Ten years ago, Marion Bartoli defied the odds to become one of Wimbledon’s most unlikely champions. At match point, cameras captured his true shock when his ace threw chalk in the air. They then followed her up the stands for a hug with her father, Walter, who had given up a career as a doctor to coach her since childhood.
Today, a quiet memory of that year – away from the crowds, the rest day that interrupted the rhythm of the tournament – remains one of his favorites.
This was when Middle Sunday remained a hallowed shrine to match play. The grounds were eerily still, giving players room to breathe and wander around. A warm evening was approaching and Bartoli had booked the last slot in one of the physio treatment rooms in the building adjoining center court. In the next room was Andy Murray, just a week away from ending Britain’s 77-year wait for a men’s champion. This meeting of future winners felt as fortuitous then as it does now, Bartoli says.
“It’s something completely hidden, but it’s totally true,” she says. “Andy had his physio session, I had mine. We were going out at the same time and my physio talked to Andy. Both said to each other: “I think we have the two Wimbledon champions here”. It was only the middle Sunday.
Murray bore the suffocating pressure of the British drought in the men’s singles. Bartoli, on the other hand, diligently worked his way through the draw without fanfare or commotion.
Did she believe the prediction could come true? “I was like, ‘OK, maybe Andy but not me,'” she laughs. “Of course the draw was starting to open up for me, but it was still a long way off.”
She had never won a major tournament and Wimbledon 2013 was her 47th attempt. In addition, she injured her shoulder. Bartoli had reached the final six years before, nerves overwhelming her in a straight-set loss to Venus Williams. Few could have guessed that this tennis eccentric – who played doubles on both sides – would one day lift the trophy.
Somehow, though, she got there. Under the tutelage of coach Amelie Mauresmo, she did not drop a set all of the tournament. When fellow finalist Sabine Lisicki, who had knocked out defending champion Serena Williams, suffered from her own nerves, Bartoli rose to the occasion. She was only the third ranked player outside the top 10 to win the title.
Sitting in the busy players’ lounge at Roland Garros during the French Open, Bartoli smiled as she recalled her triumph. The last big French winner, she was warmly welcomed by a succession of other players and experts – a woman in her element.
Most Wimbledon champions would call their crowning moment life-changing. Bartoli describes it as saving. A few weeks after her victory, she retired at 28 due to chronic shoulder pain.
Thrown into life without tennis, she entered an abusive romantic relationship and descended into a mental health crisis and battle with anorexia that nearly killed her. His weight dropped to 41 kg. “Even if you’ve managed to accomplish something on the court, as a person, when someone constantly puts you down, they get inside your head,” she says of her ex.
“You start to believe, ‘Maybe I wasn’t that good. Maybe I’m a little too chubby. Maybe I’m not doing it right.’ You start doubting more and more, until you felt it was useless.
Bartoli now speaks with such self-assurance that it’s hard to imagine his self-esteem being so devastating. But for years she denied her eating disorder and struggled to talk about the damage her ex had done.
She says hanging on to her Wimbledon win has always kept her going. “It’s the mentality of not giving up,” she said, her eyes suddenly shining. “As a champion, you have to be stubborn and believe in what you’re doing until you get what you want to achieve. I think for me it was this stubbornness, refusing to give my life, because at some point I was so depressed that I felt that life had no meaning for me.
Now Bartoli is back to his eccentric and lively self. She has a two-year-old daughter, is married to a supportive partner and is a respected entertainer who is believed to be one of Sky Sports’ top pundits following her takeover of tennis in the fall.
The turning point in her life came in 2016, when medical staff banned her from taking part in the Wimbledon Legends Tournament, fearing that she was suffering from heart failure. This prompted her to seek help and even launch a comeback two years later to help her recover.
“Tennis really saved me. Just being on the court, somewhere where I was comfortable, surrounded by people who wanted the best for me, helped me rebuild myself psychologically. people say, ‘You tried [to come back] and failed”, but it was not a failure at all. The goal was not to get me back on the pitch to play professionally, the goal was to revive me.
The scrutiny she faced over her disturbing appearance was nothing new to her either. Broadcaster John Inverdale sparked a media storm when, ahead of the 2013 final, he told BBC Radio 5 Live listeners that Bartoli was “never going to be a spectator”. She took the jibe on the chin, even working in the commentary booth with him the following year, but says her experiences in broadcasting taught her that women are still judged on their looks.
“I think the mentality has evolved since I’ve been a gamer to something much more based on the work you can put in, rather than your outward look – finally,” she says, praising her employer Prime Video.
But I still hear comments [at other channels] saying, “Maybe she’s not the best, but she looks good”. It does not mean anything. You would never say that to a man, ever, and it still drives me crazy. We still have progress to make. »
Wimbledon 2013 is different. As she prepares to return to the All England Club this summer, her breakthrough still sustains her. “I remember every second, every rain delay, almost every point I played,” she says. “I really felt during those two weeks that I could fly, like I could conquer the world.”
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