	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

WIMBLEDON

June 25, 2011

Marion Bartoli

LONDON, ENGLAND

M. BARTOLI/F. Pennetta
5-7, 6-4, 9-7

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How did you turn that around?
MARION BARTOLI: I don't know really. I was fighting against Flavia. She was playing extremely well. I was fighting against my health. Really, it was hard.
But, you know, in a way, I really felt like even if I end up losing that match, I didn't play badly. I mean, it was really a high-quality match. We both play I think very well. At the end it was just some few points here and there.
But it's probably one of the best matches I played here in Wimbledon. Even in 2007 I don't think I played that well. So it's a pretty good feeling to end up to be a winner.
But again, even if I end up being a loser it won't be really devastating, because I think it was really a high-quality performance from both of us.

Q. Were you surprised she was able to play that well on grass? Obviously with you, you've done very well on grass, but it's not like it's her favorite surface.
MARION BARTOLI: Well, I think Flavia is an extremely talented player and can I think she really can play everywhere. I think really grass, it's a great surface for her. I'm not agree with you.
I remember she played an excellent match against Maria in 2006. I think she really like when it's fast, and obviously we played both fast today. Again, she played extremely well. We had some points that were on both sides excellent points.
Of course we had both up and downs, but at the end I think it was a very strong performance from both of us.

Q. Tell us about fighting against your health.
MARION BARTOLI: Yes, you know, I've been feeling not very good since yesterday. I don't know if it's fatigue from the French Open and Eastbourne and everything. But tomorrow we have a day off, and Monday is going to be a new start. Hopefully I will have some time to recover.
But to be able to go through those kind of matches and come up as a winner, I think it's really going to help me through the end of this season, you know, when I will feel better and I will not play so many matches in so few times. I will be able to recover.
I think those kind of matches will really help me in some tough moments that I will to have face anyway again.

Q. I know your dad's been a huge help to you in your career, but did it help when he left this time?
MARION BARTOLI: Well, you know, I was so tired and exhausted that really I had to express my emotions somehow. I saw them right after the match, my parents, and they understood completely. It was not against them. It was just that we played a very long first set, and I was exhausted and I was tired and I was feeling worst and worst.
I need to express something somehow. I need to get that frustration out, so I show it that way. I could have broken a racquet. It would have been the same. So I think it was just a matter to release the frustration and start again.
I normally I never act like that. I felt at this point I had to get all this frustration out and start again.

Q. I wasn't there and didn't see it. Did you speak to them or did you gesture?
MARION BARTOLI: I think they understood me pretty well being my parents since 26 years. Sometimes you don't have to have speak too much.

Q. Did you actually say anything, or was it just, Go away?
MARION BARTOLI: I don't remember exactly because I played for three hours and a half, and at the end I could barely see the ball. I don't remember exactly what I said, but I think I was really clear.

Q. Did you just want them not to be there for a particular reason?
MARION BARTOLI: No, I just had to let it go, all my frustrations. Again, I could have broke my racquet, threw my bag away, whatever. It was just a matter of just all this tight first set and not feeling good and everything. I just had to express it somehow in a way.
So it has been like that. I could have done something else stupid, but whatever.

Q. Where did your dad watch?
MARION BARTOLI: He told me he watch from the TV, and he said it was the best match he ever saw me play here in Wimbledon. He was very proud of me, and my mom the same.
But at the end of the match when I walked out of the courts to the locker room, I had to sit down for five minutes because I was not able to see clearly anymore. I was extremely tired.
I really had to finish this match somehow. I really don't know how I did it. But really, I used every single bit of energy I had in my body today to find a way to win.

Q. If your dad said it was the best match he ever saw you play, maybe did he then say, Maybe I should watch the next one on TV?
MARION BARTOLI: You know what, if I'm playing that well now it's because we have been really team and we work well together. I won't be there without him. It's teamwork. It's not because today it work like that it's going to work every time.
A lot matches my dad really help me doing through as well. In Eastbourne we play some really tough matches as well, and he really helped me to find a way to win again. So I don't think it's a very good solution to do it like that every single match.

Q. You know Serena, and it looked like she played well today. I would think that's going to be a step up on Monday.
MARION BARTOLI: With Serena or Venus anyway you have to step up, especially here in Wimbledon. But, you know, today I just enjoy what I did, and I will think about Serena when will be the time to think about it.

Q. Since tomorrow is an off day, just talk about the challenges she presents overall, what makes her so tough.
MARION BARTOLI: Well, she's the ultimate competitor really. You never count her out of a match anyway. I saw her in Eastbourne, and it was the first match she play since barely 12 months and she was 6-1 down in the first set and somehow she find a way to win against Pironkova, which is a very good grass-court player.
So she always find a solution; she always plays her best when it matters the most. And obviously the record she has here - and is the same for Venus - shows what a great champion they are, and especially here in Wimbledon.
Of course it will be the ultimate challenge for me, but I think if I just have the same attitude and same spirit, no matter what the results will be, I can still be still proud of myself.

Q. Your mom doesn't watch because she gets too nervous; is that correct?
MARION BARTOLI: Well, you know, she was there in the French Open for my whole way to the semifinal. She has been coming to Miami as well. She's coming more often, and I think she's enjoying it more.
But, you know, as a mom it's never easy. I can't blame her for that. Even for my dad it's extremely difficult to watch outside.
When my brother is playing tennis just for fun at some very small level and I'm watching him I get nervous as well, so I can't really blame them. I mean, it's extremely hard to watch from outside because obviously you can't do much and you just have to see your own child playing.
Of course it's extremely tough, especially for a mom. So it's great that she's here with me this week during Wimbledon; it's great that we have been able to share those great moments together in Paris; every single win I can have with her is just a bonus.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297