A Look Back At Season 2008
Season 2008 is over, and Marion is almost back to where she was prior to her exploits at Wimbledon 2007. But with several top players having fallen out of the picture in the past 12 months, Marion has did well to stabilise things after losing her Wimbledon final points, and she has shown that she remains a threat, a very difficult player to play against.
It has admittedly been a difficult season for the highest ranking Frenchwoman. A season in which she has carried the hopes of an expectant nation, felt the burning critique of tennis heavyweights and officials, and offered little relief by the media. Her only succour has came from her omnipresent father, Dr. Walter Bartoli. Together as a team they have stuck firmly to their own tennis craft, to their own recipe for success, from the collective pot that they feast and gain strength on their long trek round the globe each year.
However, for the first six months of 2008 it was famine rather than feast. By the time Marion arrived at SW19 to defend her Wimbledon final, she hadn’t strung more than two consecutive victories together in six months, and entered the grass court season with an inauspicious record of 8 wins to 14 defeats.
So what happened? What went wrong between January and June?
It’s fair to say that for Marion the early hard court season and clay season tend to be about consolidation and survival rather than breathtaking success. The slower surfaces and high bounce of the ball run counter to her specialist some say idiosyncratic style. Even on a good year, 4th round at the French Open is the best clay grand slam performance Marion has achieved (so far).
At the Australian Open one difficult surface was replaced with another. Rebound Ace, ripped up to make way for Plexicushion – And Marion’s heart ripped out in the first round to make way for Sweden’s Sofia Arvidsson. In the match, Marion lost the first set on a tie break and lost overall in three sets. Leaving the court barefoot, upset, and boiled alive.
By contrast, the second grand slam of the year involved a lot of waiting around for Marion due to the cool rainy conditions in Paris. Her first round opponent was Australian Casey Dellacqua. A player whom Marion had beaten a few weeks previous.
The match itself was also interrupted by rain. Marion won the first set on a tie break but lost the match in three sets as recurrent tendinitis set in.
Speaking after the match she offered this analysis,
“Since the beginning of this year i've been playing and I felt tired and I thought, this is probably psychological. But it's five months i've been feeling this, in this state, being very tired.”
Marion said that she had focused on nothing but tennis, since winter 2007, and that a break was called for.
The picture was one of a lady trying almost too hard to prove Wimbledon 2007 wasnt a fluke. But all she had to show for it in the first six months of the year was a semi final in February at the Paris indoor, and the occasional decent win over the likes of Virginie Razzano and Lucie Safarova. When the defeats come, one inevitably feels evn more tired and down.
Speaking to a British newspaper in June, Marion explained that,
“Every time I come into a tournament now it seems people expect me to be in the final and win it, and the press back home don't understand why I am not like winning the US Open! They were really hard on me after Roland Garros. But I am used to it.”
Soon after she began unburdening herself of her frustrations, things seemed to look up for Marion results-wise. She achieved a decent semi final finish at Eastbourne. And seemed to be finding her identity as a player again on a surface that she had did so well on the previous year.
In actual fact, Marion had good chances to beat top 10 newbie Agnieszka Radwanska in the Eastbourne semi, but the eventual tournament winner kept patient, and Marion got tight.
And so Marion arrived back at Wimbledon. Scene of her most famous exploits. Mother Sophie travelled over from Switzerland to join Marion and her father during the tournament.
Scheduled to play her first round match against Sabine Lisicki on court 2, it seemed only fitting when the match was switched to centre court.
On a calm cool evening in south west London, I sat in the opposite corner of the court from Marion’s father. I watched eagerly from a front row vantage point, as Marion efficiently dispatched the much vaunted young German in straight sets.
The 6-2 6-4 victory over Lisicki was Marion’s first victory in a grand slam in 2008.
For the match Marion wore her striking and distinctive red and white Nike outfit for the first time. Marion has worn the Nike NYC range at every match and every tournament ever since. The white of her top, skort, and visor, is almost like some unconscious clinical association from a girl who’s parents are both medical professionals, and The bold red V kneck becomes like a victory oath scrawled across her chest. With her long dark hair the effect is stunning.
On Wednesday at court 11, I was seated near the line not more than two meters from Marion. it was obvious to me that the claims made about her condition had been bloated out of any factuality. The truth is she looked fit, and deservedly beat her 2nd round opponent Tatiana Perebiynis that day. Perebiynis only answer to Marion’s powerful hitting from the back of the court was short balls. It didn’t get her anywhere, and the balls and the match quickly passed Perebiynis by in straight sets.
Compared to 2007 Marion does appear to have slimmed down. But to be fair, her condition in 2007 has to be understood in the context of what Walter Bartoli as coach was trying to achieve with Marion. And I think he did pretty well.
Go back a few years and Marion was just another scrawny teenager on the junior and ITF circuit trying to make it into the big time. Now in 2008, Marion is a full-bodied well-seasoned pro, a lady capable of taking out anybody.
Capable as Marion is, the weather can be a great equaliser when it comes to any sport, tennis especially. During Marion’s third round match the weather conditions became a referee, a third player, an invisible arbiter of fate.
