Dressed for success

By Jay Jenkins

Published: May 2, 2008

Her suitcase was packed with two types of clothes: those to play tennis in and those to hit the town in.
That was the original plan when Bethanie Mattek went to the Australian Open in 2004.
After suddenly being dropped by her clothing sponsor, the outfits took on different roles. And from that moment forward, Mattek started making a fashion statement — often mind-blowing statements that created message board rants.
“I got cut from Adidas one year at the Australian Open and I had all the Adidas stuff with me and I did not want to wear that, so I wore what I had to go out in on the court,” Mattek said. “That’s how it started.”
On Friday, Mattek elected to dress conservatively - at least by her standards - and upended 18-year-old phenom Kimberly Couts, 7-5, 6-1, to advance to the semifinals of the Boyd Tinsley USTA Women’s Pro Tennis Championships at Boar’s Head Sports Club.
Mattek’s win earns her a rematch with second-seeded Olga Puchkova this morning at 10. Their match will be followed by a semifinal meeting between qualifier Alexis Gordon and third-seeded Yanina Wickmayer.
In order to advance and keep her current winning streak alive, the flamboyant Mattek was forced to play with added energy.
“I came out a little tired,” she said. “I think I made some mistakes too, but [Couts] was playing some good points, making me run and then I eventually got my groove back.”
Mattek said she wanted to play this week in Charlottesville to improve her win-loss percentage on the season as she prepares for the upcoming French Open.
Currently ranked No. 144 in the world, Mattek also wanted to earn points to improve her positioning. That, of course, is easy to do against players ranked in comparable positions, which wasn’t the case two weeks ago in South Carolina when she lost in straight sets to Maria Sharapova.
“The schedule right now is non-stop,” said Mattek, who resides in Boca Raton, Fla.
But despite the scheduling demands, Mattek did not rule out bringing out a surprise outfit from her suitcase this weekend.
She certainly did in 2006 when she shocked England and the tennis world by donning a “soccer” outfit that included knee-length socks, tiny shorts and a tight tank top.
“That was funny. That was my tone-down outfit, because I wasn’t thinking that it would not be that big of a deal,” Mattek said. “I was surprised by how much publicity I got from it.
“They actually came up to me after my match and asked me to donate it to the museum. They are in the museum now at Wimbledon.”
As unique as her wardrobes may be - one outfit included a huge hat that drew a hefty fine at the U.S. Open - Mattek may take the cake today by warming up for the match with her next opponent, Puchkova.
“We are pretty good friends and she is a good player,” Mattek said, “so it will be a good match.”
In doubles action, the top three teams remained alive. The top-seeded tandem of Monique Adamczak and Samantha Stosur cruised past Leanne Baker and Stephanie Dubois in straight sets (6-2, 6-4).
Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears, the No. 2 seed, downed Carly Gullickson and Shenay Perry in the featured match (6-4, 7-6), and the third-seeded team Angela Haynes and Mashona Washington beat the American duo of Courtney Nagle and Ashley Weinhold in straight sets
(7-5, 6-2).
The two doubles matches in the semifinals will be played today after the singles are completed.