Bethanie Mattek-Sands ( Bethanie Lynn Mattek; born March 23, 1985) is an American inactive tennis player. She has won nine Grand Slam titles and an Olympic gold medal, and is a former world No. 1 in doubles. She held the top ranking for 32 consecutive weeks.
Mattek-Sands has won 35 career doubles and mixed doubles titles, including five doubles majors at the 2015 Australian Open, 2015 French Open, 2016 US Open, 2017 Australian Open and 2017 French Open, all partnering Lucie Šafářová. The pair also were the runners-up of the 2016 WTA Finals. Mattek-Sands has also found great success in mixed doubles; she won the 2012 Australian Open with and the 2015 French Open and a gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Mattek-Sands then suffered a major knee injury in 2017 that required surgery and a year away from competition to heal, but eventually came back to win the 2018 and 2019 US Open mixed doubles titles, both partnering Jamie Murray. Mattek also played World TeamTennis for the Hartford FoxForce in 2000, the Sacramento Capitals in 2006, and the New York Sportimes in 2008.
Mattek-Sands has also won five singles and three doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. Her best results in singles on the WTA Tour are reaching the fourth round of two major events (Wimbledon in 2008 and the French Open in 2013), the semifinals of the tournaments in Cincinnati in 2005 and Birmingham in 2008, and the final of the Bell Challenge in 2008 and 2010. She reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 30 in the world, in July 2011.
Career
In 1999, Mattek played her first WTA Tour event in Philadelphia where she received a wildcard into the qualifying. She lost in the first round of qualifying to Nana Miyagi. It was the only tour match of the year for Mattek. Then in 2000, she received a wildcard into qualifying at the International Players Championships in Key Biscayne but lost in the first round to Anca Barna. Later in the year, she played in her first major event at the US Open. She was handed a wildcard into the qualifying, but she lost in the first round to Gisela Rivera.
In 2001, Mattek again received a wildcard into the qualifying at the Miami Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, but lost in the second round of qualifying to Sandra Cacic. Mattek received direct entry into the ITF event Boynton Beach due to a wildcard. She defeated top-seeded Elena Likhovtseva in the first round and Jennifer Hopkins in the second round, but lost in the quarterfinals against Åsa Carlsson. As a result, her ranking rose up to world No. 343. Mattek received direct entry into the Bausch & Lomb Championships at Amelia Island, Florida, thanks to a wildcard. However, she lost to fellow American Jill Craybas in the first round. Mattek played another ITF event, the Bronx Open, as a wildcard, but lost in the first round to Sylvia Plischke. She played her first main draw as a wildcard at a Grand Slam tournament in the US Open but lost to Australia's Alicia Molik in the first round. Mattek ended the year ranked world No. 338.
2008: Wimbledon fourth round, first WTA Tour final and top 40 in singles, top 25 in doubles
In 2008, Mattek reached a then career-high singles ranking of No. 38 on November 3, 2008, and a then career-high ranking of No. 24 in doubles. At the major tournaments, she did not qualify for the Australian Open, but reached second rounds of the French Open and US Open. Her best performance was at Wimbledon where she reached the fourth round, claiming her first top-10 win over 2007 Wimbledon runner-up, Marion Bartoli. She then lost in the round of 16 to fellow American Serena Williams.
At the LA Championships, Mattek made it to the semifinals before losing to tenth-seeded Flavia Pennetta. In November, she reached her first ever WTA tournament final at the Bell Challenge in Canada, before losing to the top seeded Nadia Petrova.
2009: Injury and comeback In 2009, she had to pull out of the Australian Open in January with a hip injury. She later made her season debut at the Indian Wells Open and reached the second round before losing to Gisela Dulko. She also entered the doubles event with Mashona Washington, where she reached the third round. At the Wimbledon Championships, she lost in the first round to the 18th seed Samantha Stosur.
2011: Career-high singles ranking of 30, first Masters doubles final
In January 2011, Mattek-Sands got the biggest win of her career by defeating world No. 7, Francesca Schiavone. Mattek-Sands later teamed with John Isner for the U.S. and reached the Hopman Cup final, defeating the Belgian team of Justine Henin and Ruben Bemelmans.
Her good form continued into the Hobart International, where she reached her third career WTA singles final, before losing to Jarmila Groth.
At the Australian Open, Mattek-Sands lost to qualifier Arantxa Rus in the first round. She reached the quarterfinals of the women's doubles with partner Meghann Shaughnessy, and made the semifinals of mixed doubles. Her next event was a Fed Cup tie against Belgium in Antwerp, where she lost to Yanina Wickmayer in the opening rubber, and later to Kim Clijsters.
At the indoor tournament in Paris, she advanced to her second semifinal in her third WTA event of the season. She lost to eventual champion, Petra Kvitová. Mattek-Sands and Shaughnessy then made it to the final of the doubles event without dropping a set and defeated the team of Dushevina/Makarova to win their first doubles title as a team. It was her ninth career WTA doubles title. After her success in Paris, Mattek-Sands rushed off to Dubai, where she suffered an opening round loss to Peng Shuai.
At Indian Wells, she made it to the second round before losing to tenth seeded Shahar Pe'er. Pairing with Shaughnessy, the American duo made it to the doubles finals losing to Sania Mirza and Elena Vesnina. In her next tournament in Miami, Mattek-Sands lost in the second round to world No. 1, Caroline Wozniacki.