Marion faced Bethanie Mattek that Friday afternoon, again on court 11. Mattek, and like Miss. Bartoli is another of tennis’s individualistic personalities. Known more for her fun-loving outlandish style and gregarious personality than for her tennis pedigree. Think, Cyndi Lauper if you’re like thirty or forty something, or think Gwen Stefani if you’re like in your teens or twenties.
That day I watched Marion struggle with her ball toss in the wind, and watched her restlessly change layers of clothing between rain showers. It was one of those classic Wimbledon days where seeding is neutralised and outcomes are rendered a lottery. The match was at the mercy of the elements, and Marion’s future in the tournament became snagged somewhere between a windblown yellow trajectile and on form American with a nothing to lose attitude and a gum-chewing swagger.
After losing the first set 6-4 Marion took a double injury time out for treatment to her shoulder and calf. She looked lost, worried, and buried herself in the towel. A heart-breaking site for any Bartoli fan to witness let alone at Wimbledon of all places.
There was to be no recovery after the time out. With uncharacteristic petulance Marion threw her racquet to the ground, muttered to herself in French, and quickly lost the second set 6-1.
Marion Bartoli was out of Wimbledon, and fell to 15th in the rankings as a result.
Marion revealed to Matt Cronin that following her Wimbledon exit she,
“was down for three days afterward,"
But that on the other hand,
"It's a big relief. I've had this on my shoulders for one year and it wasn't easy to handle it. Everyone reminded me of my Wimbledon final and how hard it was going to be for me to defend it. Now I can look at it as maybe a new year for me."
That very week the ‘new year’ began. Marion commenced her US Open series in superb style by reaching the final in Stanford. She defeated World number 8 Anna Chakvetadze en route, and also earned her first victory in six attempts over Ai Sugiyama.
One look at the Stanford final photos shows that Marion could barely conceal her disappointment at losing to a comparatively modest ranked Canadian, Aleksandra Wozniack.
Nevertheless Marion carried the Stanford feel-good factor onto to the Rogers Cup in Montreal.
An outstanding epic victory over Anna Chakvetadze became her second win in a matter of weeks over the top ten player. The stars aligned, and Marion took them out - beating another former top ten player Ai Sugiyama at the quarter final stage.
After a rather exhausting week full of alterations to the order of play, rain delays, and a virus which swept through the players Marion included, our player somehow worked her way into the last four, just one match away from a debut tier I final.
Marion’s opponent for that semi final was Dominika Cibulkova, whom she had beaten in February.
Things started positively as Marion took full tactical advantage of Dominika’s diminutive stature, outwitting the Slovakian with crafty lobs.
What followed was one of the most shambolic refereeing decisions on the tour this year. The match was suspended due to rain, and resumed on an entirely different court!
Who can say what impact this had on the players, but after the longest match in the history of the tournament; over three hours playing time; A match which started at 3pm and ended at around 11 at night under floodlights, Dominika Cibulkova was the one who eventually secured a place in the final.
Speaking the following day to Stephanie Myles of the Montreal Gazette, an enfuriated Marion didn’t mince her words,
“Was I supposed to take the tournament referee, push him up against the wall and tell him, “No, you will put us on the Centre Court?”
She continued,
“I thought it was terrible to change our court at 9 o’clock at night, when we started at 3, and when the next match hadn’t even started yet, and then to move us, and put them (Safina v Azarenka) on the Centre Court”.
Marion was clearly outraged at a stonewall case of preferential treatment offered to other players at her expense. One can only theory why this should happen to her at French-Canada’s number one tennis venue, and ponder just what the motive and subtext to this decision was.
But one thing we do know is that in 2008 as in previous years, Marion has not had her troubles to seek with both French and Anglo-French tennis officialdom.
As with Stanford, Montreal was another bitter end to a largely very positive run of results. One can accept defeats fair and square, but all too frequently in season 2008 Marion’s progress has been halted by niggling injury, virus, or the whims of official decision-making.
Winners make their own luck, ok. But are the systematically disadvantaged are just meant to shut up accept their misfortune?
It certainly isn’t Marion’s style to lie down. She is not the anodyne model tennis pro switching on smiles like some auto cue dollybird. She has multi-lingual skills of articulation to offer tactful intellegent replies, and then on the other hand she's got the fire and muscle for some good old visceral candour when she just has to set the record straight in no uncertain terms.
This season Marion has given as good as she gets, whether sticking up for her father against the French Tennis Federation for excluding him, or blasting officials for the farce in Montreal. The woman is a fighter on court and off. She is tennis-jihad – dismissed and frankly laughed at as a youth by the tennis-intelligentsia, Marion and her father have fought hard to prove them all wrong.
After Montreal and the final in Stanford, Marion climbed from 15 to 13 in the rankings.
The US Open series quietened down until reaching the final grand slam of the year at Flushing Meadowns. Just beforehand Marion retired from Cincinatti in the opening round, and reached the round of 16 at New Haven. Confidence was high among Bartoli fans that our player was onto something and playing very well.
