On July 6, 2013, when Marion Bartoli went out to Centre Court to play the Wimbledon final against Sabine Lisicki, she had a lot of things going on in her mind. For starters, she didn't want to lose another final (she was runner-up in 2007). Another thought on her mind was the voices of people who told her she couldn't make it as a professional player because of her height and an extremely unorthodox serve.
"As a kid, all my coaches told me that I was a horrible tennis player, and I should give up. But all I wanted to do was to play tennis. So I decided that I will give everything to become a good tennis player. Of course, I had to sacrifice a lot, like not going for parties, sleeping early and pushing myself to the limits.
"One shot I really struggled with was my serve. Since I was short, my serve wasn't all that powerful. And that's the reason why everyone doubted me. So when my winning shot at Wimbledon was an ace, I felt like I had overcome everything in my life. I had my name on the trophy, and nobody can take that away from me," said Bartoli, who is in Mumbai as the international brand ambassador for the Mumbai Marathon to be held this Sunday.
The French tennis star retired soon after her Wimbledon victory saying she could no longer handle the rigorous training schedule that an athlete has to endure. "My body could not take any more training, especially my shoulder. I had to train more than others (because of her unorthodox way of playing). There was a stage during that Wimbledon championship when I could not even brush my teeth because of the sore shoulder," she said.
Bartoli did however admit that had she not won the Grand Slam, she would've continued playing till the 2014 Australian Open, where China's Li Na emerged the winner. "If I had not won at the All England Club, I would have continued in the game only till the 2014 Australian Open. I was not in the sport for the money. If you ask me how much I earned I wouldn't be able to tell you. But I can tell you about the matches I had played, the scoreline. Winning is what mattered to me."
Her Wimbledon was famous, or rather infamous for another incident. The commentator John Inverdale had said, "Do you think Bartoli's dad told her when she was little: "You're never going to be a looker – you'll never be a Sharapova – so you have to be scrappy and fight?"' There was a huge hue and cry over it, and Inverdale was forced to apologise. Of course, the question and debate that followed, was whether it was important to look good in order to be a good tennis player.
However, Bartoli rubbished this debate, and said that wasn't what Inverdale was trying to convey. "During the French Open last year, I had a chance to commentate with Inverdale. And before that he explained to me what he really meant. He meant that though I wasn't very tall and didn't really have the physical attributes to play tennis, I've made it so far. And what he said was true. I did have to work harder than others because of that. But people made his comments a big thing, when in actuality, he was encouraging me," said Bartoli who currently has her own brand of designer jewellery, bags and shoes.
