THE MODERATOR: Questions in French, please

Q. You didn't really feel good physically? You were like all white in the face when you hold? What's happened?

MARION BARTOLI: Well, I was a bit tired. A bit sick, I think, as well. So it was not easy. It was so cold out there. Really cold on the court.

I was not really fit, that's true. The conditions were not really good for me. It was really hard.

Q. What about the incredible number of break points?

MARION BARTOLI: Well, you know, the court was really heavy. The balls were heavy. My serve was not okay at all. I couldn't hit the balls correctly, either. So I wanted to fight back as well as I could, but that was not sufficient.

The way she played, her attitude was getting on my nerves, so I had to calm down. It was not easy. She would always return all the balls, all the points. I was not hitting strongly enough. The surface was really slow.

There was a lot of clay under my feet. It was a bit heavy. 15 degrees. It's not the best conditions.

Q. You said difficult conditions. What do you mean by this?

MARION BARTOLI: What?

Q. You said her attitude was a bit strange. What do you mean by this?

MARION BARTOLI: Well, it's her clan. When I made unforced errors, her team would shout. It's not sportslike. They're Italians.

Q. You're Italian too. Your grandfather, as well, is Italian.

MARION BARTOLI: I'm from Corsica.

I knew her on a faster surface, like on hard courts. At the beginning of the match it was not the same type of match. But this time it was the slowest surface on earth, so to her advantage.

Q. What about her shouting all the time?

MARION BARTOLI: She does that all the time. I do it, as well. Last time when I played against her, you know, I didn't care.

This time, it's mainly the conditions that were really not good. It was so cold, freezing out there. The balls were stuck on the strings of the racquet, so that's why there were many break points, and the ball was too slow. It was not to my benefit. It was never something I could do well, you know, to hit the ball and to have many moon balls.

I thought, you know, I could hit as strong as I could. I couldn't have winning points. It was not, therefore, easy for me to get into my game.

Q. You said you thought you were sick. What do you think you have?

MARION BARTOLI: Well, it's like a bit of a sore throat, and my nose is running. It was cold. It was very warm on Monday when I played, andthen cold for two days in a row.

So I think it's the temperature change, and also a bit of tiredness.

Q. You had invested a lot in this tournament. So what do you feel today, just off the courts?

MARION BARTOLI: Well, of course now I'm disappointed. I was very much involved. I had trained a lot and practiced for a very long week before, and fortunately this was not rewarding. Not the way I wanted, in any case, but this is the way it is. That's sports.

You can try and do your best before the tournament. You can try and practice as best as you can. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. This is the way it is. It's life.

Q. You said you couldn't hit your balls, and you wanted to strike stronger and stronger. You made more mistakes?

MARION BARTOLI: Yes, the ball, I tried to strike really strongly, and then it went off the court immediately. You know, I couldn't feel anything today. I couldn't feel my racquet. When I play well, this would never happen to me.

Everything was tough. Her game was not good enough. There was no pace in her game, so I had to hit more strongly, more strongly, and this is it. I was off pace. I started this match correctly, and then there was a long period of time when I couldn't feel anything. And then during the second set, I wanted to be back into the game, but it was too late.

Q. What next, then, for you?

MARION BARTOLI: I think there's something called Wimbledon next, so I'll try and get ready for grass. This is it. I'll practice again. That's the only thing I can do.

Q. Maybe you will not really like my question, but don't you think that it's something else that has to be changed when you contemplate a new tournament? It's time for a turn around for you.

MARION BARTOLI: Do you have ideas for me?

Q. Or your coach?

MARION BARTOLI: Oh, you mean changing coaches? You think my coach is really bad? That's why I'm No. 13 in the world.

Q. No, I know you're No. 13. But to have a turnaround. Maybe it's a new approach to tournaments?

MARION BARTOLI: Frankly, it hasn't got much to do with my results. My training, my practice beforehand, you can prepare the way you want, you know. It's not a guarantee that you're going to play well on the court. Or sometimes you can forget to practice, and you can play well. There's no direct connection between the two. It's not that mathematical, unfortunately.

In sports there are so many parameters to take into account. Had I played on Monday, it was 30 degrees out there and maybe I could have won the match and then nobody would have said anything.

And today I played, it's only 15 degrees. The balls are that big, and the balls are stuck on the court. So what can I do? On both sides, no, it's impossible. She would slice all the balls, and she would moon all the balls. That's all.

No, if you have any smart ideas to help me win Roland Garros, I'm quite open for the French tournament.

Q. I don't think you had time to see your father. Did he say something?

MARION BARTOLI: No, in these cases, you see, I don't want to see my family, because I know that I won't be able to even utter a singleword. I'm disappointed. I'm so disappointed because I was so much involved. I didn't think I would lose this match, and I can't express any positive feelings 45 minutes after the match before I'm here for this press conference.

So I'd rather wait a little so that I can calm down, even though I know the days to come will be difficult. No, I didn't have time to see my father.

Q. Today I saw that you didn't enjoy anything on court. Do you think that one day you'll enjoy playing on clay?

MARION BARTOLI: Now that's a question.

You see, when I play well, which was the case at Stuttgart, even though I lose, and I lost against Dementieva, of course I can enjoy playing on clay. The conditions are such that sometimes I can develop an interesting game style. But here today, I started with a major handicap, if you will. I knew it todaywhen I woke up. I said, I'll have to play at 11:00. I looked at the weather conditions. I said, It's going to be tough. I tried to do my best. I never gave up, but unfortunately, this is it. I didn't win.

Now, then, I don't think it was such a chore for me. Enjoy it? No, I played badly. I couldn't feel the balls. I did my best, but it didn't work out correctly. So next time I play, even though the conditions are tough, I'll try and develop a smarter type of game.

I wouldn't look at things this way, like I am enjoying it or not.

Q. You've talked a lot about the conditions. What about pressure and tension?

MARION BARTOLI: No, I think my focus was better. I was much more into this game compared with the first round. But this opponent was a problem for me. I didn't find the right answers during the match. Sometimes during a number of games, I was leading the game, but I couldn't stick to this code of conduct, if you will, or style.

Q. No Roland Garros syndrome?

MARION BARTOLI: No, the first round was really the most difficult round. During the second round, I could have played the same match in another town in the world and I would have lost the same way.

It's not because I played here, the French Open, on the central court.

Q. You were No. 19, French 19. Now there's only three French players. How would you analyze this?

MARION BARTOLI: Well, out of 19 French players, let's count the number of wild cards. But some players had very difficult first rounds, so no surprise they lost against stronger girls than them. But, you know, the French didn't have good results for different reasons. It was difficult for us to play our best type of tennis style.

But it's always difficult for us here in France. It's always going to be like this. There's no explanation, you see. We can't find just one reason. There's Amélie on the one hand; there's me on the other hand. My style is perhaps not the best for clay. And also, here on the central court, you have more distance for those who are defenders, more distance behind the baseline, and there you are.

Press Conference Video here

Reading this I feel that the article I wrote more magnanimous to Garbin than I needed to be.

Quite intrusive line of questioning too, but Marion holds her ground well.

As she says, dad is the reason why she's as high as 13. Every other player who is above Marion in the rankings is taller. Together as a team they have produced amazing results all things considered.

Attending Eastbourne may not be a practical option for me, but if Marion requests a wildcard for Birmingham, I will try go in addition to spending a week at Wimbledon.

PS. If you're wondering what happened to the ticker text - the company which owns it, Dare Software, has exceeded it's bandwidth. The guy I spoke to says he hopes to have it back in operation soon.