The post mortem into why all the French women were eliminated from the US Open by the 2nd round is currently in full swing. It is the first time since 1986 that no French women have reached the third round of the US Open. Over the weekend Marion provided her input to the conversation,

From RMC.fr

"It seems there is always a big reservoir of talent among the boys, who earn a lot of junior Grand Slam, and that happens less among girls. Are coaches or physical programs different? I do not know, but I really feel that all the boys who leave INSEP faring much better than girls. It is sorely lacking among juniors. I have almost 25 years, Alizé (Cornet) is a little younger than me (19 years), and behind for the moment we do not have enough regular girls. It may just be a lack of talent among the young. This is currently lacking in the French women's tennis." - RMC.fr, le 04/09/2009

As reported in Le Monde

"Perhaps the Federation has a very good program for boys with a big reservoir, but it happens less in girls." "I do not know why, maybe the coaches or physical programs are they different ... The fact is that is sorely lacking. Perhaps simply, there is a lack of young people who have enough talent". lemonde.fr 04/09/2009

Academy

INSEP is the acronym for the French national sports academy. Marion never attended INSEP. However her comment is interesting, because as a junior she did spend a not altogether happy period I am led to understand at the Centre National d'Entraînement in Paris - Elite training center based at Roland Garros.

So why is it that "all the boys leave INSEP faring much better than the girls"? Is it talent? Is it resources? Or is it structural, something endemic to the set up of these organisations and centers which do or don't do something to the development of sportswomen?

It's certainly ironic that the one girl who did it alone, who went the tennis-route equivalent of home-schooling, is now the very woman who is the nation’s best tennis player. Does this say something about the system which she and her father abandoned or which abandoned them?*

As an outside observer it does seem that France places greater emphasis and value on men's tennis. Yes this is symptomatic of a universal problem at the moment where the women's game is seen as an inferior product to the men's, but France does seem to be a problem area when it comes to treating women's tennis as a 2nd class entity. Also, when French players don't meet inflated national expectation, they really get hammered by the male dominated press.

Calling The Shots

A few months ago Marion told L'Equipe, "Policy makers are men, very few women have very high positions in enterprise, companies are investing the money, and a man has more desire to see men play." 

The general principle which Marion identifies here, namely the disproportionate number of men calling the shots compared with women, is one which can be seen at work in the body which governs tennis in France. If you look at the list of the French Tennis Federations committee of directors, that is the principal group of people making all the important decisions in French Tennis, you will see that of the 39 members only 9 are women. Among them Nathalie Tauziat.

If that is the situation at the top, what's the trickle down effect? What message does this send out to young girls and aspiring sportswomen? It surely cannot be good for the visibility and promotion of the women's game in France, or for sports girls self-confidence and self-conception of themselves. Are these girls meant to be athletes? "Or girls that pose in swimsuits?"

Maybe girls in France simply have other options these days. The hunger and also the the wieght of numbers is with the Russians and now the Chinese, tennis offers them a means of escaping from oppressive situations, not a means of arriving at them...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"A famous coach and former French number 1 once told me that Marion was gifted and that her only barrier was me. I therefore listened and took a step back. After 6 months Marion's results had fallen, I reviewed. He then said to me that Marion was not good enough.

 Walter Bartoli - Jan 2007