Walter Bartoli - A Man For All Seasons

An in depth interview with Walter Bartoli - EXCLUSIVE to Marion Bartoli Fan Blog

INTRODUCTION

One of the driving quests that Marion Bartoli Fan Blog has is to "understand, explain, and defend, the distinctive tennis ethos of Marion and Walter Bartoli." A Quest which is motivated by "a passionate belief in the player/coach relationship enjoyed by Marion and Walter Bartoli," These words contained in the About section, form the basis of something like a Mission Statement upon which this little blog is founded. To this end the following article, and more especially the interview this article uses as its source, hopefully makes a valuable contribution. One which begins to counter preconceptions held about Dr. Walter Bartoli and his father daughter coaching relationship with Marion, while also satisfying the tennis fans simple curiousity and natural appetite for new information. Substantially this interview focuses on the emotional aspects of combining the role of tennis coach with that of loving father.

The video interview was conducted by Glen Mackay in English on the 28th May 2009, and took place at Roland Garros following Marion's 2nd round exit in the French Open.  Apart from a brief preview, the contents of this interview have never been broadcast or published until now. Glen has conducted several interviews with Marion and her father over the course of this year, and I am hugely grateful to him for his generous support of Marion Bartoli Fan Blog. Thanks also to the media rights holders, the French Tennis Federation.  

"It's Like A Dream"

The interviewer begins by saying how "Marion keeps telling me when she was eight you would buy tickets and bring her to Roland Garros..." before asking Walter directly about just how proud he is "that 16 years later she's playing on Chatrier?"

"For sure, for us it's like a dream" replies Walter "we were close through a lot of times, and to be number 1 in France like she is actually, with all the reasons already; like the final in Wimbledon - for sure I am very proud of her.. it's like a dream."

Asked how he harmonises the role of proud dad with the role of tough coach, Walter indicates that he recognises the importance of finding an emotional balance, "I try to be all acts but it is very difficult for sure" he says with a gallic shrug. "Its important to take a step back from the match, because If I am too emotionally caught up in the match, its very difficult for me to help her for the next match. Sometimes I am too close because I'm too nervous, so I try to take some space from Marion. She tries to feel my emotion also. I need to find a good balance, not to be too excessive, and to be as relaxed as I can."

One can speculate whether by "excessive" Walter means being a disciplinarian, or simply being too full-on and nervous, yet if the linguistics occasionally lack opacity, what is clear is that Walter Bartoli is actually a man who is emotionally articulate and sensitive to the needs of each situation. His emotional intelligence may not be translated in ways that the emoticon-generation would readily embrace or recognise, but nonetheless it is real.

For example, playing in front of home fans at Roland Garros is a notoriously arduous task emotionally for all French players, especially for a preeminent flag-bearer like Marion Bartoli. Expectation - an inflated sense of national entitlement justified or unjustified is always there. From an outsiders viewpoint sometimes the attitude of French fans seems to approximate schizophrenia - today's hero can become today's pariah in the space of one two or three sets of tennis. It is a tough test and Walter recognises this, identifying the importance of developing a blend of on-court coping strategies, personal initiatives, and emotional resilience. Not just for the French Open, but for all matches. His ethos is rooted in physical remedies for mental challenges. He explains,

"I can feel what she is feeling, because there is so much difference between the practice or even when she play mock matches with some guys or girls during the practice (sessions), so for sure when I saw the match, this first set was so difficult for her, I can feel what she is feeling. But you know, she needs to try to win even with these bad emotions. She is too tight, and she need to find a good way for winning."

"When I witness a very tight set like this, for tomorrow I schedule some special exercise to help her to be more relaxed for the next match. But when this happened during the match its finished, she needs to find the key for herself. For the days off, I know some good drills can help her for the next time."

"You know when you feel tight like this, all your movement, all your visual perception, everything is bad, so the most important thing is to try find the movement, find the motion.. then you can start to feel better, and have better placement of the ball. Because also what's happening when she's like this, she takes the ball in the incorrect spot in the frame."

Nevertheless Dr. Bartoli also recognises that no single training technique is a panacea, "Everything is important. You need to find by yourself what can assist you to be more relaxed."

The interviewer then drops what seems like an intentionally naive question, "Rafael Nadal is obviously the best clay court player in the world. Do you and Marion watch him and take lessons from the way he plays?" Unsurprisingly Walter responds "No, no, it only works with the physical training, and in the physical training with the drills that she prefers to do."

Walter explains that there is a continuum between training drills, the practice court, and match day, and explains how the training drills themselves simulate court movement, service motion, and shot set up in match situations.

