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NASDAQ-100 OPENMarch 25, 2003Marion BartoliKEY BISCAYNE, FLORIDA THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Would you repeat that whole thing you just said in English now - well, only the best parts (smiling.) MARION BARTOLI: Like I say, yeah, it was good for me, a good impression to break her three times. I make return her winners on the first serve, so I was so happy. But the only thing, I never won my serve game. I was little bit angry with that because sometimes I was like 30-love up or 40-15 up and I lost my serve game, so yeah... Q. Did you think, after Venus lost to Meghann Shaughnessy last night, did you think, "Why not me? Why couldn't I beat a Williams sister"? MARION BARTOLI: Even if Meghann lost, I think like that, "Why not me?" I think Serena is more confident than Venus. I don't play against Venus, but Serena is too strong for me right now. I don't have the level of Meghann Shaughnessy. I just try to improve my game right now and to play with the Top 10 players, because my goal is to be Top 10 player so I need to improve my game for to have the level of a Top 10 players, you know. Q. What have you learned from that match today? MARION BARTOLI: I need to improve my second serve little bit, because when she serve second serve, Serena, her ball is very, very high and with a lot of power. My second serve, when I try to serve high, my ball lost too much power. So I need to improve my power of my legs for to push a little bit more and to have a better second serve. Q. Marion, you did something today very few players out of the Top 10 can do against Serena; you actually dictated some of the rallies. MARION BARTOLI: Yeah. Q. You were pushing her around the court. That felt good, no? MARION BARTOLI: Yeah, it feel good. When she hit in the baseline, her ball is not too quick. I feel I can play every time, and I feel I can run her. When she runs, she's definitely not very good, so... So, yeah, when the rally beginning, I was quite confident in my shot. But when I serve, and she come to the court, I say, "Oh, my God. Oh, my God, what going to be happening?" I going just to serve and, boom, return winners. I serve, return winners. I say, "Oh." Sometimes I serve the first serve like 100 miles. It was quite okay. The return was like ten centimeters from the baseline. I just keep the ball in play and after she make the winners. I think the best shot for the moment is her return of serve, it's not her baseline shot. Because her baseline shot are okay, but not too quick. But her return on serve is very quick. Q. When I saw you playing the Juniors at Flushing Meadow you were standing about this far behind the service line to receive serve. MARION BARTOLI: Yeah, but it was in Juniors and the junior aren't the level of Serena, you know. Q. But you were able to do that in the Juniors, half-volleying the return, and you still play much closer than other players do to receive serve. You're inside the baseline? MARION BARTOLI: Uh-hmm. Q. You feel you see the ball better or you can handle it better? MARION BARTOLI: Yeah, I see the ball better, and I have a double-handed game. So the trouble for me is just to not open a lot of angle, because if I stay too much far from the baseline, I open too much angle. And with my back -- my left -- yeah, my forehand, it's double-handed, it's too difficult for me to just, you know, return from here like on slice serve, wide in the right side. So, yeah, I think I push on my opponent some pressure and it help me a lot. Against Serena, I break her third times in the match, so, yeah, it's good. My return was good today. Q. You always use two hands both ways? MARION BARTOLI: Yeah. Q. You play at the same speed almost every ball, as hard and as fast as you can. Have you thought at all about being able to hit the ball with different pace? MARION BARTOLI: I can't do it right now. I can't do it right now. No, when I try to push some lift on the ball, just to keep the ball more higher or more down like some slice in backhand, I lost my rhythm on the other shot. So when I try to come back with some flat shot, sometimes I lose my rhythm and it's very bad. So I try for the moment to stay with flat shot and it works. I mean it's really works, yeah. Q. Don't you think when you get up against players as strong as Venus, Top 10 players, they also fall into the rhythm that you fall into, making it easier for them to hit the ball back? MARION BARTOLI: I don't think so. I really don't think so, no, right now. Because when I try to play a little bit some high ball against Lindsay, I lost every time the point. Some slice shots, you must be some very aggressive slice shots because if the slice shot is quite without any speed, you lost every time the point. So right now I don't learn to make a very good slice and very aggressive, so I try to play flatter. Anyway, I can't make a very aggressive shot with some slice or some lift, so I just make what I learn to do, you know? Q. You said yesterday that you just wanted to see what it was like to play the World No. 1 and to enjoy yourself. How enjoyable was it playing the World No. 1 in a stadium like this? MARION BARTOLI: I enjoy the moment when -- I enjoy to play against Serena because it's such a good experience, and I'm not going to play every day against her. This morning, I get up at like seven and normally I need to get up at nine. I got up at seven, I was so excited, "Dad, dad, come on, come on, get up! I need to play against Serena, so I need to make more (inaudible) the other day." I enjoy this moment, but my goal for now is to play more time against her and definitely to beat her one time. So I am not going to say, "Oh, it was just a great experience," you know. I want more now, so... Q. I'm doing a celebration on the life of Monica Seles. Your style is very similar to hers. Have you ever thought that you're imitating her, or did you mean to imitate her or not? MARION BARTOLI: No, never - from the tennis game, never. I try to imitate her for her concentration and her mind on the court, but never from the technical. Q. Do you look up to her at all? MARION BARTOLI: Yeah, sometimes I go to look her practice. But not a lot now, no. Q. Did you see her play in her prime? MARION BARTOLI: Uh-hmm. Q. Where? MARION BARTOLI: In the French Open. Q. The French Open? MARION BARTOLI: Yeah. When she beginning, she was only 16, yes. Q. Steffi Graf? MARION BARTOLI: Yeah. Q. 10-8 in the third, you saw that match, did you? MARION BARTOLI: Yeah, in '90. Q. '90, yes? MARION BARTOLI: When she beat her. She was playing with a Prince racquet - I can tell you everything - with a white dress (laughing). Q. So you do sort of look up to her, in a way, as, might I say, "legend" of the game? MARION BARTOLI: Yeah, yeah, I think so. Like Steffi Graf is, yeah. Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, yeah. End of FastScripts…. |
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