Hi Curious and welcome back! Today we are venturing into the world of tennis. The French
Open is currently well underway and the world has been talking a lot about the 20-year-old
Polish tennis player, Iga Swiatek. But at the same time many more had begun talking
more about American Bethanie Mattek-Sands who has been her doubles partner. And while
for a while now, many had been following Iga’s career with much anticipation, their recent
win in the quarter-finals has had more turn towards Bethanie. Who exactly is Mattek-Sands
and how did she start her career in the sport? What achievements does she have under her
belt? Why was this duo’s victory in the quarter-finals surprising to some? What is
her private life like? And why have some called her the Lady Gaga of tennis? Stay tuned until
the very end to find out all about Bethanie but before we continue make sure you turn
on the notifications and subscribe to our channel so you don’t miss any of our future
videos.
Before we get talking about the duo’s achievement during the French Open, let’s get to know
the American player a little bit better. Bethanie Lynn Mattek-Sands was born on March 23rd,
1985 in Rochester, Minnesota. According to her official profile on the Women’s Tennis
Association website her father is an accountant while her mother works as a nurse. She also
has two brothers, Chad and Andrew, and a sister, Alison. Bethanie had begun playing tennis
at the age of five and it seems that even from such a young age she knew what she wanted
career-wise as only 9 years later, at the age of 14 in 1999 she made her first appearance
in a WTA Tour in Philadelphia qualifying as a wildcard.
Though it was in 2005 that she had begun to play full-time on tour. In the span of her
career, Mattek-Sands has won nine Grand Slam titles. Five in women’s doubles and four
in mixed doubles. And where her achievements are concerned, it doesn’t end here as Bethanie
is also a former doubles world no.1 champion. Thought right now, according to WTA rankings
she is currently 16th, with the no.1 spot being taken by 28-year-old Kristina Mladenovic
who represents France.
But let’s look a little bit closer at what her best results have been over the course
of her career. Where singles are concerned, on the WTA Tour her best results were reaching
the fourth round of two Grand Slam events, Wimbledon 2008 & French Open in 2013, semifinals
of the tournaments in Cincinnati 2005 and Birmingham 2008, and the final of the Bell
Challenge in both 2008 and 2010. Her singles career-high ranking was no.30 in the world
on July 11th, 2011. She has also had many successes in women’s doubles, winning 27
career titles which included the aforementioned five Grand Slams at the 2015 Australian and
French Opens, 2016 US Opens, 2017 Australian and French Open. All these doubles wins had
been with her partner Lucie Šafářová. The reason the two had stopped playing together
was that on the fourth day of Roland Garros in 2019 Safarova had played her last match
before her retirement. Though now it seems that Bethanie has found success with her new
partner Iga Swiatek but more about that in a moment. However, if you want to get to know
the Polish tennis star, you can do so by checking out our previous video by clicking on the
link above. But for now, make sure to stay with us until the very end.
Thanks to all those successes it secured her the position as the world no.1 in doubles
on January 9th, 2019 and she held that top ranking for a period of 32 consecutive weeks.
On top of all these Grand Slam tournaments and everything in between, Mattek-Sands has
also won a Gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Her partner was Jack Sock
and the two had beat Venus Williams and Rajeev Ram.
Her playing style had been described by the WTA as versatile, all-court style combining
speed, determination, skill, and agility around the net. But it wasn’t just tennis that
has brought her success but also some business partnerships. One of her other passions besides
tennis is fashion, which we will talk about more in a moment, and it is exactly how back
in 2019 she started a partnership with tennis brand Lucky in Love to release her own line
of sports clothes. When the news was first announced Bethanie had spoken with Forbes
magazine about the news and said that she had been very hands-on with the design process.
All her successes on and off the court had helped the player secure a net worth of around
$7 million as per Celeb Worth.com.
And speaking of Mattek-Sands and fashion, why is it that some had begun calling her
the Lady Gaga of tennis? The reason is simple, both off as well as on the courts she is known
for her personal style, which some might call a fairly outrageous sense of fashion. She
is known for her hats, metallic dresses, and prep chic outfits that she is known to wear.
