THE MADONNA OF MELBOURNE, BETHANIE MATTEK-SANDS, IS 2015’S FIRST GRAND SLAM WINNER
By Bill Simons
MELBOURNE, Australia—The Madonna of tennis, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, may have had a losing record in 2014. Her best-ever singles ranking may only be No. 30. And when we ask her burly and likable husband about her earnings last year, he may mutter, “$85,000 doesn’t cut it.”
But so what. The newly-minted Aussie Open women’s doubles champion is—along with her partner, Czech Lucie Safarova—the first Grand Slam winner of the year. Nobody can ever take that away from the nymph from Neenah, Wisconsin, our Bethanie.
She and Safarova beat five different seeded teams, including Taipei’s Chan Yung-Jan and China’s Zheng Jie in the final, who they downed 6-4, 7-6 despite trailing in the second set and having to deal with loud crowd support for Chan and Zheng at Rod Laver Arena. The tournament was Safarova and Mattek-Sands’ first time playing together, and the first time since 2007 that a first-time doubles pairing won a Slam.
Afterward, Mattek-Sands told Inside Tennis that she didn’t know whether her fans would be dancing in the streets of her hometown, but “everybody was up in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Arizona, Florida. So it was pretty cool.”
Also pretty cool: how the well-traveled pro, who won the Aussie Open mixed doubles in 2013, has stirred up our predictable, same-old-same-old tennis world over the years with her zany, outrageous outfits.
The well-tattooed fashion maverick of the 21st century first emerged at Wimbledon with a “dime-store-cowgirl-meets-soccer-player” outfit that British papers called the fashion “crime of the century,” and a “design for living beneath the bread line.” Eleanor Preston quipped that Mattek’s outfit reminded her of “a church group doing a stage version of Barbarella.”
Mattek-Sands continued her fashion offensive at the U.S. Open when she appeared in buff brown shorts and a silky top with frilly short sleeves. Fan comments included: “Oh my God, is that a Victoria’s Secret outfit?”; “It’s like Madonna went wild in a thrift store”; and “Those socks remind me of the ones they give you in the hospital so you don’t get blood clots.”
Then she donned an odd Cher-in-Pennsylvania-Dutch-country outfit, topped off with assorted skimpy accessories, prompting Greg Garber to conclude her outfits “are sort of like car crashes—even though you know it’s wrong, you can’t help but look.” More recently, Jon Wertheim wondered why Bethanie’s Indian Muslim partner Sania Mirza drew a fatwa for indecent tennis outfits, while Mattek-Sands went unpunished by the fashion police—or anyone else, for that matter.
In 2008, Mattek-Sands said she reached her first Grand Slam fourth round (against Marion Bartoli at Wimbledon) because she was in love; in fact, her soon-to-be-husband gave her a diamond ring between the first and second round. She’s also said she wears her outfits (which now are much tamer) to “keep up with what the crowd likes. Some love it or hate it. If they love or hate it, they’ll come see it. I think it helps tennis.”
‘WHY DON’T YOU GET IT? THERE AIN’T NO SUCH THING AS CLIMATE CHANGE’: After Pat McEnroe referenced the Northeast blizzard and said, “It’s like the worst storm in a century,” Brad Gilbert noted, “it seems like we get one of those every year.”
POETIC PROSE: Rafa Nadal’s English skills have improved brilliantly and his usages are often inventive and infused with their own unique beauty. All this prompted Nick McCarvel to tweet, “Love bad Nadal grammar that ends up waxing poetic: ‘When you have injuries, are difficult the comebacks.’ Brilliance #AusOpen.”
WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE: It seems a tad cruel to flash shots up on the Diamond Vision screen of a twitching linesman who has just blown a call.
HIGH (AND IMPORTANT) PRAISE: Serena said Madison Keys could become “the best in the world … She has potential to be No. 1 and win Grand Slams.” Sounds fine to us.