Intricately gesturing with his hands like a surgeon threading a needle before carefully stitching up his patient, Dr. Bartoli continues, "...it helps to remind her that when she's on the practice court, she can play very well, and sometimes make a connection between very good practice, and the courts, and the tension of the courts can help her to recover and find her game. So for me it's a link between what she's doing the best in practice, and what she's not doing in the match. And sometimes when she finds this link it can help her to be, you know, in the right place.

 
Team Bartoli - sharing the tears and the tough times together (Photo: Niels de Water Sportfotografie)

"I'm here every time"

With the interviewer gently pressing Walter on his original line of enquiry, about how proud he is of Marion and how he expresses that pride, a somewhat surprising maternal and empathetic change occurs, just for a moment. In spite of, or possibly because of, the interview being conducted in a fairly public part of the player/coach area at Roland Garros, Walter leans forward protectively, sorts his eyes from right to left anxiously, and allows an understated and gentle pathos to sweep by like a mild watercolor tone brushed on a Provencal afternoon, blink once or twice and you'll miss it. This is after all a shy, ostensibly cerebral man, rarely given to the public display of emotion. Like an impression from Virginia Woolf's To The Lighthouse, momentary emotional glimmers effectively take on the magnitude of seismic tremors whenever they occur. In the story of Walter Bartoli, profundity is revealed by understatement - And that's beautiful. He is a good man.

"You know, I'm not such an expansive man, but she knows what I think, and you know from my standpoint its very important to help her when something bad has happened to her, or she's injured, or she's got too much protection because she lost a match, she need to....." (lumpy hesitation) "She find me when she needs me... So, I think it's not to be too expansive when she's winning a match, but to be there when she's on the wrong part of her life, and I'm here every time. So from my point, to see how I can be proud of her, it's more important to be here when these things are wrong than when she is winning. And also if she feel that I be too disappointed if she lose then for sure it will be not a good thing for her. When she look at me and she saw me too much disappointed, then for her she's feeling very bad. And you know I think she needs to feel me more relaxed, then that helps her to feel more relaxed on the court."

A criticism levelled by some tennis writers, is that Walter Bartoli lacks the human touch and doesn't know how to be emotionally supportive. But this to my mind is simplistic and also wrong. Scandinavians are not especially known for being highly emotionally expressive. But do we say therefore that the value of their love as lovers is any less than that shared between for example Italian couples? Or that Scandinavian parents are deficient, less loving, and less qualified than for example Italian parents? Of course not! They have their own vocabulary. Likewise, each individual family also has its own emotional vocabulary and dynamics, its own modus operandi and ways of communicating. In my view it is fatal misadventure for some tennis writers out there to parade an infantile disdain for Walter Bartoli when they know very little about the man.

Marion was asked once why her mother doesn't attend more matches, quite apart from the practicalities involved, Marion explained, "She doesn't like to see a lot of my tennis matches. She's very nervous when I play and I feel it on the court. I prefer she stays at home." The nerves are natural, the bond between a mother and daughter is deep and special. However Marion isn't looking for an eostrogen-fest in the heat of battle, that's not the kind of support she wants in match situations. This is one reason why Walter Bartoli is the best coach that Marion Bartoli could have.

"The parents are there to help, not to try put pressure"

Logically, the interviewer rolls the clock back 12 months and asks Walter how he approached things last year after losing in the first round of the French Open?

"I say, for you its nothing. Try to play well at Wimbledon, it will be very difficult because you have a final to defend, you know. But even if you lost, you see this match, this year, will be finished, and then we start another type of game, and she listened to me. Then after Wimbledon she build herself a better game, and then on hard court in USA it was better, and the end of the year it was better also you know."

"I think its very important to not put on her too much pressure, because if you put on her too much pressure its too difficult. So for the parents you know you need to help to be more balanced ...and she need to feel me well too you know."

Asked what advice he would give to parents of aspiring tennis players Walter insists on the importance of being realistic and patient, and to also be aware of the pressures young players are under, "Its very important not to be too strict, to understand its a very difficult job, and only a few players can go like my own did do actually, its very difficult. Look, the parents are there to help, and not to try put pressure. First of all, never say, "Ok its your fault! it's very easy! You can win this point!" Everything is difficult, because if you go on court instead of her (Walter's ironic half laugh), you will make unbelievable mistakes. So its very important to be fair, and to understand its difficult, and step by step to help her with good exercise, because you know to be coach its a job, it's not simply because you are a parent that you can be a coach. You need to learn this job and understand its difficult. By this way we can go forward. And for Marion I never give her (big) goals. It was only very simple goals for her."