Adding with the fact that she isn’t scared to make bold choices also with her hair, when
for example, before the 2018 Wimbledon she had dyed her hair a color which she described
as “neon strawberry blonde” color, which was a suggestion from a dedicated fan. Bethanie
herself has revealed that her fashion choices are really talked about and that her outfits
often prompt “Where’d you get that?” questions from Serena Williams and other top
names in tennis. She also doesn’t shy away from wearing her flashy outfits to official
tennis events and red carpets. But it looks like they had also been well received by fans
who had dubbed her the Lady Gaga of tennis making the comparison between the player and
the Bad Romance singer. Though speaking of Williams, why not check out the previous video
that we have about her by clicking on the link that is displayed above. But for now,
make sure you stay with us until the very end.
However, when it comes to sport, along with all successes and triumphs of athletes there
also come times where they have problems with injuries that affect their gameplay and at
times make them pull out of competitions. It was no different in the case of Mattek-Sands.
She had suffered several injuries with the first one being in 2009 which caused her to
pull out of the Australian Open with a hip injury. Two years later she had to withdraw
from a heavily scheduled hardcourt series due to a shoulder injury. Once again she had
to withdraw in both 2012 and 2014 due to injuries however it was in 2017 when Bethanie suffered
a major knee injury that required her to undergo surgery and take a year off to heal. Though
eventually, she came back in 2018 and won the 2018 and 2019 US Open mixed doubles titles
with her partner Jamie Murray.
For a second let’s put her sports career aside and take a look at what her private
life is like. Back in November 2008, Bethanie married Justin Sands and the pair reside in
Phoenix, Arizona with their dog, a Boerboel mastiff called Ruger. When the couple had
said their sacramental “I do”, instead of going for traditional wedding bands, the
two chose to tattoo each other’s names on their fingers. However, looking at her Instagram
it is clear that the player loves tattoos and has several herself such as a bee design
and colorful flowers. A fun fact is that her husband also works as her manager. The pair
does not shy away from showing their love for each other on their Instagram profile
and from Justin’s page, it is clear that he is an avid hunter, a hobby for which Bethanie
sometimes joins him for hunting trips, which at times does get the pair some backlash from
tennis fans and animal support groups.
So now let’s talk about the most recent victory that Bethanie and Iga Swiatek had
celebrated as they managed to reach the semi-final of women’s doubles. Though it is worth pointing
out that it is not the first time the two played together. They played together 3 times
during different tournaments however, this is their pair debut during a Grand Slam. Their
quarter-final victory came after they had beat Darija Jurak and Andreja Klepač which
to some was a surprise as the Croatian Slovenian duo were the favorites of not only fans but
sports commentators to win. The Polish American duo had won the match 6:3 in the first half
and 6:2 in the second.
Though their victory wasn’t without some controversy. During the action, the ball hit
the court close to the line, but according to the match referee, it was still within
the playing field. After all that, Mattek-Sands walked past the mark that the ball had left
and pointed to it by touching the court with her racket. And that is when it all started.
At that point, the referee stated that she wanted to check where the ball had actually
fallen but as Bethanie had touched the ball, she prevented her from doing so. Eventually,
Jurak and Kepac had repeated their serve but for the rest of the game, the Swiatek/Mattek-Sands
duo was fueled by the energy from the whole situation and as we mentioned before managed
to win the game in two sets.
It seems that the two ladies are getting along pretty well as evidenced by the photographs
of the duo that Bethanie has eagerly shared to her Instagram page during the French Open.
As well as evidenced by a recent interview where she had taken on the role of a laidback
journalist, asking the 20-year-old Polish player questions. It started off innocently
enough asking about music and what she listens to before matches, to which Iga revealed that
recently she has been listening to Guns n Roses, prior to games. Other questions also
included who she looks to during tough moments on the court and in the end, she decided to
ask a little bit more of a personal question: is Iga single, and does she have a boyfriend?
To this Swiatek only laughed and said that at the moment she doesn't have a boyfriend,
saying that at this moment in her career there have been some sacrifices that she had to
make and that her private life must be a little bit limited at this moment. From this video,
as well as the aforementioned photos on Instagram, it's clear that the women are getting along
well and possibly the younger one could benefit from getting to play alongside a more experienced
player such as Bethanie.
The two women had continued on with the game, competing against the duo consisting of Romanian
Irina-Camelia Begu and Argentine Nadia Podoroska, fighting for a place in the women's doubles
final.
So Curious, have you followed Mattek-Sands' career prior to this year's French Open? What
do you think about her famous fashion choices? Does the nickname Lady Gaga of tennis suit
her? Let us know in the comments below and as always don't forget to like, share and
subscribe to our channel. Until next time!