Marion Bartoli HARDtalk


Marion Bartoli

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It is time now for HARDtalk. Welcome to HARDtalk with me, Tim Franks. I

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am in Paris at the headquarters of tennis in France. My guest is a

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Marion Bartoli, the French tennis player and Wimbledon champion. Last

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year after achieving the highest accolade in her sport, the Wimbledon

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title, she announced that she was walking away, retiring. Can she

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really never imagined competing again? What does that say about the

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health of her sport? Marion Bartoli, welcome to HARDtalk.

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I just sat in my introduction that you have retired. Have you? Yes. I

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did. I retired from tennis. I am not a retirement person. No chance of a

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cosmic a lot of people were surprised. You

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had just won the world 's greatest tournament. For those of our

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audience who do not understand what Wimbledon means, give me a sense of

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what it did mean. I was eight years old in a very small village in

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France. I was training with my father, he is a doctor. I dreamt

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about winning Wimbledon since I was eight. My number one wish was

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writing and then winding winning Wimbledon. Of course, I had to

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practise extremely late. I had to go to school so I was probably

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finishing my day around 11pm. There was a time now is going on court to

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practise tennis so I was offered late every single day. Finishing my

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practice at 1:30am. You really have to have something inside you that is

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stronger than anything. Even when you hear a million times that it

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will not happen and you will never get it, one day, maybe you will live

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it. But then six weeks later you said that your body had given up? I

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had been a professional player since I was 16. When I started 2013, I

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felt that it was my best year of tennis. I think that because I felt

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that way, and my mind wanted to win so badly that somehow I put

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everything together. Sometimes your mind is the best anti-inflammatory.

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Even if my back was on fire or my shoulders were hurting I was able to

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lock all those negative thoughts and all the pain and just go and just

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pursue my dream. It was almost my destiny to do it. But then, when I

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finally won, it was like a castle of cards. Everything went down. My

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whole body was begging me to stop. You have to understand that when I

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play my first time in Toronto I was calling my dad every morning before

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going on court. Zayne, dad, I am so much in pain and I cannot hold it

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any more. I was crying every single morning because I had so much pain.

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What was he saying? He said listen to your heart no matter what it is.

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At the time, everybody was saying that she will change her mind and

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this is what people do. They say they have had enough or need time

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away. They need to recoup with their body and mind. One player said that

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she will regret this decision when Wimbledon comes around again. But

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your mind is that? Since that day I have never had one day not even one

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second when I regret my decision. You don't think when Wimbledon comes

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around this year, I'd love to be there. No. I will be so proud to see

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my name as the 2013 champion. I want... I close chapter one as a

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tennis player. And this is the best, happy, Cinderella, Disney

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movie ever. It is just perfect. But now I will write a new one and a new

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chapter of my life. I am not a retired person, I hate that word. I

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am just stopping being Marion Bartoli, the professional tennis

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player. It was your life for over 20 years. You practised even as a young

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kid until past midnight. Whether times when you were doing that where

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you just wasted what you are doing? No. I was on a mission. It was not

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only for me, I was not just doing it for me. I had a mission to take my

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dad and my parents and my whole family outside the place where I was

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in France. I just felt somehow I need to make that happen. Of course

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it was a lot easier for me to go to school. School was easier than

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tennis. I was not gifted, physically in tennis. When you see a loss of

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players having their parents being professional athletes, it is

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different in my case. I had to work even harder to become one of the

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greatest. I felt that I needed to do that for my father. I needed to stop

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seeing him working 18 hours a day and being sad. Some people listening

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to that might think that it is not the job of an 11 -year-old to take

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the burden of their families expectations. And that perhaps you

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were being driven by your parents. My parents never told me that. It

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was really what I was feeling. Now I am not a professional tennis player,

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I want to work for charities. I want to give to others. There must have

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been times when you are practising late at night as a young child where

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you are saying to your father, your coach, enough. I have had enough.

