Bethanie Mattek: De stoeipoes van de WTA

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Bethanie Mattek (born 23 March 1985 in Rochester, Minnesota) is an American professional tennis player who competes on the WTA tour. She lives in Miami, Florida. She reached the second round at the 2007 Wimbledon Championships before falling 7-6, 6-4 to Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Notable results
2004 ITF/Schenectady, New York - Won singles
2004 Vancouver Women's Open - Won doubles with Abigail Spears
2005 ITF/Palm Beach Gardens, Florida - Won singles
2007 Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open - Won doubles with Sania Mirza

Dress sense
Mattek has achieved extensive publicity as a result of her eccentric dress sense.

2004 US Open - wore a leopard print outfit.
2005 US Open - fined for wearing a striped cowboy hat.
2006 Wimbledon - appeared in a 'soccer theme' complete with £10 football socks, chandelier earrings, a boob-tube worn over a strappy vest top, tiny running shorts and a headband.
2006 JPMorgan Chase Open - sported pink knee-high socks.
2006 US Open - she showed up this time in beige; a loosely draped top, with a crocheted waist and split sleeves that resembled a toga, teamed up with beige knee-high socks.
2007 US Open - wore another leopard print outfit.

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Wonder Woman Mattek
Door haar tennis valt ze niet op. Bethanie Mattek is de nummer 123 van de wereld. De 22-jarige Amerikaanse heeft een andere manier gevonden om alle aandacht op zich te vestigen; haar kleding. In 2005 wilde ze gelkeed als cowgirl, inclusief cowgirlhoed, de tweede ronde halen. Ze werd beboet, hield zich niet aan de voorschriften. Vorig jaar was haar zelfgemaakte kleding wel erg kort en sexy. 'Te veel vlees', zo oordeelde de scheidsrechter. En op Wimbledon verscheen ze in 2006 in een wit voetbaltenue, met lange sokken en een voetbalbroek. Dit jaar maakte Mattek haar opwachting in een metalliek gouden outfit met push-up bh en een gouden hoofdband. Zelf noemde ze het de Wonder Woman Look, veel toeschouwers dachten dat ze zojuist van een pornoset kwam gelopen. De hoofdscheidsrechter schrok zich rot en pakte de reglementen erbij. 'Mijn smaak neit meegerekend, voldeed haar kleding aan de voorschriften'. In de tweede ronde verloor ze van Shahar Peer. Mattek pakte opnieuw uit in het dubbelspel. Haar hoofdband, laag uitgesneden topje en korte broekje hadden allemaal dezelfde luipaardprint. Ze haalde in het dubbel de kwartfinale en de partijen met Mattek werden druk bezocht. 'Zelfs als mensen het niet mooi vinden, komen ze toch om me te zien. Sommigen vinden mij misschien gek, maar ik ben wel een persoonlijkheid'. Shania Mirza kon wel lachen om de verkleedpartijen van haar dubbelpartner. 'De speelsters in de kleedkamer vragen allen aan Beth wat ze gaat dragen. Je kunt ervan vinden wat je wilt, maar ze maakt het tennis populair'. Over het tenue waarmee ze volgend jaar indruk wil maken in New York, heeft Mattek al nagedacht. 'Ik wil als een Franse kinderoppas de baan op. Ik had het pakje, inclusief nylonkousen, al klaarliggen, maar ik durfde het nog niet aan.'

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Bethanie Mattek na de soccer- en pornolook nu als luipaard

Opgepast, Maria Sharapova! De Russische ijskoningin krijgt stevige concurrentie op het tenniscircuit. Terwijl 'Masha' op de US Open uitpakte met een rood jurkje bezet met zeshonderd Swarovski-kristallen, loopt de Amerikaanse Bethanie Mattek -Beth voor de vrienden- er nog wat opvallender bij. De 22-jarige Mattek koos in haar partij in de eerste ronde tegen Madison Brengle (6-4, 6-1 winst) voor een opvallende gouden outfit, inclusief push-up bh en bijpassende gouden hoofdband. Alsof ze net van de pornoset kwam gelopen, als het ware. Zelf vond ze er zich als 'Wonder Woman' uitzien.

Luipaardpakje
De 'modebewuste' Mattek verloor haar volgende partij in twee sets van de Israëlische Shahar Peer (6-2, 6-1), maar gelukkig is er nog het dubbelspel om zich in de kijker te spelen. Aan de zijde van de Indische Sania Mirza klopte ze in de derde ronde zelfs de Amerikaan-Australische dubbel Raymond-Stosur, de tweede reekshoofden. Mattek maakte furore met een op zijn minst opvallend luipaardpakje, tot ze gisteren in de kwartfinale strandde tegen een Thais duo. Mattek koos er alvast een goeie dubbelpartner uit, want Mirza is ook geen grijze muis. Er werd in haar thuisland India zelfs al een fatwa tegen Mirza uitgesproken omdat haar tennisoutfits te weinig zedig zouden zijn.

Soccer-look
Voor opschudding zorgde Mattek vorig jaar ook op Wimbledon. Op Centre court werd ze toen in de eerste ronde uitgeloot tegen Venus Williams. Mattek koos voor kniekousen, een short en lange oorbellen waarmee ze zich netjes hield aan de dresscode. "In plaats van Beth Mattek, lijkt dit wel Bette Middler in haar jonge jaren", sprak de BBC-commentator toen. Wel stond Mattek volledig in het wit en, in tegenstelling tot in New York, was er geen bloot vlees te zien. "Ik had drie outfitjes waaruit ik maar niet kon kiezen'', aldus Mattek na haar snel verloren partij tegen Venus. "Ik heb er dan maar een vriendin bijgeroepen en we besloten voor de soccer-look te gaan, met kniekousen uit Harrod's. Ik had daar ook witte nylonkousen op de kop getikt, maar omdat het Wimbledon was, hebben we het braaf gehouden."

