Susie Rushton: Beauty Queen
Saturday, 5 July 2008
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Scenario One: You head out for an evening jog, only determination etched on your face. After 40 sweaty minutes, you return with the whites of your eyes bright and cheeks, pink. Scenario Two: You're about to play three sets of world-class tennis on a blistering June day. You're wearing a bespoke tuxedo-playsuit, your hair is ironed flat and on your face are three coats of mascara, concealer, foundation, cream blusher and pink lip gloss. Now, I like make-up, but I'll take the former, any day. It's that time of year again when I gaze at the superwomen of SW19 and wonder, what's more impressive, her serve – or the way she manages to stay, like, totally matte?
Ana Ivanovic rather gave the game away in a recent interview. Talking to Sport magazine, the Serbian beauty commented, "A lot of players pay attention to the way they look and they put on a lot of make-up when they go on court. Maybe it's not a nice thing to say, but it's true. There are a few of them." That female tennis players check their reflection before leaving the locker room isn't a revelation. But then she went on, "When you are on court you don't want to be worrying that your mascara is running, but there are some players who really do. I'll give you a tip so you can tell who is using make-up. When they take a towel, the girls who are wearing make-up go like this [Ivanovic dabs face], they never rub, so that it doesn't smudge. So you can tell just by watching."
We fortunate amateurs may wipe off our make-up before exercise (or at least we should do) and run until we're purple in the face. The pros have to wear waterproof panstick and check for streaming mascara. And if you don't believe me, watch out for the dabbing finalists today.