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Let's stop. We don't need to practise until 1am. Feeling is not

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acceptable for me. When I was at school, 19 out of 20 was not good

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enough. I had to have 20 out of 20. Nine Serbs in the 50 centimetre

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square box, nine Serbs out that is not raising a challenge. And

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yet your moment of triumph came shortly after you decided that your

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father would no longer be your coach. You did it with a former

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player. What was the change? What made that mean that you could then

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take the Wimbledon title? It has always been clear that my father

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will always remain my hero. At some point, I felt that I needed to take

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over my tennis and be more involved. To get these extra bit of confidence

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that are needed. I was in the final or the semi-final or the

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quarter-final but I was still missing something. I was visiting my

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confidence. With my new coach, I felt like I could not lose. You said

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that even as you are winning Wimbledon, you felt, maybe this is

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my final year. Your body was beginning to hurt. I am wondering

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how much you blame that on the nature of the tennis calendar. A lot

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of people say it is just too punishing. There are people who run

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professional tennis try and cram into many matches. What do you

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think? There are some pluses and minuses. If you don't put enough

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tournaments, you do not get the opportunity to enough players. To

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really perform and be professional players. If you put too much, and of

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course the top players, because you go so far in every tournament, it

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becomes too much for your body. Sometimes you cannot do a circuit

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for ten players, you have to look at the big rich. You and the longest

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that anybody went before winning a Grand Slam. Whether times when you

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thought, I need a break. Of course. You bounce back. Of course I am very

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proud of what I achieved but a also proud of the way I bounced back from

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defeat, from loss. From depression almost. When I was losing when I

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thought I should have wind, I could stay for three days inside my hotel

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room, barely eating or talking to anyone. It was very nasty. If you

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are in China or Japan or all over the place, you are by yourself. It

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is you and only due. -- you. When you have a team around you, your

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friends, if you have a bad day you can go on the bench and your partner

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can take on some of the job. But in tennis it is just you. But then when

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you achieve, the reward that you get... It is very hard for me to

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find something in normal life that is that kind of feeling. I can see

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it in your face and he'll what you say, that pride. Understandable

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pride. I don't want to sound too miserable at do you ever think

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yourself, what if I had not wind that Wimbledon? After all those

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years and asset as a child. After 47 appearances in grand slams. Do you

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ever think... That is the magic of it. I felt something was happening

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from somewhere that was giving me something to make it happen. I would

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have still made a final foray Grand Slam.

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Now I can say, proudly that I am a grand slam champion. Having asked

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you about the strains that are on the top women tennis players, ten or

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11 months of the year, it might seem like an odd question to ask you if

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you think that actually, women's tennis, hats for the grand slams

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should go to best of five sets. Please! No! You are rolling your

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eyes. We already played so many matches over the years. Don't give

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us five sets! You probably heard Andy Murray say this but let me

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quote to you. I think the women should play best of five sets. I do

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not see why they could not do it. Maybe not from the first round. I

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think that is what the guys tend to complain about, rather than the

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equal prizemoney it sell. He says it is possible. Maybe just in the later

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rounds of a championship. But you know that there is grinding of teeth

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among male players, not because of equal prizemoney but because some

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women's tennis playing games last 45 minutes. To give me that! Honestly,

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I can't take this. Women cannot do the same physical... Same physical

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abilities as men. It is not humanly possible. That it! You cannot ask a

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woman to play six hours. It used to be said that women could not run the

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marathon on and then in 1988, the marathon on comes into the Olympics.

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There are those who argue that the problem about not having a five set

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match is that, in the words of one sport journalist, it perpetuates the

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myth of the weaker sex. I am starting to commentate on our and I

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have seen men's matches that ran an hour and 20 minutes, even in a

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quarter-final. Don't say to me that some women's matches last 45 minutes

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and we are almost so lazy. Man I mean, there are so many matches they

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go for three hours. It is enough for a woman, believe me. And we are

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ready playing all the time, we put and push our bodies towards the

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limits. Asking to do even more and to add to set to that, it does not

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make sense. One side saying, that you think it is already too much and

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the other saying no, let's put more. You have to be realistic. If you

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want to put five set just for the one match. On one match, a woman can

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play one five set match. But if the quality is going to be as good, I

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doubted. But if you want to make it special, I agree with that. But

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doing it for seven matches? ! It is not a woman you need but to. You

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have to have Serena a and Serena beat, Maria a and Maria B. I do not

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see how woman can play 45 cents in two weeks. I do not see it. Or she

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would finish in the hospital. two weeks. I do not see it. Or she

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far do you think the women's game is still tainted by sexism? I mean, if

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you had to deal... I hesitate to raise this, but you had to deal with

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an astonishing crass comment last year, as you were winning Wimbledon,

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he said, the reason you have got such a fighting style on the court

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is, he said, and he later apologised, is because your father

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may have told you that you were not a look at. How did you deal with

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that is make very still a measure of sexism around in tennis? I felt I

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had already answered to the person, did I gym about being a supermodel?

