Model Brooklyn Decker, 22, has landed the coveted Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover.

The wife of tennis star Andy Roddick said being chosen for the cover, on newsstands now, is “the news of a lifetime.”

Decker compared her cover photo, in which she’s smiling in a yellow bikini, to covers from the 1980s or 1990s, when Elle Macpherson won covers with a friendly, sun-loving look.

SI keeps the cover photo a secret – even from the models – until less than 24 hours before it’s revealed. Decker said now the mad dash was on to find outfits for TV appearances that come with the gig. (Her closet of swimsuits wasn’t right for winter, she joked.)

Decker says she is an avid sports fan and, as a teen in North Carolina, ran hurdles for the track team, played soccer and was a competitive cheerleader. She has no great diet or exercise secret, she said, other than to be active and eat sensibly.

“It’s luck, the perfect suit and perfect storm to get it,” she said of landing the cover.

Meanwhile, the father of Sarah Palin’s grandson is featured on the cover of Playgirl magazine – sporting only a sultry gaze.

The nude photos of Levi Johnston, 19 – ex-fiancé of Palin’s daughter Bristol – were a hit last fall. The publisher expects the same with more photos from the shoot running in the resurrected print version, out Feb. 22.

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