London: Bethanie Mattek lasted only 51 minutes against defending champion Venus Williams on Wednesday but her dress sense left a more lasting impression.
Knee-high white socks, skimpy shorts and a tight-fitting top together with a white bandana and dangly ear rings clearly put her ahead of her opponent in the fashion stakes with even Venus admitting "she looked cute".
Rather than spend the hours before her match fretting about the Williams serve, the Miami-based 21-year-old said she went to London department store Harrods to get kitted out.
"I had one of my friends in my hotel room last night and I had three shirts, three skirts, I didn't know what I was going to wear," she told reporters.
"I was going for kind of the soccer theme. I was looking for some high socks and I was actually at Harrods last night trying to find something. They were £10 ($18.21) each."
"All the girls in the locker room were like 'Oh my God Beth, what are you wearing today?" she said.
"I've pulled out some pretty crazy stuff which I've gotten fined for before so I was like, 'okay, I'm going to be mellow here, wear all white'."
Blond-haired Mattek, thrashed 6-1 6-0 by Williams on her main draw debut, was once fined for wearing a cowboy hat at the US Open.
She usually wears baseball trainers on court and has even squeezed into a leopard-print dress.
Mattek said she was determined to keep on having fun, and if it attracted a few sponsors, so much the better.
"I'm not doing it because I'm a superstar," she said. "I like to be different. Tennis is entertainment and I'm playing out there so people can come and watch and enjoy."
"Without fans, sponsors, I mean I'll just be out there hitting a yellow ball for my own enjoyment."
Mattek said she had been paid £1,000 each for a couple of logos hastily applied to her outfit.
"If I wasn't wearing a bra or something, maybe that would have gone up to £5,000 or something and it definitely would have made a picture," she said.
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