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No. Did a gym about being a grand slam winner, yes. At the end of the

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day, criticism goes with the fame, if I can put it that way. Men will

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be judged on tennis results. A woman, yes, she is going to get some

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comments on how she looks but it is the way in every department. Not

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only in tennis. The same when you get to a job. If a woman goes to an

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interview for a job, she will be more judged at the beginning by the

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recruiter, on the outside, then on her CV. That is the way the world

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goes. Should we change that? Yes, absolutely. But the reason

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difference between knowing what is going on and accepting the rules...

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What do I want to change the rules? Yes, absolutely. Right now I have to

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play by the rules and right now, woman is game to be seen not only on

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tennis results, achievements and abilities, but I do not John

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Riverdale is a supermodel either, just to say that. He talks about the

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need for power and stamina. Were you concerned at all while you were

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playing that some of the people you are playing against might have been

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taking performance enhancing drugs, that they may have been a doping in

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the sport? Absolutely not. Andy Murray, Roger Farah, have not

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levelled at the accusation that they have said there is a need for

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increased testing... I absolutely agree there is a need to increase

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test but I never had the feeling when I lost the match that I lost

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the match because the person I was playing against was taking or had

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taken some performance of drugs, absolutely not. It would make sense,

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given the stamina that you need for tennis, the power, the ability to

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take in oxygen, the power to recover from injury, I mean, all that would

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suggest the sport... I will give you an example. I was still on the anti-

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doping list and programme through the 31st of December. So they came

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to my home even as a retired person in September and October for two

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blood tests. I also heard some people saying, she retired bit cause

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she was doping... They have to understand in September, October,

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November, once a month they came and I gave my blood and it comes out

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negative. I was followed even as a retired player. Throughout the year

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you have 50 or 60 tests. I think that tests have to be increased, I

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think the urine test may not eat enough. If somebody takes something

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so powerful that the test cannot find it, then we need to find a way

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to make sure that when someone goes to a doping test, if he is really

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taking something, he will be caught. That I agree on. But when I played

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the date feel or thought that the player I lost against, I lost

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against her because she was taking something I was not taking, no.

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Francis Davis cup captain, did he get it right when he said it would

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be foolish not to be concerned by these problems, the problem of

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doping is, especially since the game got more physical? I totally agree

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with you. We have to be aware and we have to be very careful in not

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giving up and not saying, because we have only filed a very few cases, it

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is not going to happen. -- found a few cases. The power of the doping

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control, we need to be at the same level as the people who are trying

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to cheat. Meaning, if they go to the best lavatory and took a product

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which is the first class product, we have to be able to match that with a

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first-class doping test. So if they are trying to cheat, they will be

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caught stop it again, I never felt that some players were taking

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products. Just because we did not have the possibility of the right

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test, we let them play. I never had that feeling. Let me finish with

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something perhaps more cheerful than talking about doping. He said that

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you are playing a little bit at the moment. I think you are going to be

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playing in an exhibition match at Wimbledon this coming summer. When

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you do step on a tennis court now, do you still have that hunger to

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win? Oh, yes. Sometimes it is ridiculous. A played with Patrick,

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who is Serena 's coach, he has also commentated in France, he was there

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at the study and open and we played on Saturday. We did a ten point feel

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crosscourt. And when I won, it was like, it yes! So, of course, I have

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to win this deal but when I am playing, you will hear me laugh from

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100 metres away, I just have so much fun. It is so cool to be able to hit

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the tennis ball without any pressure. But I cannot play without

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it, absolutely. But it is just a small part. Marion Bartoli, thank

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you very much for being on HARDtalk. Thank you, it was my pleasure.

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We will continue to see very disruptive weather as we have

1:29:391:29:38

through the course of Wednesday. A deep vigorous area of low pressure

1:29:391:29:38

bringing stormy conditions to much of the country, in particular the

1:29:391:29:38

south and west. The area of low pressure will be sitting across

1:29:391:29:38

Ireland with very strong wind wrapping around it with outbreaks of

1:29:391:29:38

heavy

1:29:391:29:39

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