Marion Bartoli HARDtalk

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

cosmic a lot of people were surprised. You

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

am just stopping being Marion Bartoli, the professional tennis

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

players having their parents being professional athletes, it is

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

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

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

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

the burden of their families expectations. And that perhaps you

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

have still made a final foray Grand Slam.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We will continue to see very disruptive weather as we have

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

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

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

Ireland with very strong wind wrapping around it with outbreaks of

heavy