AFP newswire are running the latest instalment in the Fed Cup saga..
[Marion Bartoli told to play Fed Cup or face Olympic axe 4 hours ago PARIS (AFP) - Wimbledon runner- up Marion Bartoli was warned on Wednesday that she risks missing out on selection for the 2008 Olympic team if she does not represent France in the Fed Cup. France will play China in the Fed Cup first round in February. Fed Cup captain Georges Goven has indicated that he will be calling on Bartoli for the Beijing tie but the French number one has indicated that she does not want to make the trip because it does not fit in to her calendar. "If Marion Bartoli was selected by the captain and she refused this selection she would exclude herself from participating in the Olympic Games," explained national technical director Patrice Dominguez. "The captain can judge that he needs Marion Bartoli if she is the best and now she is the number one, so why deprive ourselves of a player for a tricky trip such as that as challenging China in Beijing," added Dominguez. Former French number one Amelie Mauresmo, who has dropped down to world number 18 after an injury-plagued year, has also indicated that she does not want to make the trip. But Mauresmo remains eligible for the Beijing Games as she played Fed Cup last year. Bartoli had her breakthrough in 2007 reaching a season-ending 10th ranking.]
The quotation is fairly equivocal. A shot accross the bows, rather than firm threat of sanction.
Marion can give as good as she gets. She has consistently made clear her position on Fed Cup inclusion; a). The inclusion of her coach and father is a pre-requisite, and b). The Fed Cup schedule must not compromise Marion's physical fitness or competion commitments.
One can understand Marion's decision. Together with her father they have worked as a team to reach this level. Rarely were Marion and Dr. Bartoli ever countenanced with respect by the powers that be. Neither the media, French Federation, or tennis pro's past and present get it. Invariably they take a critical, punitive, or just plain patronising approach to the Bartoli way.
Well excuse my indulging a little Gauline scorn of my own, how effusive and sycophantic some have become. Yet when their felicitations are deferred by Marion, these people then resort to bullying tactics. Marion isnt the type of girl to entertain this.
Attempting to compel players against their will is both unrealistic and wrong, and so also is surruptitous blackmail.. What are the Fed Team implying.. That Marion will be viewed as unpatriotic by the French public if the FFT dont invite her to the Olympics? French tennis bosses might find this backfires on them. In the PR war one treats the French public like imbeciles at ones peril. From a vantage point as a Brit and Scot I understand that. So Goven and co are on a ride to nothing with this approach.
Over a broad-ranging interview for a Geneva newspaper earlier this week, Marion candidly and laconicly set out her position regarding the French Fed Cup team. The scope of the interview put her feelings in context; The context of family, career, and her relationship to other players on the tour. She doesnt mince her words. Yet remains intelligent and considered with her responses.
[Tribune De Geneve Interview.
The Geneva Country Club at Bellevue has become the place to find the cream of French women's tennis. Amelie Mauresmo and Marion Bartoli are the regulars. With a chic decor and smart presentation, it is the place where both are preparing for the 2008 season. On the cards is a return to form for Mauresmo after a sombre 2007, and confirmation after the Wimbledon Final for Bartoli.
A resident of Tartegnin, just a stone's throw from Geneva, Marion was kind to agree to have a question and answer session.
Q: Marion, starting with the Fed Cup, the current hot potato subject. Amelie Mauresmo has declared that she won't play in the first round...
MB: ..Myself also, so it will be two quality players absent. One must be realistic: after the Australian Open, it is not humanely possible to link up with the Fed Cup especially at a place on the other side of the world in China. For sure one has ambitions of world ranking.
Q: You demand the presence of your father at your side. The French Federation said no. Did their decision impact your decision?
MB: I revealed my choice to the National Technical Director: Patrice Dominguez. I repeated to him that I didn't envisage to play in the Fed Cup if my father was not completely integrated into the technical staff. It is a decision sina que non for my entry into the French team. I will not change my stance.
Q: With your father Walter, you form a funny couple. Well known after Wimbledon, this unusual setup provoked a lot of chatter...
MB: ..A couple that functions well, no?
There have been some errors (who doesn't make them) along the way which delighted your detractors.
MB: One has not commited many. The proof, I have greatly progressed.
