WTA: Miami: Bethanie Mattek-Sands back after horror blessings

“BMS” is back: Almost nine months after her horror injury in Wimbledon, Bethanie Mattek-Sands makes her comeback at the tournament in Miami. Thanks to a wildcard she is in the single main field – and plays doubles with Julia Görges.

They were pictures that you normally only know from contact sports – not from tennis. Bethanie Mattek-Sands lay on the sacred lawn of Wimbledon for minutes surrounded by a group of helpers who had the shock written all over their faces. Her husband Justin held his wife’s head tightly, “I didn’t want her to see the condition of her knee,” he said later.

In her singles match against Sorana Cirstea (Romania) Mattek-Sands slipped to the net and twisted her knee. The American, one of the funniest and most popular players on the tour, fell to the ground and was in great pain: “Please help me, please, please, please,” she begged. On the sidelines, her double partner Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic) wept in horror. Together they had won three of the last four Grand Slam tournaments at that time.

“I’ve lost it. I’ve never seen an injury like this before. The knee was in a bad position. You only know something like that from movies,” said the shocked Cirstea afterwards. The next day Mattek-Sands reported in a live broadcast on Facebook that she had suffered a patella tendon tear. In addition, the kneecap was dislocated.

“BMS” was 32 years last July, for many it would have meant the end of their careers. But not for the bird of paradise from Arizona. Still in London she made a funny video with Safarova (“Team Bucie”) before she had an operation in New York a few days later. During rehab and her first steps on the court, Mattek-Sands also made a name for herself as a tennis commentator – at the US Open 2017 and the Australian Open 2018.

“I am so looking forward to returning to the court. It’s something very special,” she said before her match against Frenchwoman Alize Cornet on Wednesday. In doubles Mattek-Sands will compete with Julia Görges (Bad Oldesloe) in Key Biscayne’s Crandon Park, as Safarova is still out of action due to a viral disease.