Greg Norman and Chris Evert separated suddenly after only 15 months of marriage. Photo / AP

Greg Norman and Chris Evert separated suddenly after only 15 months of marriage. Photo / AP

Greg Norman and Chris Evert separated suddenly after only 15 months of marriage and after they'd revealed themselves to the world as a sparkling love match. We look at the weird world of sporting marriages - and divorces.

He spent US$2 million on his wedding to Chris Evert and a settlement of US$108 million to leave ex-wife Laura Andrassy. Over 15 months, that works out to US$7.3 million a month. Hmmm.

While Greg Norman and Evert have maintained a silence over why they broke up, various "friends" and sources have pointed to problems with each other's adult children and, puzzlingly, an inability to decide whose mansion they lived in.

The truth is probably, as they said in the X-Files, "out there". But through all the following examples of sporting marriage mishaps, some consistent themes run. Ego, the inability to marry diverse lives and schedules, kids (even grown-up ones) and infidelities are often there, as is the feeling that some of the most bizarre stuff is a publicity stunt.

Whether it is sporting star married to sporting star or sporting star married to entertainment star, the pressures of married life are obviously greater than for mere mortals - and so is the level of public infighting, the money involved and weirdness.

New Zealand has had its sporting divorces but, with our comparatively uncomplicated and "no-blame" divorce laws, inner secrets are rarely revealed. Most of the top 10 weird divorces are American - there must be a reason for that...

10. Dennis Rodman & Carmen Electra

There's a line from the movie Men In Black which says it all about Dennis Rodman. The movie, based around a backdrop of heavily-disguised aliens living secretly on Earth but with the connivance of government, mentions that an alien high commissioner wanted tickets to the next Bulls NBA game.

"Ask Dennis Rodman," says the Will Smith character, " he's from that planet."

"Rodman?" came the response, "you're kidding - not much of a disguise."

That was the thing with Rodman - he always appeared to be from another planet specially with publicity stunts like wearing a wedding dress to promote his autobiography and claiming to be a cross-dressing bisexual. But he never appeared more other-wordly than when he married actress/singer Carmen Electra for 10 days.

Rodman said the marriage should be annulled because he was drunk at the wedding but later Electra came out with memoirs which revealed that she used to call him the "n" word during lovemaking to spur him to greater heights. She said they once had sex in their chauffeur-driven Bentley when Electra had to ask the chauffeur to make Rodman stop.