Injury Spoils Title Bid

Only following yesterday's Stanford Final loss, has the extent of the physical distress Marion was under came to light.

Calling for the trainer at the first changeover of the 2nd set on serve, Marion was limping as the match progressed.

She said, "When I started the match, it really started to hurt. I just tried the whole first set to forget about the pain and just stay focused. But my legs were moving so slowly and I was not able to hit the ball as I was able to do in my past matches."

As reported earlier in the week on www.marion-bartoli.net, recurring leg issues have been the cause of periodic distress for Marion, dating back quite some time, including her last competitve match before Stanford; Wimbledon 3rd Round.

In contrast to Wozniak's semi final opponent Serena Williams, who retired a set and a break down, Marion battled on bravely, she said "The official told me it was not really a good idea to try to play on it because obviously it's not going to help. Its hard to retire during the final of a tournament. I just wanted to give the fans a complete match."

Upholding her personal moral commitment to honest competion, Marion has shown guts and courage to reach the Stanford Final. perhaps the offensive and muscular game that she played during this opening tournament of the US hard court season, is one frought with risk as well as opportunity.

Its easy to speculate from the sidelines regarding Marion's condition, but it's in the nature of today's game, that a lot of physical elements are a necessary part of achieving success for every player. How much more so for a player who has a 6 inch height deficit against many of her fellow top 20 rivals. The things that Marion and her father have achieved in spite of her comparatively diminutive stature, are a remarkable testimony to the success of their partnership and individual strength of character.

Despite the inevitable disspointment of losing a final, Marion can take many positives from the fact that she won four matches in a row within six days, and defeated the titleholder and a top ten player en route. Last week in Stanford has gone some way to turning around Marion's season.

This week free of competition, offers Marion and her father/coach the opportunity to reccuperate and prepare for next weeks Tier I event, the Rogers Cup in Montreal.

Well done Marion on a more than satisfactory week.