The Tiffany-ed Maria Sharapova has faced some close calls in the first three rounds of this year’s French but managed to eke out wins so far (and now it’ll get even easier with the Williams sisters out of the way).
It was a battle of fashion good vs. evil yesterday when Masha took on Bethanie Mattek in the second round. They played over two days, and Bethanie actually had a fairly respectable outfit from Bebe Sport for day one.
And the match (postponed due to darkness) resumed with Bethanie wearing her pink hooker dress which we first saw in March at Indian Wells.
God. Bless. America.
And her third-round opponent, Karin Knapp, gave a fight in the first set (even intimidating Masha with some second serve mindgames ala Azarenka) but sputtered 6-0 in the second. Oh well, at least she looked great in her pink and silver Fila separates. Fabric belts = trend du jour.
(Photos by Getty Images)
tennis served fresh 
June 1, 2008 at 7:28 am |
There is something a lot of people don’t know about Mattek and her fashion; she was forced into it. I talked with Bethanie right after her win in Dothan Alabama on the ITF/USTA tour about her outfits. I actually asked her if she knew she was a topic of discussion on PTI (Pardon The Interuption) on ESPN. She knew about it then went on to explain her fashion.
Apparently Addias was her clothing sponsor and they pulled out on her at the Austrailian Open. Well she had nothing but Addias tennis outfits and outfits for going out on the town in her luggage. She decided she wasn’t going to wear Addias stuff which left only the Night Club wardrobe.
You now know the rest of the story. It sort of became a novelty so she ran with it for a while. After winning a match at Wimbledon, officals there actually came up to her after the match and asked if they could have her outfit, it’s now in the Museum. Then, of course, there was the outfit of the US Open.
Bethanie now has a reputation forced on her in a manner of speaking by Addias. Nike has picked her up, so don’t expect to see all the noise again this summer.
June 1, 2008 at 7:30 am |
Actually, I make a mistake. Nike hasn’t picked her up but there was talk of that happening. What we see this summer may depend on if they do pike her up.
June 1, 2008 at 12:23 pm |
So … yet ANOTHER arm-pit fat outfit/dress from Nike for Maria. Ugh. You’d really think someone she works with on the design team there would try to figure it out or tailor it so it’s not like that.
Apropos of nothing regarding this post I really liked what I saw of Kirilenko’s dress – the Stella/Adidas team always seem to get it right.
June 2, 2008 at 4:04 am |
I love slash super-love Maria’s dress from this match. Arm-pit fat or no, it’s totally hot. And, since I picked her to go out in the fourth round and all my other picks aren’t looking so hot, I suppose it’s good that her clothes are better than her clay-court game!
And I also super-love slash exploding-brain-love Bethanie’s day one outfit. I like how you call it “respectable” despite the ragged off the shoulder 1980s hair band cut off shirt. Mattek deserves to have at least SOME attention paid to her tennis (she took a set off Maria here after having played three more matches than her along the way) but her outfits truly do belong in a museum. And on the court. All the time.
June 2, 2008 at 7:27 am |
I’m struggling to see an ounce of armpit fat on Sharapova.
June 2, 2008 at 10:24 am |
@ Jon: It’s not technically fat but it’s the way the dress is cut that show an extra bit of weird and squished skin that is in no way flattering, which is the odd part since the rest of her on-court outfits are typically very flattering just not the cut around the armholes of the outfit. I know the girl has shoulders but you’d really think since the dress is being made to fit her that area wouldn’t look like she’s trying to fit into a smaller size. Just look at any straight on photo.
Ex. http://sports.yahoo.com/ten/photo?slug=9c2980bb21884ea6b5eb36d61f233c26.france_tennis_french_open_rog129&prov=ap
or
http://sports.yahoo.com/ten/photo?slug=b6bb97bc1110c5d0987dd89f718309aa-getty-tennis-fra-open-roland-garros&prov=getty