Q: To speak clearly, you are inseperable like the fingers from the hand.
MB: Yes, but it is a relationship a lot more simple than, those on the exterior ever imagine. We are happy to be together. Then why would I go elsewhere? I am not a masochist. I am happy how it is. Tennis, it is a choice of life.
Q: A sport where you had very good predispositions?
MB: Maybe, still I was more gifted on an educational/school level.
Q: You wanted to do maths it seems?
MB: And further studies after. But tennis inspired me more. It maybe made me dream more when I was a kid than studies. In my dreams I already imagined myself in the final of a Grand Slam. I did that this year at Wimbledon.
Q: You say you talk about everything with your father. Even the bad things?
MB: One is very spontaneous. When something is not going well I say it. I have sufficient personality to not keep myself silent. Frankly there are very few daily slanging matches. We have the same passions, the same character. My father is like a child. He is more than 50 years old but he has fun like a child of fifteen.
Q: And your mother? We don't see her at all or if only rarely at the tournaments...
MB: She doesn't like the permanent competition that is tennis. I don't want to put her in an uncomfortable situation. She prefers to stay at home in Tartegnin. But my mother has always helped my step (me along). She has perfectly played the role of mother. She has helped me, comforted my when it was needed. If she hadn't been there, maybe I would have failed. I would have missed the psychological and emotional comfort that she gives me.
Q: When you're father chose to give up his medical profession in the countryside of the Haute- Loire to become your full time trainer, did you not feel the weight of responsibility. That is to say, you could not fail?
MB: Very honestly, nobody lived it liked that! For several reasons. Initially, my father was involved in a demanding job which started to weigh heavily on him after fifteen years of practice in the countryside. He didn't have any timetable. The patients could call at three o'clock in the morning. The tennis project, which was mine at the time, allowed him to evade the medical environment a little bit. It was an experience that he also desired to be involved in. He made the choice then, but I say to you that it was not a sacrifice. He never said 'I am giving up my medical career, you cannot fail'. It was not like that at all. It was rather 'do what you can, if you don't make it, you will resume your studies'.
Q: The Wimbledon final propelled you to unexpected heights. What has changed since this famous Saturday 7 July 2007?
MB: I am more welcomed at the tournaments, the organisers look at me now in a different light. And I play my matches at reasonable times on the main courts. In short, I've become somebody important.
Q: For your adversaries also?
MB: Yes. They show more respect to me. A small example: the other players no longer arrive late from the practice courts. They come at the alloted time. Now I can play without being disturbed.
Q: Not a question that the best players train together is it?
MB: That is not done. It is the feminine mentality. There is enormous competition between us. Jealousy also.
Q: This season, you count 31 tournaments and 78 matches in your record. You are always on the courts?
MB: No I just like tennis. And at my age one recovers fast. But I will put my foot on the pedal softly in 2008. I don't want to burn my wings.
Q: In the whirlwind of tennis, are you able to relax and have a good time?
MB: I love painting and cooking when I come back to Tartegnin. Going out to clubs is not at all my kind of thing. Honestly to return at five in the morning and be exhausted the next day, does not appeal to me. But for sure, I know when to party for the important occasions.
Q: Your last holidays?
MB: On the Ile de Maurice after Madrid.
Q: Why this mimicry on the court, which sometimes exasperates your opponents?
MB: I come from a family of atheletes used to 5 ,000 m, 10 ,000m and half marathons. I have a lot more ability for edurance than explosive bursts, it is genetic. It is not ideal in tennis, especially on service and on the return. After important physcial work, I have plugged a large part of this handicap. Thanks also to these small rituals.]
*I'm indebted to www.marion-bartoli.net for the Geneva Tribune article
EDITED 11:11pm 12/20/07
Follow the other tags (eg; FFT, Walter Bartoli, Georges Goven) for all the news and info regarding the Bartoli's and Fed Cup team
Thanks Alice. Good article and great write up! And I agree about the coercion of players by either National bodies or Associations.
Marion owes the French Fed Tennis Association absolutely nothing. They never helped her in anyway, and somehow I think Marion will not lose sleep over not playing in the Olympics.
Thats another thing I like about her. NOBODY tells her what to do