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DUBAI DUTY FREE TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS WOMENFebruary 21, 2013Marion BartoliDUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES C. WOZNIACKI/M. Bartoli THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. It was a match with a lot of changes of momentum. What made the difference in the end, do you think? MARION BARTOLI: Well, first of all, I'm really happy with my performance. I think it was really a great match. Sometimes you still lose these kind of matches, but I haven't felt that good on a tennis court for a long time. I think it reminds me of my matches in the US Open last year where I beat Petra and I lost to Maria, but it was the same kind of experience and the same kind of feeling on the court. For now, I'm really happy with that. Q. What have you got to do to win these type of matches? Because you were so close to winning tonight. MARION BARTOLI: Yeah, I was leading 2‑Love and wanted to get 3‑Love up, and I had two times 40‑15 on my serve. But then at 5‑2 I was still able to come back at 5‑4, saving match point with some great shots and so forth. So you know when you play a player like Caroline, you know physically it's going to be extremely demanding and challenging. Probably those few lapse of lack of intensity sometimes made me pay the price at the end. But I think I'm really on the good track. I'm improving and this is the most important thing. I know I have still a lot of work to do, but this is very encouraging for the future. Q. How is your fitness and your health now? You looked like a bit like an advertisement for Kinesio tape. MARION BARTOLI: Well, you know, tennis is now very physically demanding. I am leaving home since the 15th of December. I have not been back home since the 15th of December. So of course my body is tired, and I really need now two weeks before Indian Wells so I can first rest and then get my body ready. But I have a new physical coach. It's all in the process. You know, it will take time. But I can see already the improvement. I have been very sick in the Fed Cup. So of course it doesn't help, because when you're lying in the bed for five days with 40 degrees of temperature, it doesn't make you feel better. But the way I fought in Doha‑‑ I flew on Sunday night. I took the train to Paris and the taxi from the train station to the airport and the plane on Sunday night from Paris to Doha when it was snowing. I didn't practice for entire week, and I had to play Tuesday outdoor in Doha against Francesca Schiavone, and I still won the match. So this kind of mental toughness will help me when I will be in physically better shape to be able to win these kind of matches. Q. Going forward, what is the coaching relationship with Amélie? MARION BARTOLI: Amélie's going to be probably my main coach. Q. On the road? MARION BARTOLI: For some tournaments, the big ones, at least. Then of course I need to find someone else, because a year is not only made by a Grand Slam and Indian Wells and Miami. It's a lot of tournaments every week, and I need someone with me every week. But for now the most important thing for me is to improve physically. I feel on the tennis court I know what I have to do, and I know myself extremely well. So it's not like I really need someone at 28 years old taking me by the hand and telling me what to do. When I see those kind of matches today, the first set I won 6‑4 and then for the next 25 minutes I was gone. This is not what I want to do on the tennis court. So I was able to in the third set to come back, but for 25 minutes I had really not a lack of intensity. I know it will take time. It will take a lot more hours in the gym, outside, running, losing weight. But I'm ready to make all the sacrifices, and I think I have the right team around me to help me to do so. Q. Where will you do this preparation work? At Roland Garros? MARION BARTOLI: Well, Amélie is tennis coach. She's not a physical trainer. So the main work will be with my physical trainer. Q. Who is? MARION BARTOLI: Xavier Moreau. He was the physical trainer of Amélie, and he took her to No. 1 in the world and to a Grand Slam. I think I'm in the right hands. Again, I have been on the road or sick, so it's not like we have been really starting to work already. I can see already the improvement just by working a little bit every day just before the matches. Q. But you will be based at Roland Garros? MARION BARTOLI: I'm living in Switzerland, so that's where I will train. Probably we will have to do some arrangement. Q. From a coaching point of view, is it difficult when you've had one voice, your father, for so long to change that? MARION BARTOLI: No, because I felt like my father is still with me. I mean, when you work for 22 years with someone, you're kind of still hearing the voice telling you what to do. But again, at 28 years old when you see me playing today, you see, even if I don't have any tennis coach with me, I know exactly what I need to do on a tennis court. It's not like I am lost. But it's more the few lapse of intensity of my footwork. The few times where I don't take the ball that early, that makes the difference in the third set. And this is all physical training. So it's really what I need. It's not ‑‑ again, I don't need someone telling me how to hit a forehand or a backhand. I know how to do it, and I can do it quite well. But it's more that I need someone really takes me from my physical shape now to another level. This is extremely hard to do. It takes a lot of sacrifices, takes a lot of hours. It will not come overnight, but I think I can still do it, and I really want to put all the sacrifice to achieve that. Q. Do you feel that's necessary as well? Because an awful lot of the girls, with all due respect, younger, younger girls, Vika, Caroline tonight, do you think that's important fit‑wise, improving fitness? MARION BARTOLI: Well, I think it's key. I mean, when you look at the players right now, if you're not physically extremely strong, how you can be able to beat them? It's impossible. You have to be so fit to be able to run for three hours and the next day be on the court and do it again and again and again. So if you want to be inside of top 10, if you want to have the trophies and achieve something, the first thing‑‑ for some players it's easier because they are naturally physically stronger than me because they have their parents who have been champions or whatever. I don't have that; I know it. It has been always my weakness, in a way. But I have been able to improve. That's why I have been able from 2007 to have this kind of career. I have really two careers inside the big picture. I have before Wimbledon and after. And after, I am quite proud of what I have been able to achieve. Q. When did you make this decision almost to redirect your career, make these changes? Did it come over a period of time or... MARION BARTOLI: No, it's been a long process. I have been talking a lot with my dad about it, of course. I love him too much to really just say, That's it. It's over. It's been really a long process. I still call him every single day. I called him right after the match, and he was really nice with me, telling me he was really proud of my effort. He thought also I played a very, very, very good match. So, you know, as an athlete, you have to think about your career when you're 28 and you're kind of towards the end of your career. Either you just let it slip away and finish the way it is and you're happy with what you have done already or you want more, and I'm the kind of person that always want more. So I felt it was the time to do it, and my dad encouraged me to do so. So it's not like it's a split and we are in fight or whatever. We are really on the same page. I think he thought also it was better for me. But, you know, again, it's not like it's easy. I mean, it's difficult. I'm by myself. I don't have any family members with me. I'm not going to be home very often, and I have to work extremely hard. So it's not like I'm going into something easy. But I felt I can do better, and even if it will take some sacrifices and I will have some tough moments, I'm ready to go through them. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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