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AEGON INTERNATIONALJune 21, 2012Marion BartoliEASTBOURNE, ENGLAND M. BARTOLI/L. Safarova THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. You seem to be getting better and better this week. MARION BARTOLI: Yeah, you know, I truly do feel it's every time the first match it's (indiscernible) in any tournament. I was glad I was able to play quite well already on the first one, and as you say, I am improving, which is good, obviously. I get to improve more. If I can do it, then it would be great for me.  But, yeah, so far I'm able to play well and to stay consistent into my matches, which is really important on grass. Q. Your serve is usually a very good weapon, but it was even better today. You dropped I think two points on your serve in the second set? MARION BARTOLI: Yeah, well, I felt like I was hitting 4‑2 in the first set and Lucie broke me at 4‑3 to get back to 4. So I really felt I need to (indiscernible) on my service game and make sure I was having a higher percentage of first serve, because she was returning extremely well. So when I broke her again at 4 leading 5‑4 and getting my game in the first set, I start to feel very good on my serve and have a good rhythm and serving a lot of first serves, and I was even able to ace her on the second serve. So I think it really helped me in the second set to get easier, but, yes, I'm feeling I'm serving well already yesterday, and today was good, also. Q. What sort of form do you feel you're in compared to this time last year when you went on to win Eastbourne? Where do you think you're at? MARION BARTOLI: Well, you know, it's very hard to compare yourself from so long time ago, 12 months I think passing. I play so many matches between those 12 months of last year and now, so I don't really want to rate myself compared to last year. What I'm able to say is I'm feeling in good form right now. Then to really compare the two, it's hard for me, but I think I played very well last year, and I think this year I'm playing quite honestly as well. So far it's good for me to have this kind of form before Wimby, and obviously I will see how the draws come out and try to play the same way. Q. You didn't seem to have any trouble with your footing today, but was it at all slippery out there? MARION BARTOLI: It kind of ‑‑we had a bit of like five minutes of rain I think after the first set or something like that. It start to get a bit wet. But then we had good sunny patches, so it's kind of dry on the court again. I was glad to finish before the rain start. But I was so focused on what I had to do that I didn't felt it was bothering me much. But obviously on grass you have to be very careful, because when it gets wet you can really hurt yourself quite badly, which is the last thing you want to do three days before a Grand Slam. Q. That was my point, yeah. Is the thought in the back of your mind that you have to be careful? MARION BARTOLI: It is. But what I do feel on grass is my steps are very strong, so it's not like I'm feeling I'm losing my balance and there is a way for me to fall. I prefer to let a ball go if I feel the court is too slippery than to go to it and slide and falling on the court. So I think the umpire was also experienced enough to know when it's time to stop. Q. Is it ever a worry that by doing so well this week that you might go to Wimbledon with little rest? MARION BARTOLI: No, not for me. Every year I have been playing well in Wimbledon I was playing the well the weeks before. To me it's very important. You know, the grass court season is so short, the window is so short, I actually felt it's better for me to have some matches here playing well, get some confidence, and then carry on the same way to Wimbledon. You know, it's not like clay when you have some long point and extra rallies and everything. It's more about grass, it's about focus and concentration, and the rallies are very short. So it's not like a physical part of tiredness. It's more like the mental part. And I feel, for me, it's better to have a lot of confidence playing matches and get used to it than going to Wimbledon without any matches under my belt. Q. On a day like this when you know that sort of rain is threatened, does that put more pressure? Do you feel more pressure to try to get things done quickly? Does it help or hurt your focus at all? MARION BARTOLI: No, I didn't think about that at all during the match. You know, I was thinking about what I had to do and what I had to do on my game to try to hurt Lucie and make sure I was playing well. But I was not thinking of, gosh, I need to win before this time because it's going to rain at that time. I feel the weather, it's so hard to predict here that I don't even look at the weather forecast anymore (smiling). Q. When you come on grass, what's the first thing that you focus on on kind of changing? The tactics? Is it footwork? Getting low? MARION BARTOLI: Footwork, yeah, absolutely. On grass the footwork is absolutely the key. If you get late to the ball, you have absolutely no chance, because the ball is scooping to the court and you're hitting backwards all the time. You're hitting late. It's really not what you want to do. So I had to really getting low and get your feet moving, having a low position, which is quite hard to do. But that's something I always felt good on it compared to clay, for example. So it's ‑‑I really like my first two or three practice on grass when I'm coming off of clay. That's my best time. Q. When you go against top seeds, do you think, great, or do you think actually it would be nice to have that test going into Wimbledon? MARION BARTOLI: Well, I had it last year when I have to beat all of them to get the title. It kind of cost me at Wimby a bit, because the matches ‑‑well, playing two matches in a row on Saturday against two top‑10 players and having to back it up again in Wimbledon was a bit hard physically. So if I am able this year to play a match a day and playing two sets and go for the title without dropping too much energy, I won't say no to it. But you can't choose. So if I had to dig deep to win the tournament, I will do so. If it's a bit easier, I will be able to do so, as well. Q. Have any of the other players kind of come up to you ‑ obviously the Olympics drama and all that sort of stuff ‑ to kind of offer their commiserations or anything about the whole situation? MARION BARTOLI: They all have been very nice to me, men or women, saying they didn't understand why I won't play the Olympics. But, you know, to me, I really want now to focus on the tournament I'm going to play, not really focus on the one I'm going to miss. So it's beyond my control. All I can control is my ranking and the way I'm playing on the court. I can't control my selection at the Olympics. So I'm trying my best on the court every time, stepping there, trying to win my matches. I will be happy to play the tournaments in California with Stanford and Carlsbad and watch the Olympics on TV. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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