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Wearing Well: Bethanie Mattek interview

Bethanie Mattek is best known for her attention-grabbing outfits. Now, at 21, she's giving her game a makeover to try to take her career to the next level – and wouldn't mind redesigning the sport either.

Over a three week period during the off-season, American No.12 Bethanie Mattek ripped apart her game and started all over again. Every aspect of her game has been remodelled in collaboration with a new coach. And Mattek thinks equally radical changes are needed off the court in tennis if it is to flourish.

The 21-year-old has more than a few ideas about how the sport’s profile could be raised. “There needs to be more support for the lower ranked players,” she said. “There’s a lot of depth on the women’s tour, not just in terms of talent but personality. There are so many great characters in the women’s game that people don’t know about because the WTA only seem to care about Sharapova.

“Eleni Daniilidou is hilarious but no one knows about her even though she’s been in the top 30 and she’s won tournaments. Then there’s Svetlana Kuznetsova who is in the top five. She has a lot of charisma and could become a star if the Tour marketed her better.

“I’m not saying it’s just the fault of the Tour. The players need to take more responsibility for the marketing of the sport. The WTA can only force them to do so much. The players need to get more involved and realise that they’re in charge of their own marketing. If they’re willing to do an appearance, something fun like having a film crew following you while you’re shopping [as host broadcaster Channel 7 did with Mattek during the Australian Open] then it creates a buzz and it benefits everyone.

It shows that we’re normal and friendly and not just cloistered professional athletes.
“I think that some players don’t really understand this side of the game. They’re told by their agents what to do and what to say. A lot of agents really aren’t helping either. The WTA should show the players a Power Point presentation that’s like, ‘if you do this, this and this’ we can create this much media coverage and this much revenue.’”

Mattek, who has never been higher than 101 in the rankings, has carved out a profile for herself that is vastly disproportionate to her achievements on court, thanks chiefly to her outrageous dress sense. She won more column inches in the international press last summer than most of the leading players after she wore a soccer-style outfit against Venus Williams on Wimbledon’s Centre Court. “I’m not trying to do it to seek attention or be better than anyone, it’s just my personality,” she explains.

“I’ll be changing in the locker room and players come up to me and are like, ‘Is that your match outfit!? No way!’ They seem disappointed if I don’t wear something flamboyant.

“I just find it a lot of fun. So many players seem to forget that we are playing for the public. We’re in the entertainment industry really. Of course we should be professional and focussed on doing our absolute best on the court, but you can have fun with it too. And it gets people talking about tennis, which as we all know is important during a time when we’re struggling to get publicity for our sport.” Mattek is supremely aware of how the game works. It’s impossible not to get on with this 5’6” Floridian with the sunny disposition.

She and her new coach Jason Fransen, who has never coached on the WTA Tour before, are having a blast redesigning her new game. “To be honest, we changed almost everything in my game in the space of three weeks. I’ve changed my serve, my forehand and my movement’s completely different. On my forehand I was always muscling the ball. If you saw pictures of me I was really tense. During the off-season I looked at pictures of Federer at the point of impact and he was like chilling. I was like, ‘are you kidding me? Is that a match?’”

The remodelling process takes place not just on the court, but in the living room and at the dinner table. Mattek reveals: “Some of our best tactical discussions have been over a glass of wine in a restaurant. We’re both excited about where my game is headed and enjoying the experience.”

It’s a slow process. “It’s like I’m starting out again,” she says, having beaten then-world No.18 Flavia Pennetta on her way to the Los Angeles quarter-finals last year. “It could take up to 18 months before I see the benefits, but I believe I can get to the top 10.”

Mattek won her opening two matches in Australian Open qualifying in straight sets last month, but lost to Frenchwoman Stephanie Cohen-Aloro in the final round. She followed it up by winning three straight matches against higher-ranked opponents to qualify for the Tier I event in Tokyo, where she lost in the opening round to world No.30 Jie Zheng. She reached the quarterfinal of Memphis last week and – as she had hoped - received a wild card into Indian Wells.

Now, enjoying life on the tennis circuit is an integral part of the overhaul of Mattek’s game. “I used to be so tense,” she says. “I would be stressing myself out so much about results and rankings and feeling guilty if I wasn’t in the gym five hours a day. Now I am much more relaxed. I go to the player parties and have fun, I try and explore the cities I’m visiting. I think I’m making the most of the experience and I’m convinced having this positive state of mind will help my tennis.”

Mattek has played on Centre Court at Wimbledon and Arthur Ashe stadium at the US Open. She has won a Sony Ericsson WTA Tour doubles title and has twice beaten her doubles partner Jelena Jankovic, who is now ranked in the top 10. However, she still shares the dreams of all aspiring young players.

She says: “My dream since I’ve been little is to have a US Open night match where it’s 5-5 in the third and we’re just duking it out and the stadium is packed. That would be one of the most amazing moments for me. The electricity, the being in the moment. The dream is that we’re both on our ‘A’ game and the crowd are so into it. The next day people are like, ‘Did you see the match last night, ‘cause you missed out if you didn’t.’ That’s the kind of excitement I train for.”

Bron: http://www.tennis.com/features/general/features.aspx?id=67790

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Op zondag 16 september 2007 21:08 schreef erkel het volgende:
Er mogen wel een paar pondjes af, al weet ik niet precies hoe ze er vandaag de dag uitziet.