IT WAS CHILLY IN MELBOURNE: A nasty coaching controversy was brewing over Danny Vallverdu—the former Andy Murray coach who reportedly is now performing miracles for Tomas Berdych. So it’s hardly shocking that the Andy Murray vs. Berdych semi was an icy affair. There were swearing fiancées, glancing body shots, “if looks could kill” glances, odd ball controversies, bizarre celebrity entrances, public putdowns (by Murray) and a feminist shout-out by the triumphant Brit for his coach Amelie Mauresmo—who was once criticized here by Martina Hingis for being too masculine, and more recently dissed for being too feminine as an ATP coach.
Murray’s 27-year old fiancée Kim Sears appeared to drop a couple of F-bombs in the direction of Berdych’s Czech fiancée, Ester Satorova. Afterward, Murray defended his love, calling it “completely normal” amid “tension.” While highly critical of the media, he backed Mauresmo by noting the good job Lindsay Davenport is doing with Madison Keys, saying, “Women can be very good coaches as well.” BTW: Murray’s mom Judy, once a fine player herself, has been a key part of Andy’s tennis life from the get-go.
ORIGINALITY COUNTS: Victoria Azarenka, who has had a topsy turvy career, said it was “very important to stay original to who you are.” Translation: forget all the handlers who relish conformity and well-produced, safe personalities who don’t shake up anything.
HAND JIVE: Roger Federer got stung on his finger by an insect … Casey Dellacqua said Madison Keys’ shots were so powerful, it was as if her racket was being knocked out of her hand … Just after her stunning win over Petra Kvitova, Keys said her hands “were still shaking” … Last year, Rafa Nadal lost the final to Stan Wawrinka in part because of bloody hand blisters.
WHAT PMAC AND MARGARET COURT HAVE IN COMMON: From her first-row seat during the second men’s semi, the highly religious former Aussie great Margaret Court offered up more than one frosty glance to four boisterous, flag-laden Serbian fans high in the stands. Later, when the same quartet of intrusive fans wouldn’t stop barking, Pat McEnroe interrupted his wrap-up and told them to shut up.
MARATHON MATES: Stanovic III, that’s what some called the Stan Wawrinka vs. Novak Djokovic semifinal clash. And why not? The Euro duo have met in three straight Aussie Open semi-classics. But this year’s battle lasted only 3:30, a virtual sprint, and had an anti-climatic 6-0 win by Novak in the last set. Djokovic lost his strength and focus mid-match, even losing track of the score at one point. But he got his game back on track and now meets his rival since childhood, Andy Murray, for the third time in the Aussie Open final.
CURIOUS QUESTION: Chris Fowler asked which would come first: the Raiders winning a Super Bowl, or a US man winning a Grand Slam. (And, sorry Raiders, but the question is a very sad commentary on US men’s tennis.)
BEST ACTIVE PLAYERS TO NEVER WIN A SLAM: Tomas Berdych, Milos Raonic, Kei Nishikori and Grigor Dimitrov.
A MILLION A SLAM: Venus Williams has played in 65 Slams and won about $65 million.
A SPORTING GESTURE: Before a recent match Venus lost the coin toss. When the ump thought she’d won it, the sporting Venus insisted she’d lost.
BEATS MARTINA, LOSES TO DAVENPORT: Venus beat Aga Radwanska, who is coached by Martina Navratilova, but lost to Madison Keys, who is coached by Lindsay Davenport.
OUR FAVE FAN DIALOG OF THE DAY:
Fan No. 1: “Do you miss Roger Federer?”
Fan No. 2: “Not at the moment.”
RUSSIAN DOMINANCE: Maria Sharapova has won 22 of her last 23 matches against fellow Russians.
TEEN TERRORS: Teens aren’t doing all that well on the tour these days. But this was the third year in a row that a teenager reached the Aussie Open semis: Sloane Stephens in 2013, Genie Bouchard in 2014, and Madison Keys this year.
DOING A LOUSY JOB: Speaking of Makarova, she’s one of the most media-shy players since Steffi Graf and she says she likes “playing in the shade.” So why then has she reached back-to-back semis at Slams?
FINALS STATS: The Serena Williams–Maria Sharapova match will be the first Aussie Open women’s final to feature the top two seeds since 2004 … Williams has prevailed in her last 15 meetings against Sharapova … This is only the fourth time in the last 45 Slams that the women’s final features the top two seeds … This will be the 19th meeting between Williams and Sharapova. Williams holds a 16-2 advantage.
