WATCH: Mattek-Sands gets up close and personal with a hawk

White Sulphur Springs, W. Va.—Who knew that Bethanie Mattek-Sands has a passion for falcons? The Chicago Smash star spent a day at the Falconry Academy at The Greenbrier to learn about what it takes to become a falconer.

"I have been looking into falconry for a while," Mattek-Sands says. "I'll be honest, it's potentially a career I want to pursue post-tennis. I consider myself a little bit of a savage and hawks, come on!"

Local falconer Cody Morgan spent some time answering her questions, and she had many, including how to get your own hawk. It turns out the apprenticeship takes two years to complete and culminates with the bidding falconer capturing his or her own wild bird.

Mattek-Sands picked up a lot of insight during her outing away from all the World TeamTennis action like the fact that all of the birds are completely able to leave if they want to. With training and a reward system (free food), the wild birds usually return home.

"They do train them, but really you're just placing yourself in their environment and it's still on the bird," Mattek-Sands says. "The bird has to choose to fly back to you."

There's also a very strict diet involved so that the birds remain eager to fly around visiting patrons and return to Morgan's arm, as well as some basic rules like to "act like a tree" when they're swooping past you.

All of the hawks, falcons and owls at The Greenbrier Falconry have very family-friendly, calm names like Daisy and Raz. Mattek-Sands has other plans for her future hawk as she wants to name it something a little more aggressive. She has got some time to figure out all of the details.

The nine-time doubles Grand Slam champion first got interested in falconry after laying eyes on the sparkling Doha trophy at the Qatar Total Open. The WTA event takes place every February and the hardware is very memorable.

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Mattek-Sands lives in Arizona with her husband Justin and their dog Ruger (a Boerboel Mastiff) so she will have ample space for her own falconry when she does eventually lay down the racquet.

This month in West Virginia, the 35-year-old has gone 15-6 in doubles and mixed doubles play, and has helped the Chicago Smash snag the No. 2 seed for this weekend's WTT playoffs

For more photos, videos, results and live action from World TeamTennis, go to WTT.com.