What does it take to catch the eye of a two top tennis players? A bit of sophistication and a bit of attitude — at least if you’re hoping to be chosen as the best dressed at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships’ annual Ladies’ Day contest. Doubles stars Sania Mirza and Bethany Mattek-Sands faced one of their biggest challenges of the day on Thursday (after beating Russian-Czech team Anastsia Pavlyuchenkova and Lucie Safarova 6-,4 6-4 that is) when they selected to judge which of the many participants had the best put-together look for a sunny afternoon of tennis.
The only problem?
“You’ve got two people with the most opposite styles,” said Mattek-Sands, laughing as she and Mirza repeatedly disagreed over which of the ten pictures presented to them in the Tennis Stadium’s majlis area showed the best style.
“I think she’s very well put together,” said Mirza, pointing out Polish entrant Hanna Stachyrak, wearing a smart red and white outfit from Karen Millen.
Mattek-Sands — with her blue-dyed hair in a bun — went in a different direction, pointing out Pamela Wilkinson, in a blue-green ensemble she had designed herself and had made in Satwa. “I want those pants,” said the American. “Me and Sania have very different tastes most of the time.”
The pair finally settled on Serbian Lana Sabljarevic, whose skirt-and-top pairing with simple white sandals was deemed by Mirza to be elegant. The Alexander McQueen-style diamante skull on her clutch caught Mattek-Sands’ eye.
“The first thing I noticed was the skull,” she said. “I think Sania liked that she was cool and casual.”
“She wins because I am more on the orthodox and she [Mattek-Sands] likes funky.”
Sabljarevic— whose outfit was from Koton, New Look and Massimo Dutti — won tickets to yesterday’s women’s finals and a spa treatment at the Jumeirah Creekside Hotel next to the stadium. It was her second time taking part in the contest. The top nine best dressed each won drinks at the hotel’s rooftop Cu-Ba bar.
Don’t miss it!
The ladies’ day content may only be for women, but on Thursday there’s a chance for all to win at Fantastic Fan Day, when one of the male players will chose who they think is the biggest fan. Come dressed to show your fan spirit — think face paint, costumes and flags — for a chance to win tickets to the men’s finals on March 3 and get your picture in tabloid!.
