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ROGERS CUP WOMEN


August 8, 2013


Marion Bartoli


TORONTO, ONTARIO

M. RYBARIKOVA/M. Bartoli
7‑6, 1‑0 [ret.]


THE MODERATOR:  Questions, please.

Q.  Can you just talk about the injury, when you felt it and what exactly it is.
MARION BARTOLI:  Yeah, for now I need just a bit more time to assess it with the doctor, but it looks like an abdominal injury on the right side.
Obviously disturb me already the middle of the first set when I start to really have some pain when I was serving, and I tried to push it through.  But then the beginning of the second set was just way too much to handle, to handle that kind of pain.

Q.  Could you only feel it when you were serving, or was it bothering you at other times?
MARION BARTOLI:  Backhand and serving, actually.  Backhand was more when I was preparing my shots and serving when I was opening, so it was a lot of part of my game, but it happens.

Q.  Did they preliminarily diagnose it and say a pull, a little tear, or do you have to go get an MRI or something like that?
MARION BARTOLI:  I have to go through a scan tonight, but from what the doctor first said, and the physio, it's more like an overload maybe, kind of excess of tiredness and exhaustion on my body they feels.
But it's so large, the pain is so large, and we can't really say right now exactly there is a tear at some point or if it's just like a huge tightness.

Q.  Why would they think it's exhaustion?  You have been up partying too late?
MARION BARTOLI:  Not really (smiling).
No, I have been very focused on my training since I went back.  But, you know, everything that happened for me since a month, it's not without any tiredness, and obviously it took me so much energy to win my first Grand Slam that at some point I will have a kind of low, and it's normal.
I'm human.  At the end of the day I can't be winning after winning after winning without feeling at some point a kind of exhaustion.

Q.  So you have been feeling that the last few days or week?  Couldn't just be today, no?
MARION BARTOLI:  No, my first match I felt was good, but, you know, it's just from what it looks like for now, but maybe I have a tear in my abs and he will operate tomorrow.
But I have some pain from my back all the way to here, so it's like it's so large and it's hard to say if it's really just a muscle cramp or there is a tear at some point.  But I still have some weeks to prepare for the US Open.  Obviously it's my main goal and it still remain, so I will just make sure I'm ready for this one.

Q.  You had to wait for the trainer quite a long time.  Did you think you'd have to retire?  Did you make the decision after she saw you?
MARION BARTOLI:  No, I explained to the trainer how I felt and how the whole process happened during the match, and she agree with me that the best decision was just to stop right there instead of going and keeping playing on it, because then I can really hurt myself a lot more.
Two weeks or something ahead of the US Open is not the smarter decision to take, so obviously that's not the way I wanted to end up my winning streak, but it happened.  It's the sport.  I just have to bounce back, train harder, and be ready for the US Open.  That's all I can do.

Q.  Can you talk about the first set before you really felt the injury?  It seemed she was dictating maybe a little more?  She was moving around a little bit?
MARION BARTOLI:  Yeah, well, obviously, you know, she has been winning a lot of matches in a row, so she's having a lot of success in Washington and in here, but I felt my game was not really the way I wanted to play.  I was doing some mistakes I shouldn't do.
I was down 5‑3.  I did a great job to come back.  I had 4‑2 leading the breaker, and then she had some kind of lucky shots hitting the tapes and some points I should have finished that I didn't.  But I don't think that's worried for me so far.  Right now it's not really the point that I'm worried about.  It's more my injury and see how I'm going to deal with it for the next couple of days.

Q.  You have become kind of close to Cornet, a little bit, Alize?
MARION BARTOLI:  We are very good friends, with all the French girls, really, Kristina, Alize, Caroline Garcia, and myself.  We are, since the Fed Cup, really been able to build a great, nice friendship, relationship, and we are supporting each other, definitely.

Q.  Did she talk to you about what happened with Errani today?
MARION BARTOLI:  We didn't have the time to see each other, you know.  I was right after her, and I haven't ‑‑I just look at her match sometimes on TV, but I haven't talked to her yet, no.

Q.  Errani thought that because she was saying "Vamos" that it was sort of gamesmanship.  And you know Alize.  Do you think that that's possible?
MARION BARTOLI:  No.  Alize is always, in a lot of her matches, maybe because she likes so much clay she feel like she's Spanish a little bit.
But no, I mean, I saw her play so many matches over the years, and she's always said "Vamos" in her matches, always, always.  So that should show you when she's so focused in her mind that she say more "Vamos" than "Allez."
There is nothing against Sara, nothing at all.  She's way too sweet and way too nice to kind of doing that in purpose, no way.

Q.  This has happened on the men's tour also, that certain guys get upset when someone is using native language.  So if someone said like "Allez" when you were on court and they weren't French, would that upset you or do you just say, I don't care?
MARION BARTOLI:  No.  I mean, you can always find excuses and say you can be upset by a million things, why you be upset more because maybe the ball boy doesn't give you the ball fast enough or the towel fast enough.  I don't know.  There is a million things that can upset you.  You can always find excuses when you loses.  This is the easiest thing in the world.
I feel if my opponent want to say "Allez" or "Come it" or "Vamos" or whatever it is, I mean, that's what motivate her.  The only thing I can do is trying my hardest to win the point and on my side try my hardest as well on the court.
Why I should be upset by that, no, I don't think so.  I have never been upset like this and I don't think I will, ever.

Q.  Unrelated to your injury today, your general style on court, you have a lot of movement, jumping around between points.  Can you just talk a bit about what that does for you physically, like why do you do it and what do you get out of it?
MARION BARTOLI:  Yeah, it's my way of focusing and really trying to regroup before every single point.  I have been doing that since as far as I can remember, so six or seven years what I have been doing it.  It's just the way I am on the court.  I'm always trying my hardest, and I'm trying to correct myself or even just be ready for the next point, and my way to do so is just always be active.
You know, it's just the way I am and the way I'm acting on the court, and I don't think I will change it ever because it's just so much of a habit so far.  It's been more than 22 years I'm doing it.
But, you know, I think it's good to be different at some point.  I mean, it would be so ‑‑to be just like everyone else, that's not why ‑‑I like to be different and just the way I'm doing it on the court.  I never have done it on purpose to disturb my opponent or be unrespectful to her.  Just my way of focusing.

Q.  Seems like it would take sort of extra energy.  Do you have to do sort of additional training to get the fitness level so you can do that throughout a whole match?
MARION BARTOLI:  Um, well, actually, when I'm not doing it, it's not a good sign, because it means I could be overstressed or overtired or whatever, but I don't feel ‑‑because it's more mental, it's more visualizing.  There is not really a fitness part to it.
So it's not taking me a lot of energy to do it, so I can probably do it forever almost (smiling).  But I never felt like it took me some energy to do that outside of the point, no.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports




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