Rising: the Lady Gaga of tennis

She's the girl from Neenah, Wisconsin, who sports garish leopard print dresses, knee-high football socks and cowboy hats on court while slapping thick, black paint beneath her eyes.

She's the girl from Neenah, Wisconsin, who sports garish leopard print dresses, knee-high football socks and cowboy hats on court while slapping thick, black paint beneath her eyes.

Brash American Bethanie Mattek-Sands is the self-styled Lady Gaga of tennis and on Thursday, she sent Chinese star Li Na completely loco.

Mattek-Sands stunned the 2011 champion, 5-7, 6-3, 6-2, to reach the third round at Roland Garros and add a little colour to a drab Paris day. “It's funny. I haven't worn anything too crazy on court for a few years now,” insisted the 28-year-old, who has also been spotted in a cocktail dress made of tennis balls at a Wimbledon party.

Her fashion history includes being fined for wearing a striped cowboy hat during a match at the 2005 US Open.