Reed: Bartoli happy to sing own song
Eurosport - Tue, 04 Aug 06:48:00 2009
Eurosport-Yahoo! blogger Simon Reed pays tribute to Marion Bartoli, one of the true originals of the women's circuit.
You never know quite what to think about Marion Bartoli.
Sometimes she doesn't look much of a player, and at other times she can beat anyone - as she proved when she downed Justine Henin to reach the 2007 Wimbledon final, and as she showed again on Sunday when she beat Venus Williams to win in Stanford.
After the Wimbledon result a couple of years ago, everyone thought she'd just had one of those fortnights, that she'd disappear - but she didn't. She's stuck in there and continued to produce good results, and continued to beat top players in the process.
Could she go the extra step and win a Grand Slam? Well, at a time when the women's game is wide open, she'll feel that she has a chance at the US Open.
Regardless of their bad week at Stanford - and for the Williams sisters a quarter-final and runners-up spot constitute a bad week - Serena and Venus will still be overwhelming favourites at Flushing Meadows.
What we saw last week was further evidence that only Grand Slam titles matter to them. Their games rely on their incredible intensity, and it's difficult these days for them to reproduce that intensity in what they see as little more than warm-up tournaments.
Serena clearly didn't produce her normal level, and although Venus did keep her intensity levels up for most of the week, she spoilt the hard work by simply playing a poor match in the final. I kept expecting her to turn it round and come back to win - but it just never happened.
Back to Bartoli, though, who is an interesting character to say the least. She's a real one-off and not particularly popular on the Tour, but she has always been happy to plough her own furrow.
A lot of that has been down to her father and coach Dr Frank Bartoli. His theories have given her game all sorts of bizarre quirks - including her two-handed forehand - and seen her using some truly extraordinary training methods.
To try and improve her movement, for example, Dr Bartoli regularly ties tennis balls to his daughter's feet to force her to move about the court on her toes.
Movement is just one part of it, however. He feels that his daughter will never be the quickest around the court, so he's put a huge amount of thought into improving her hand-eye coordination and strength.
At certain periods of her career he decided that the game is all about power, and has packed her off to the gym to pack on the muscle.
At other times, however, he changes his focus and puts co-ordination top of the list. When he's in this frame of mind he has her playing practice games wielding a pipe as a racquet and using balls of different sizes, colours and bounce.
Conventional it isn't, but the result is a player who is amongst the most exciting and aggressive to watch on the circuit.
It's an approach that has always raised eyebrows - and I've always marvelled at the way they've managed to balance an unusual player-coach relationship with a sound father-daughter relationship.
But the Bartolis will always go their own way, and women's tennis is a more interesting place for their presence.
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Comment 30 - 49 of 49
Mr Reed always bets on the wrong horses, so if you're looking for a win just do the opposite of what he says.
She's such an enigma, you just don't know when she'll turn up, but she definitely has the game to beat top players.
Yes Muriel - all her matches were long and tough - she has tough tournaments ahead aswell...
Q 4 Simon = Who is your favourite female player? And will you come and face my at my local club? x
Opera; thanks for updating. Mentally very strong but pshysical...
An interesting win for Bartoli; like her or not, you cannot deny the fact that she played a clever, aggressive and tough game of tennis against one of the greatest players on the circuit at the moment. Definitely one of the best woman's matches in recent months, but, alas, that is not hard. I am just hoping that the WTA matches pick up before the U.S. Could be interesting if the women reach their peek: Maria, Serena, Venus, Kim, Ana, Dinara, Jelena... the list goes on. Imagine these at the top of their game; the tour is jam-packed full of brilliant players who just fail to perform to their potential.
Q for Reed: Do you think that the woman's game could benefit from making them play 5 sets? Is this too much of a change, or could it inject the game with a much needed boost?
Q for Simon,
Is the lack of WHEELCHAIR TENNIS on Eurosport a deliberate slight against the disabled? I certainly take it personally, having lost all my limbs in an horrific milkfloat accident. The standard's higher than women's tennis so there's really no excuse son.
am talking about individual talent, which has been perimeter for ranking the male and female rankings - doubles don't get you such points.
Kournakova was more a doubles player then singles. She won austrailian open twice and us open with Hingis and reached final of wimbledon. She won like 200 matches on doubles level and even if she didnt win a singles title she has wins over graff, seles and davenport to her name which is good.
Talking about playing and never winning trophies, Kournikova used to be popular in women's tennis (mostly off court), and ended her tennis career without winning an ordinary tournament - she was not considering any chances at grand slam.
I think kim Clijsters will go far but will she be able to play a full season we will see.Good luck Kim get Justine to come back i miss her so much.
Hi,
My question is how do you think Kim Clijsters will fare when she returns to the tour. How high do you think she can go up the rankings?
Thanks
Simon Reed, your predictions, thoughts, forcasts or whatever are proven wrong quite often. Why is that so? Is it simply a debate provoking silliness, or simple silliness?
Muriel Bartoli pulled out - after playing last week she couldn't do a tournament straight after :( x
Thought Bartoli was about to play in LA, injured?
Will Jelena Jankovic ever win a Gram Slam by the way she was playing in SW19 against Melanie Oudin?
Which players on the women's tour hit their groundstrokes flat, and what are the advantages and disadvantages of doing so as opposed to top spin?
If Elena Dementieva's serve continues to improve and holds the level as she did against Serena in Wimbledon, how far can you see her going in her career?
Why has my best new friend Igor K not posted yet?
I find Marion a pleasure to watch.While taking a break from court one at Wimby this year i managed to get on the second row on an outside court to watch her match,awesome footwork and nice shots off both wings,her special serve with its idiosyncrasies was a breath of fresh air.In the flesh,she looked great,fit as a fiddle,i think the tv is unkind to many athletes.I wouldn't swap Marion for 5 Russian automatons,her game is different,if you disagree,get yourself to a match and see what she can do.
i was sorry about her beating jankovic but she did really well to carry it through. she is a great player, obviously reminds me of monica seles, very nostalgic experience to watch her
Mr. Simon Reed,
You are right about Bartli, but a little shallow. My opinion is that Ms. Bartoli is very very strong in the head. She is lagging with regard to what God gave her by birth in phisical parameters, stamina etc. but she is mentally so strong that she can be followed as an example by many sportsmen in various other sports. That's the truth of her success and I sincerely hope she will be victorious in the future.
Simo Simov
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