Modest incremental goal-setting is the sensible way forward Walter advises, "Sometimes you can see in the newspaper because we have a good junior (inaudible) ..say "ok I want to be number 1". for me its completely stupid you know. Even if you are a good junior, if you are top 100 junior, try to be 90. When you are 90 try to be 80, but no more. So sometimes even on the website of Marion they ask, "OK, what is your goal for the French". The goal is to win one match. But everybody's laughing, "you are completely stupid, you are 13 in the world, your goal is not to win only one match. "YES! ..The goal is to win one match! (half laugh) Because even one match is very difficult, and then we'll see the next one you know. So step after step, and give some very simple goals. And also try to understand that if the parents are going to the court,  for sure we would do worse than she/they do. So you need to understand that."

"Parents Can Destroy You"

Very much a results man, Walter stresses the importance of accountability as a coach, "When something bad happen, you need to understand that perhaps your job is not good before the tournament. My reason, each time even when she lost I never said to Marion ok its your fault (points finger), no. So first of all I say its my job, perhaps I make some mistake in my job. Perhaps I need some better practice, some better drills, change a lot of things, some drills will help you more for the next time. I need to take my fault also, its very important. Because each time you say outside the court.. "what are you doing, you miss a forehand very easy!"  - its completely stupid you know. Because the coach perhaps can take some part of the victory, (but also) ..need take part of the defeat. When she lost we lost together you know. So to understand that everybody in the team have a part of the responsibility."

Concluding, Walter highlights how the role of a coach is to help build self esteem, not destroy it. "You know a lot of times, some parents are crying around the court, you are completely stupid, because oh "its impossible to miss things, what are you doing, you are very bad!". But if you do it like this its impossible to have a good opinion of your personality and then the parents can destroy you."

"You know, a lot of times when I see some little girls beginning on the circuit they are very nice, but after a few months because the parents start to be very nervous because they lost a lot of matches, you can see they have no personality anymore, then the girls start to be completely down you know."

"Its important to play like this; You need to have (In French).. you need to have a good personality and a good opinion of yourself. If the parents put too much pressure and don't understand what is the job, then you can make a lot of bad things you know. So perhaps I have a part when she wins, but I also have a big part when she loses."

This is it, parenting is all about sometimes getting it right and sometimes getting it wrong. There are no perfect parents really. But what Walter has begun to show in this interview is that he has an awareness of the emotional components of the job, and how he sets about managing that side of things in order to get the best from his player - showing leadership, dealing with pressure, working as a team. He is an innately restrained man, he doesn't have the personality of a Brad Gilbert or Nick Bollettieri. There is nothing bombastic or ostentatious about him. He is a doctor, from rural France... the previous marion-bartoli.net webmaster observed of him, "he wears flat shoes". He opts for cardigans rather than flashy Italian suits, he probably doesn't care much for Hip Hop (dang..), and he is guided by a strong work ethic. Yet far from the Little Hitler caricature that some paint of him, Walter Bartoli comes accross in this interview as a tolerant man, emotionally available to his daughter. A conscientious man carefully striving to strike that balance between work and play, and also between maintaining a mentoring presence on the one hand, while upholding his daughters personal space on the other. Like he say's it's difficult, but he tries to be all acts. Sure, you may have questions about the chemistry of their success, and the attachment issues that lie behind this, after all it's pretty incredible that in the modern game just two people can form such a solid partnership dispensing periodic devastation to the hopes of other top players.

And still, with pride Marion Bartoli Fan Blog can say, Team Bartoli unquestionably remain one of the most redoubtable and original forces in women's tennis after nearly four seasons in the top 20 and nearly 20 years together as coach and player, come good results or bad results; he is solid, she is solid. They remain rock solid and highly attuned to one-another.

Perhaps Eurosport's Simon Reed summed it up best when he wrote recently, "I've always marvelled at the way they've managed to balance an unusual player-coach relationship with a sound father-daughter relationship. But the Bartoli’s will always go their own way, and women's tennis is a more interesting place for their presence"

Maybe the Public Relations in times past could have been better. But one things certain, its yearning for a more meaningful dialogue, because the 'mad scientist' label is passé.  

The good times! ASB Classic Auckland Jan 2006

 

Interviewer Glen Mackay
Commentary and transcription by Super Marion - Marion Bartoli Fan Blog. 

Click here to see one of Glen Mackay's earlier video interviews with Marion.