Who Is Bethanie Mattek-Sands?

So a recent little blurb in the Sports section caught my eye - "U.S. needs new star successors." The gist of this very small article was that, outside the Williams sisters, there are no upcoming U.S. women tennis players. To put it bluntly, "No [female] American teenager is being heralded as a future Grand Slam champion."

If you check the WTA rankings this week, there are four U.S. women in the top 100 - Serena Williams is No. 1 and Venus Williams is holding spot No. 6. The next ranked U.S. woman, coming in at No. 37, is Bethanie Mattek-Sands. Jill Craybas holds the next spot at No. 85. Jill Craybas I've heard of. But who is Bethanie Mattek-Sands?

I've never even heard of her let alone seen her play. So I thought to myself, "I'm going to track some information down on Bethanie. Maybe highlight her on my blog."

Well, the photo above comes from the WTA website's official entry on Bethanie. Sure, they give some stats. But the big news? She just got married in November 2008. Here's how the official WTA website puts it:

With a perfect sunset backdrop, Mattek wore a Romona Keveza dress and Marciano zebra print stiletto shoes. Her 5.5 carat custom engagement ring was paired with a wedding band resembling zebra stripes, 3.5 carats of black and white diamonds. The intimate wedding of just 40 guests in attendance consisted of friends and family who all dressed to the wedding's theme of black and white. The flower arrangements consisted of purple orchids, white lilies and white hydrangeas, and an ensemble of violins, drums, harp, flute and piano. The cake complimented the theme too, created with vanilla and strawberries and a layer of chocolate mousse.

I didn't realize you could get so much wedding information from the WTA! A description of the cake even! I think I've found a new addition to my Tennis Fixation favorite websites!

It appears that Bethanie is down in Miami right now, playing in the Sony Ericsson Open. I'll try to keep up with how she is doing and, of course, what she is wearing. Zebra stripes maybe?





© Kim Selzman 2009
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