw. Radwanska was excluded from a Catholic movement in Poland to have posed nude for the publication 'Body Issue' of the magazine ESPN. AFP PHOTO/JANEK SKARZYNSKI (Photo credit should read JANEK SKARZYNSKI/AFP/Getty Images)

Agnieszka Radwanska is number four in the world for tennis, but her athletic excellence won't help her when it comes to reconciling with the Catholic youth group that dropped her as their ambassador after she posed nude in the "Body Issue" of ESPN Magazine.

The Catholic youth group Krucjata Mlodych (Youth Crusade) is based in her native Poland, and they dropped Radwanska last week for what they considered "immoral behavior," despite the non-explicit nature of the photo. Radwanska has long been outspoken about her strong Catholic faith and appeared in a video as part of Youth Crusade's "I'm Not Ashamed Of Jesus" initiative, in which she spelled out "JESUS" using tennis balls and urged young Poles to embrace their faith.

In the picture, Radwanska poses by a tennis-ball-filled pool in a lawn chair, showing off her athletic body in an attempt to promote healthy self-image for the "Body Issue" which also featured athletes like Olympic volleyball gold medalist Kerry Walsh Jennings, San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick, and Matt Harvey and Giancarlo Stanton from Major League Baseball.

Regarding the nudity of the ESPN Magazine spread, editor-in-chief Chad Millman said the athletes are "proud of the work they put into being strong and powerful and we're proud that they trust us to capture that."

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