Bethanie Mattek-Sands will return to the WTA Tour this spring, just nine months after suffering a debilitating knee injury at Wimbledon.
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Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova will enter the doubles draw at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells. The pair are five-time Grand Slam doubles champions.
"We're getting the band back together!" Mattek-Sands said on Tuesday. "I'm excited for my first tournament back. It's weird to think I haven't played in seven months. As much as I like to train and practice, I like matches. That's why we're out here. But Lucie's ready to go, and we're planning to play Miami and Charleston after that.”
Mattek-Sands ruptured her right knee cap during her second-round match against Sorana Cirstea after a gruesome fall that shook the Wimbledon grounds. She later had surgery to repair a complete patellar tendon rupture. After a long and well-documented rehab (Mattek-Sands calls it a #Kneehab) the American is upbeat and ready to return to the tour with her longtime doubles partner.
Mattek-Sands was the WTA’s No.1-ranked doubles player at the time and she and Safarova were seeded first in the doubles draw at Wimbledon. The 32-year-old is currently No.23 in doubles and 133 in singles.