STANDING BETWEEN JACKSON and the mantle of best basketballer in the world is Lisa Leslie, a 30-year-old sometime-fashion model considered the hardest woman in sport. In the manner of true rivalries, the two physically-matched women have developed a deep dislike for each other. It goes back to when Jackson toured the US with the Opals as a 16-year-old, giving as good as she got. One startled local reporter called Albury to ask her mother what cut of girl would stand up to someone like Lesie?

The rivalry went up a notch after the gold medal game at the Sydney Olympics when Jackson accidentally pulled off the American's hair extension during a rebounding contest. Jackson later recounted, "it was something to joke about even though we lost the gold medal." Leslie never saw the joke.

That much was apparent from the moment Jackson landed on Leslie's turf, the WNBA. Helped by the fact that her team, the Los Angeles Sparks, are the WNBA's top dogs, Leslie has made life tough for the upstart Aussie every time they meet. Elbows and invective fly - in both directions. It's got so their coaches resist putting them in direct opposition for all but the last five minutes of a game for fear they'll foul out.

So far, Leslie has the wood on Jackson. Last season she beat Jackson (many people's tip) to be the First woman to dunk in the WNBA. And when their teams met in the play-offs last August Jackson was all but rendered useless in Game 2 by a Leslie knee in the groin, scoring just four points in the loss.

The pattern continued in September's World Championships semi-final. "I was so eager to beat her," recalls Jackson. As it happened, a fired-up Jackson racked up three fouls in the opening six minutes and spent large chunks of the game watching from the bench as Leslie led the USA to a comfortable victory.

Jackson admires her - it's just that she doesn't approve of her methods. Like the time she saw Leslie smash a player's nose. Jackson believed it was an intentional foul. "And she didn't get called for anything!" Brutal defence aside, what would she take from Leslie's game if she could? "Her unbelievable strength at the post. When I'm her age, I'll have that. I feel like I can do what she can now, but she's got so much more experience."