What the heck is going on at Wimbledon? We’re only halfway through the third round, and we’ve already lost eight of the top ten women. They’re dropping like flies over there, so maybe we better get to the best-dressed award before any more fall by the wayside.
Actually, we’ll just be voting for second-best dressed. Best-dressed goes to the irrepressible Bethanie Mattek-Sands because A) she’s making her brave return to the site of last year’s gruesome injury, and B) she finds a way to stay true to her wacky self despite the restrictive dress code. After surgery and a long year of rehab, Bethanie’s back to compete for the only significant doubles title missing from her impressive resume. A winner in every sense of the word.
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My comparatively bland nominees for second-best dressed: Madison Keys, Kiki Mladenovic, and Vitalia Diatchenko. (The first two have already been eliminated from the tournament, but at least they looked good on their way out.)
Nominee #1: Madison Keys
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This Nike ensemble graced quite a few players, including Simona Halep, but I liked it best on Madison. A surprising combination of semi-sporty top with a wispy, flowing skort, this outfit could have gone so wrong. Somehow it works. It looks exceptionally lovely when Keys is racing across the court, gossamer skirt floating behind her…
(It looks less lovely–and must be downright annoying–on windy days like the opening day of the tournament. Nike is developing a bit of a track record for semi-impractical tennis wear. Anyone remember the billowing baby-doll dress debacle from 2016?)
Nominee #2: Kiki Mladenovic
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Kiki’s dress by Adidas hits the sweet spot between sporty and elegant. I love the simple, clean lines and the wavy eyelet effect along the bottom. Mladenovic would look good wearing a potato sack, but there’s no denying the classic beauty of this dress.
Nominee #3: Vitalia Diatchenko
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I don’t know Diatchenko’s game at all–I didn’t see her first-round upset of Maria Sharapova–but I like the body-conscious, athletic fit of this outfit. Like a lot of Nike pieces lately, this top and skort seem prone to wrinkling but look fabulous if she’s not, you know, moving around. (I like Nike, but maybe they need some actual athletes on their design teams.)
For the purpose of this face-off, let’s assume these players all just got dressed, haven’t had time to get wrinkled, and are playing on a wind-free day.
Go, Bethanie!!!
My serve total: 320
You’re right! Bethanie is always the best dressed!
Always! 👍
What is going on with Vitalia’s skirt? Does she have a dollar bill or something tucked in the front inside?
😂 I didn’t notice that. And now I’m going back to other photos from the same moment and studying that area of her body. This is not how I want to spend my Friday!!! Lol. What an unfortunate sweat-shadow-thing…
The elegant lines of that Adidas dress just can’t be beat. The eyelet takes it to the next level, a perfect counterpoint so it doesn’t look too stark. My only complaint is the high neckline. I’m sure it’s practical for blocking the sun and staying put, though. And yeah, it doesn’t hurt that Mladenovic would look good in anything.
I’m not usually a high-neckline person, but I actually like it on that dress. I might not like it on me, but on her, it’s working.
Kiki’s attractive and gracious dress made ME want to buy a tennis dress for the first time ever (instead of separates).
The dress really is perfection. (It’s trouncing the other two in the poll!)
Diatchenko looked as sexy as an actress in her outfit. While I think it was too Provocative for the tennis court, I suspect she will get many marriage proposals on her Twitter feed; as well as less whole some proposals of the lewd and crude variety.
Ha! Yes, she probably garnered quite a few fans, some of whom won’t care anything about her tennis game.