Still apparently using the Prince Ozone Seven racquet, but with a different grip, Marion clearly added some pop onto her first serve without compromising accuracy.
In the first round of the US Open Marion had a comfortable straight sets win over Galina Voskoboeva, followed up by another over veteran doubles specialist Virgina Ruano Pascual.
These wins set Marion up nicely for her floodlit debut on the largest tennis court in the world, Arthur Ashe Stadium. Her opponent in front of 24,000 raucous fans was none other than former US Open and Wimbledon champion, Lindsay Davenport.
Recently returning to the sport after time out to start a family, the American had already beaten Marion at Indian Wells back in March. The task for Marion couldn’t be underestimated. Some tipped Lindsay for the tournament. No one gave Marion a chance against the powerful serving and groudstrokes of the 6 foot plus American.
A shock and awe performance from our favourite Frenchwoman stunned the home crowd.
Marion out-wit and out-hit big Lindsay to take the first set 6-1. A rain break and some late 2nd set nerves only postponed the inevitable. Marion closed out the tie break to three, for a famous straight sets win. It was like Wimbledon 2007 again. The Corsican Gladiator had slain the home favourite in the colluseum of tennis. To beat Jankovic and Henin is one thing, but beating a big power player like Davenport in a grand slam was a new step forward for Marion
Of her victory she said,
“I think Davenport was surprised by my level of play I was in better shape. I think I played even better than when I was a finalist at Wimbledon last year. If I continue like this, I have bright prospects in this tournament and for the end of the season. It was a long time that I was looking to regain my level. I think I’ve found it, perhaps even a little better than before."
On this form, facing a fourth round tie against Sybille Bammer whom she beat 6-3 6-0 at Eastbourne in June, Marion could win the thing altogether! Super Marion was back!!
Fly in the ointment? Or fly in the food? Disaster struck. Marion had become ill with gastroenteritis.
She was advised by a doctor not to play her fourth round tie. She hadn’t eaten. She was dehydrated. She clearly looked ill. Yet she took to the court that boiling Sunday New York afternoon like the brave soldier she is.
All things being equal, Marion would normally look to consign Bammer to the slammer in around an hour. She had beaten the Austrian comfortably on two occasions in the past 12 months.
But for the second tournament in succession, Marion gained the unenviable reputation for playing a record longest women’s match. And the outcome was the same as in Montreal. Marion was out of the US Open after more than three baking hours. The loser of the joint longest women’s match in US Open history. Not the kind of record Marion deserved to take from this tournament. That’s sport.
With all the fatalistic melodrama of New York soulgirl Laura Nyro, Marion concluded "I'm going to die out there. But never will I retire. Not in the U.S. Open”
“I just gave everything," she said holding back tears. "I was like 30 percent of what I could do. I could really die on court. I could not give more than I gave. I have no regrets. I can only hold my head up and be proud of what I've done.”
And with virtual applause, every Bartoli fan from one corner of cyberspace to the next shared the sporting sorrow and pride in our French-Corican hero!
During September Walter Bartoli revealed to France’s Woman365 that he had been, “working with Marion on the transfer of body weight, because with her two-handed game a key element is mobility and ball strike.
Despite his obvious disappointment at the US Open exit, Walter offered a positive forecast for the future,
“Marion’s level of play has definitely increased. She is the first to see this. This project is much more interesting for the future, more economic physically, and more profitable for the quality of hitting and movement. I think this program is a final project, which should lead to a relatively high level. She has never been stronger than today.”
In mid September Marion made a brief trip to Tokyo for the Pan Pacific Open. She had a nice win over Maria Kirilenko, but then lost again to Agnieszka Radwanska.
With a long hard season approaching an end, Marion turned her attention to the indoor hardcourt tournaments.
In Stuttgart, a 6-3 6-1 thrashing of Dominika Cibulkova gave Marion some redress for the mess in Montreal. However, Marion lost in the next round to resurgent Russian Vera Zvonareva.
Another good result recorded by Marion during this period was a 6-3 6-0 win in Zurich over Agnes Szavay, a player on the cusp of the top 10 only months earlier.
Marion’s exit in Zurich occurred against French Open champion, Ana Ivanovic 6-2 6-4. She also lost a few ranking points in the process.
Playing her final tournament of the season in Linz Austria, a short hop from her residence near Geneva Switzerland, Marion concluded on a positive note with three impressive hard fought victories over Ai Sugiyama, Petra Kvitova, and Alona Bondarenko.
Playing the Linz semi final only 16 hours after her third three set match of the week was hardly the ideal preparation to face Doha-bound Vera Zvonareva. Marion lost in less than an hour.
And with that, the curtain fell on season 2008.
Earlier in the year some forecast a big fall in ranking for Marion. This hasn’t happened. She turned around her early season win-loss deficit to close the year 29 wins to 26 losses. She currently lies 16th in the world and remains at time of writing the highest ranking Frenchwoman in the world among a top 100 containing no fewer than eleven Frenchwoman.
Marion feels that her tennis is still developing, under the guidance of her father. Let’s look forward to good progress in 2009 from the one and only Marion Bartoli.