After Miami, Mattek-Sands was off to Charleston for the start of the clay-court season, where she was beaten in the second round by Elena Vesnina. In doubles, Mattek-Sands/Shaughnessy made the finals of Charleston, but were once again defeated by the team of Vesnina/Mirza. Mattek-Sands next entered a small clay event in Estoril where she was the fifth-seeded player in singles, but was then upset in the first round by Monica Niculescu.
At the Madrid Open, she caused an upset in the first round when she defeated former French Open champion Ana Ivanovic, after coming back from a first-set loss at love. She eventually made it to the quarterfinals, before losing to Li Na in three sets.
Mattek-Sands faced Flavia Pennetta in her opening-round match in Rome. She defeated Pennetta in three sets, but lost to Jarmila Gajdošová in the second round.
Mattek-Sands played in the French Open and made it to the third round, which was her best result at this major in her career thus far, before losing to the higher-seeded as well as her good friend, Jelena Janković.
At Wimbledon, Mattek-Sands (then ranked 30th) was upset in the first round against then ranked 133rd Misaki Doi from Japan. Despite the loss, Mattek-Sands reached a career-high ranking of world No. 30 for the first time, on 11 July 2011.
She then had to withdraw from her heavily scheduled U.S. hardcourt series events due to a shoulder injury. She did try to play at the US Open, but lost to Polona Hercog in the first round. In the women's doubles competition, she acquired a new partner due to the retirement of Meghann Shaughnessy. She teamed up with Jarmila Gajdošová, and they reached the third round where they lost to the team of Huber/Raymond.
2012: First major mixed-doubles title Mattek-Sands started her year representing the U.S. in the 2012 Hopman Cup with Mardy Fish. She came up short in her singles matches against Wimbledon champion, Petra Kvitová of the Czech Republic and Denmark's world No. 1, Caroline Wozniacki, but beat Bulgaria's Tsvetana Pironkova in the third tie. After an early exit from the Hopman Cup, she played singles at the Hobart International, where she was a finalist, and doubles with partner Gajdošová. In singles, she lost in the second round to Sorana Cîrstea, and in doubles, she reached the semifinals, before having to retire due to a neck injury.
At the Australian Open, Mattek-Sands lost to Agnieszka Radwańska in the first round. In the doubles competition, she reached the third round with Jarmila Gajdošová, before losing to the Indian/Russian pairing of Sania Mirza and Elena Vesnina. In the mixed doubles competition, she and Romanian partner, Horia Tecău finally had their breakthrough moment, defeating title favorites, Bhuphati/Mirza in the semifinals. They then went on to win the title by defeating the team of Elena Vesnina and Leander Paes in the final.
Mattek-Sands made it through the qualifying draw at the Paris Indoors. In the main draw, she made it to the second round, before losing to Roberta Vinci in three sets.
Mattek-Sands started to play on the doubles circuit with Sania Mirza, with whom she had had success in the past. In only their second tournament as a team in 2012, the Indian-American duo won the Premier-level event in Brussels, Belgium. However, they could not hold on to the good form as they were upset in the first round at Roland Garros. They made it to the third round of Wimbledon, but were eliminated by the Williams sisters.
Mattek-Sands and Mirza were beaten in the first round of the WTA Tour event in Carlsbad, California by Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan.
After reaching the quarterfinal of the Lexington Challenger, Mattek-Sands failed to win another main-draw match in singles. However, with Mirza in doubles, she reached the quarterfinals of Montreal and the third round of the US Open, playing eventual champions Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci to three sets.
2013: French Open fourth round in singles Mattek-Sands received a wild card to play in Kuala Lumpur, and justified it, as she reached the final ranked at No. 197. She lost to Karolína Plíšková, despite winning first set. At home event in Charleston, she brushed aside fellow American and that year's Australian Open semifinalist Sloane Stephens, before losing to Madison Keys in third round. At Premier event in Stuttgart, Bethanie reached the semifinals as qualifier, stunning No. 7 Sara Errani and Sabine Lisicki in the second round and quarterfinals, respectively. There she lost to Li Na.
At the French Open, Mattek-Sands won against the sixth seeded Li Na in the second round, beating her in three sets. Mattek-Sands was placed 61 places lower than Li, the 2011 champion, in the WTA rankings. She subsequently reached the fourth round, where she lost to Maria Kirilenko. This was her best showing at this major in singles in her career.
After a successful clay-court season, she didn't continue in that style, losing in the first or second rounds at all tournaments. At Wimbledon, she lost in round one to Angelique Kerber and to Ekaterina Makarova in the second round of US Open.
2014: Multiple injuries and loss of form At Sydney International, she qualified for tournament and then beat Eugenie Bouchard and No. 5, Agnieszka Radwańska. Both defeated players would go on to reach semifinals of the first Grand Slam event of the season, which made Mattek-Sands' wins bigger. But during her quarterfinal match against Madison Keys, she retired in the first set due to lumbar spine injury.
At Australian Open, she wasn't happy with draw, as she was the first opponent of third seed Maria Sharapova, losing in two sets. At the Pattaya Open, Mattek-Sands lost in the first round to Karolína Plíšková. In Doha, she beat again Bouchard, before losing to Monica Niculescu.