Wimbledon stars speak out as injuries spark safety fears in wake of Bethanie Mattek-Sands horror fall

Mattek-Sands is one of the most experienced figures on the WTA Tour having turned professional 18 years ago, but the American now faces a long road to recovery

Mattek-Sands is tended to by paramedics on Court 17 (Getty)

Wimbledon is under scrutiny for the state of its grass courts after a number of slips saw one match paused and another ended after Bethanie Mattek-Sands went down with a horrific knee injury.

Mattek-Sands looks certain to face a long road back to tennis after appearing to twist her right knee during her second-round match against Sorana Cirstea at the All England Club.

The American lay screaming in pain after slipping early in the third set and was taken to hospital following lengthy treatment on the court.

“Her knee was in a very weird position,” Cirstea said. “I’ve never seen anything like this, except in the movies. And, yeah, I panicked a little bit as well. I called for help, but no one was coming. Then I tried to comfort her as much as I could, but you could feel the pain.”

Cirstea clambered over the net to rush to the aid of Mattek-Sands, who was screaming “help me”, but was visibly taken aback when she saw her opponent’s knee.

12th seed Kristina Mladenovic hurt her knee when she slipped on the popular No 18 court, but while she did not suffer serious injury, Mladenovic and opponent Alison Riske asked to stop playing after just two games. Tournament supervisor Pam Whytcross was seen taking pictures of the grass as concerns rose over conditions.

Mladenovic said: "It's quite unique with your opponent, after two games, you both agree on stopping playing in a slam.

"You're asking the referee to tell you what's the rule if both players don't want to keep on playing. And the answer is that they just can't do anything, unfortunately, and you have to keep on playing. In case something bad happens...

"There's no grass. I don't know how to describe it. It's not even clay. It's not flat. I mean, I don't know."

She added: "There was a huge hole on the sides where Pam (Whytcross), the referee, came to actually took pictures of it. There was a hole. So it was not even flat.

"I realised that because at the warm-up I kind of twisted a little bit my ankle."

As for Mattek-Sands, the American is one of the most experienced figures on the WTA Tour having turned professional 18 years ago but is expected to be ruled out of the game for a currently unknown length of time after Thursday's horror fall.

The 32-year-old reached her highest singles ranking of 30 in 2011 but has focused more on doubles over the last few years and climbed to number one in the rankings in January.

Her partnership with Czech Lucie Safarova has proved hugely fruitful and, after winning titles at the US Open, Australian Open and French Open, they had hoped to achieve the rare feat of holding all four at the same time.

Wimbledon is the only grand slam Mattek-Sands has not won, with her tally after Paris standing at five women's and two mixed doubles titles.

To the casual tennis fan, Mattek-Sands is almost certainly best known for her dress sense.

The American has always made a point of standing out from the crowd, be it striking clothing, knee-length socks or dyed hair. She once wore a straw hat during a doubles final on the WTA Tour.

Bethanie Mattek-Sands in action on Court 17 before suffering her injury (Getty)

Wimbledon's all-white rule has been a challenge to Mattek-Sands' creativity but in 2011 she famously took to the court wearing a jacket adorned with tennis balls, created by Lady Gaga's designer Alex Noble.

Mattek-Sands lives in Phoenix, Arizona with her husband Justin Sands and beloved mastiff dog Ruger.