Just a few weeks ago at a Roland Garros press conference, Virginie Razanno said,

"Marion complimented me in the locker room. It was from the bottom of her heart. I found it so cute from her, so nice. She congratulated me. I said congratulations, as well, for what she did yesterday, even though it was against a French player. You know, we support each other, and, you know, tennis is not an easy sport compared with other sports. It’s quite a difficult sport, and we’ve seen this at least for the women tournaments. It’s not always easy, not always pink. You have to look at the bright side. If you get support from the other French girls, it’s a good thing."

In my own match preview of the match between Marion and Razzano I wrote how, "With that one statement of faith Virginie showed that the future health of French tennis lies in the inter-connected rather than the inter-nicene."

But then the following morning in L'Equipe (Fri 19 June), this from Razzano, "one has the impression that to win by any means is good: medical call, crying, limping ... I do not watch if she takes plenty of time between points.. There will be no respect and no pity on both sides."

For Razzano to issue such a random act of provocation on the eve of the match was not only spectacularly bad timing, but pretty incongruous in the light of her near effusive praise of Marion only weeks previous. It was clearly designed to upset Marion ahead of their match.

Today Marion told Alain Deflassieux of L'Equipe, "Before the match, I only spoke about tennis. I didn't say anything about her. I know my faults, but I also know when I have to shut up. So, before judging the other players, she should look at herself, because I could tell many things about her, nobody can stand her".

In actual fact there is history between these two players, in part going back to an incident at Paris indoors between Walter Bartoli and Razzano. One only need look at handshakes from the previous matches between them,

Paris Indoor – Feb 2008

Paris Indoor - Feb 2008

Rome – May 2008

These three pictures speak volumes in themselves. You could cut the passive aggression with a knife.

A lot of it seems to boil down to a basic envy of the fact that Marion Bartoli returns to Wimbledon next week as French number 1 and former finalist. Something which galls the bureaucrats. So what, if Marion and Walter Bartoli refuse to adhere to etiquette! When you have to go it alone,go against the grain, winning won’t submit politely

They do things their own way and That's how Marion has held off the challenge for the past two years of much vaunted Frenchwomen such as Amelie Mauresmo, Alize Cornet, Tathiana Golovin, as well as Razzano and the other acolytes.

To repeat what I said yesterday, Marion held out the olive branch to Virginie, extended the hand of friendship, but Virginie has returned only disingenuous words, half truths, and all round bad faith.

Certainly to my mind, this incident opens up wider questions about the wisdom of Marion ever considering any re-integration with the French set up as a whole.

But now it's important for Marion to move on and look forward to Wimbledon. She must not allow herself to be distracted by anything else, but must focus all her physical and emotional energies on dealing with her first round opponent on Monday.

Quadruple Fault

Before and during Roland Garros I contacted the FFT/Roland Garros by email several times, but received not a single reply. Most tournaments and official organisations have the courtesy to send a reply to me, even if they cannot help.