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WESTERN & SOUTHERN OPENAugust 14, 2013Marion BartoliCINCINNATI, OHIO S. HALEP/M. Bartoli THE MODERATOR: Firstly, I want to thank you all very much for your patience. We apologize for the delay, but I just wanted to let you know that tonight Marion would like to make an announcement. MARION BARTOLI: Well, it's never easy and obviously there is never a time to say it or whatever, but that was actually the last match of my career. Sorry. It's time for me to retire and to call it a career. I feel it's time for me to walk away actually. THE MODERATOR: We will open it up to questions. Q. Why, Marion? You're at the top of the world just winning Wimbledon. MARION BARTOLI: Yeah, but my body just can't do it anymore. I've been already through a lot of injuries since the beginning of the year. I've been on the tour for so long, and I really push through and leave it all during that Wimbledon. I really felt I gave all the energy I have left inside my body. I made my dream a reality and it will stay forever with me, but now my body just can't cope with everything. I have pain everywhere after 45 minutes or an hour of play. I've been doing this for so long. And, yeah, it's just body‑wise I just can't do it anymore. Q. Was it the match? Did you know before you went into the match, or was it after the match point? MARION BARTOLI: Well, you never kind of know before it's going to be your last match, but I felt that way after the match. I felt I just couldn't do this anymore. I mean, after one set, my whole body was in pain. You know, everyone will remember my Wimbledon title. No one will remember the last match I played here. It's been a tough decision to take. I don't take this easily. I mean, I've been a tennis player for a long time, and I had the chance to make my biggest dream a reality. I felt I really, really push through the ultimate limits to make it happen. But now I just can't do it anymore. Q. Marion, what will you do now? MARION BARTOLI: Oh, gosh, I don't know. I haven't think about it so much. There is so many things to do in life rather than playing tennis, so I'm sure I will find something. I just need a bit of time to kind of settle down. Q. Is this something you've been thinking about for a while, or did it just hit you tonight? MARION BARTOLI: You know, after Wimbledon, when you‑‑ it's hard to explain‑‑ but when you dreamed about something for so long and you have been on the tour for many, many, many years and you have been through up and downs and high and lows and already a lot of injuries since the beginning of the year, my body was really starting to fall apart, and I was able to keep it together, go through the pain with a lot of pain throughout this Wimbledon, and make it happen. That was probably the last little bit of something that was left inside me. It's fine. I mean, I have the right to do something else as well. I've been playing for a long, long time, and it's time for me now. It is. Q. Where is the pain or what seems to be the problem? You said every place, but can you be more specific? MARION BARTOLI: Yeah, well, my Achilles is hurting me a lot, so I can't really walk normally after a match like that, especially on the hard court when the surface is so hard. And my shoulder and my hips and my lower back. The body of a tennis player, you've been using it for so many years, and, yeah, my body is just done. Q. Marion, have you discussed it with your dad after the match? MARION BARTOLI: I called him, yes.  But, you know, my dad knows me enough he kind of knew it a bit when he saw me leaving home for the States. He kind of felt I was tired and I was exhausted, and he was not surprised by the decision. He knows, more than anyone, how much I worked and what I did to make it happen, to make my dream a reality. He knows about it. He is proud of myself. He is proud of what I did very much so, and he kind of knew I just couldn't do it anymore. He kind of felt it. Q. Did you discuss with him or anyone else that it might be after Cincinnati that you would make this decision? MARION BARTOLI: No, no. You know, you don't think about that before. He kind of felt it. It's something that you live and you feel. I called him after the match and said, You know what, dad, I think it's my last one. And he said, I kind of felt it. I kind of knew it somehow. I can see it in your eyes and see your body and see‑‑ and know all the work you have done to make it happen. I'm so proud of you. I will support you in anything you're doing. So of course it's a hard decision to take, but I don't think there should be a time or should be a match or should be something when you can say you have the right to retire and not the right to retire. I mean, at the end of the day, I'm the only one who has been doing what I did for 22 years. Q. Obviously saying this now, but is there some kind of excitement to see what comes next for you? MARION BARTOLI: Well, yes, of course. I mean, there is some excitement as a tennis player. There is a lot of excitement as a woman. There is a lot of excitement as a wife. There is a lot of excitement as a mother. There is a lot of excitement to come up. Obviously I'm excited to live my future, but I will have some time to think about it for the months, years to come. Q. What are you most proud of in your career? Maybe besides Wimbledon. MARION BARTOLI: No, I understand your question, but I think being the same person, being honest, being loyal to my friends, to my teams, to the people who have been helping me along the way, the people who are working with us throughout the years. I always respect them, and I always felt that ‑‑ I always respect everyone, and I think if people ask, How is Marion Bartoli? They will always respond, She's a nice person. That's what I'm most proud of. Q. Marion, you played really well in that first set, and still you felt like that's it? MARION BARTOLI: Well, honestly, the match isn't really important to me right now. But, no, you know, as a tennis player you have to be at 100%. And I'm this kind of person, when I'm doing something, I'm doing it 100%. If I have to be tomorrow on the practice court and prepare for the next tournament, I won't be at 100% because my mind is not there, my heart is not there, and I just can't lie like that. I'm just too honest and too true to my values to kind of being there, but not really at 100%. I think that would be unfair for all my team, and I don't choose to do that. I don't have those values. That's not the way I've been raised. That's not the way I am, so I prefer to stay true to myself rather than just cheating. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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