Commonwealth Bank Tournament Of Champions
Bali International Convention Center
Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia
FINAL

Unfortunately Marion was forced to retire from her match with compatriot Aravane Rezai, in the final of the Commonwealth Bank Tournament Of Champions in Bali. As a consequence Rezai claims her 2nd title of the year and Marion Bartoli Fan Blog extends congratulations to her on a fine achievement.

Match

Both players began brightly, with the French Number 1 taking a grip of the set with a break in the 5th game - a set characterised by candid, powerful, free-flowing tennis.

Serving to stay in the set at 5-3, Rezai held off one set point.

Back on serve at 6-5, Marion seemed to land awkwardly as she chased down a ball at 15-30. A medical time out followed, and once again that problematic upper quadricep was attended to. In evident discomfort, Marion tried to resume play, But double faulted on set point.

Now limping and in a state of some distress, Marion was unable to continue and retired from the match.

Evoking heartbreaking memories of the 2008 Stanford Final, a tearful Marion sat slumped in the chair prior to the prize giving ceremony.

Heartbreak

It is a tough way for Marion Bartoli to end a marvellous season, after all the hard work both she and her father have put in these past 12 months. A double blow after having narrowly lost out on a place at the lucrative Year Ending Championships in Doha in a similar manner.

Team Bartoli could be forgiven for wondering what they have to do break the top 10 having come so close on several occasions this year.

Finishing 2008 in 17th place after an illness blighted year, Marion recovered well in 2009, climbing to 11th place in the rankings by February - a figure which she has revisited on two other occasions this season. It looks like Marion will now miss out on a much anticipated return to the top 10 by just one place and a mere handful of points.

Support

Marion will understandably feel the sense of disappointment keenly at this time, but she can count on the support of one of the ever-present rocks of her life, coach and father Walter Bartoli. As he explained recently, "from my standpoint it’s 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 find me when she needs me ..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."

In acknowledgment of this, Marion said today "I have to thank one person - my dad. Thank you so much, daddy. My leg was hurting and I tried my best to carry on, but it was too much pain. I'm sorry I wasn't able to finish today." She also congratulated her opponent, "I'd like to congratulate Aravane on the wonderful week she had. She played some great tennis. I'd like to thank Sony Ericsson for making this tour possible, and to Commonwealth Bank for this wonderful tournament."

Progress

Hopefully after a few days, once the disappointment has subsided, Marion can look back at this exhausting yet rewarding season 2009 with a significant level of satisfaction. Breaking the top 10 of course would have been nice, but it is after all just a number. Materially all you can say about number 9, or number 10, is that it is statement of PROGRESS, and if progress be the real measure of achievement, then Marion has without question moved onward and upward - Ending the season at minimum six places higher than last season. Considering many were writing her top 20 obituary at the end of last season in their reviews and previews, as a fan I now have no hesitation in shouting from the rooftops that Marion is a good player and Marion Bartoli has proven many many people wrong.

Nine, ten, eleven, whatever, Marion has proven her point this season. Team Bartoli have made improvements in court movement and serve, while retaining the distinctive bases of the Bartoli game. And with outstanding wins over Venus Williams, twice over Jelena Jankovic, and purging herself of old foes such as Vera Zvonareva and Shahar Peer.. Marion Bartoli has made her presence felt strongly on the wonderful world of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour. Not only this, but she has reached FOUR tour finals, winning two of them - a sad irony that it had to be in the first and last tournaments of the year that Marion came off as losing finalist.. "ruthless symmetry?".

Only Marion can say whether that little bit of added pressure and hype today caused her to commit herself just that little bit more than was advised at the end of the first set - precipitating the injury. No matter, the French number 1 has brought her fans a great deal of pleasure and satisfaction by her terrific effort this season.

Some applause for the lady please.

Photo of disappointed Marion with runner up trophy.

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UPDATE

Marion has since shed some light on what happened (commbanktennis.com),

"I started to feel my leg was pretty tight in the middle of the set," she said. "I started to feel some pain all over my quads and I thought maybe it was the stress and no reason to be serious. But then it hurt me a lot, especially each time I had to push and put some weight onto my left leg it was really getting worse and worse and at the end I couldn’t continue.

"It was a good match and I’m very sad to finish like this. The last thing you want to do is injury yourself in the last match of the season. But what can you do? I was trying my best and perhaps it was just too much."

She will now return home, and will not pick up a racquet for the next three weeks as she allows the injury to heal.'

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Italiano / Francais

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