Tennis' Bethanie Mattek-Sands Issues Match Challenge to Blogger

By Cam Martin 

Tennis player Bethanie Mattek-Sands has thrown down the gauntlet and challenged blogger Larry Brown of Larry Brown Sports to a match, incensed by Brown’s recent criticism of her for wearing a “Lady Gaga-like dress to the Wimbledon players’ party” and for wearing a sponsor’s eye black during a Wimbledon match, among other things.

Eye black is designed to help keep the glare out of athletes’ eyes. Considering it’s been in the 50s, cloudy, and rainy at Wimbledon, the eye black is pretty pointless and quite obviously just a fashion statement. What are we getting at? It’s one thing if you’re wearing crazy outfits like Venus Williams or Maria Sharapova and actually winning majors, but it’s quite another if you’re getting bounced in the first round. A word of advice to Bethanie Mattek-Sands: fashion statements are best reserved for players who are actually winning. Until you can win a match at a grand slam, worry less about your outfits and more about your opponents.

Apparently Mattek-Sands would rather worry about the criticism of a sports blogger — one, it must be noted, whose work we read, often enjoy and sometimes link to in our articles.

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She wrote in a Twitter message to Brown: “Since you manage to talk some smack how about we get you out on the court during the US Open series!?! Put up or shut up RIGHT???”

Yes, this actually happened. A world-class tennis player whose fashion choices have been making headlines in mainstream publications, too, chose to call out a sports blogger and challenge him to a match.

Brown writes,

Naturally I was taken aback, but I told her I was in Los Angeles and that we could meet at the WTA event in Carlsbad (San Diego area) to get it on. She wrote back saying “Ill even spot you a few games maybe even a set?? You even think you could take a game off me!?!?”

At that point I told her she wouldn’t win more than three points against me if we played a set, and that made her even more eager to play. “Oh this is tooooo much, please have as many fans and or media there as possible in Carlsbad (July 30 through Aug. 7). This will be EPIC!” Mattek-Sands wrote.

I wasn’t messing around either. If she goes to the Carlsbad tournament, you better believe I’ll be there for a challenge match. The only issue is actually getting her to come out for the event.

“I’m gonna have to get the wild card for the tournament now as I was not gonna play it, but now I have a reason to start earlier!” she said.

All Bethanie needs to know is I’ve already begun training in preparation for the challenge. Now she just needs to take her own advice and “put up or shut up!” because I’ll be there and I’ll be ready.

This possible match-up reminds me of the tag line for Alien vs. Predator: Whoever wins…we lose.

 

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