Marion Bartoli



Marion Bartoli (born 2 October 1984) is a top-20 French professional tennis player and the current French no. 1 (out of 5 French players in the top-100). She has won seven Women's Tennis Association singles titles and three doubles titles. She was the runner-up at the 2007 Wimbledon Championships and a semi-finalist at the 2011 French Open.

Bartoli has defeated three reigning world no. 1 players in her career so far. She defeated Justine Henin in the semifinal of the 2007 Wimbledon Championships, 1–6, 7–5, 6–1, Jelena Janković in the fourth round of the 2009 Australian Open, 6–1, 6–4, and Victoria Azarenka, 6–3, 6–3, in the quarterfinals of the 2012 Sony Ericsson Open. She has also recorded wins over other top players such as Venus and Serena Williams, Ana Ivanovic, Lindsay Davenport, Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, Dinara Safina, Caroline Wozniacki, Petra Kvitová, Samantha Stosur andKim Clijsters.

She is known for her unorthodox style of play using two hands on both her forehand and backhand. On January 30, 2012 she rose to a new career high ranking of no. 7 in the world. Bartoli has reached at least the quarter-final stage at each of the four Grand Slams. ==Early life and personal life [edit] ==

Bartoli was born in Le Puy-en-Velay, Haute-Loire. She is of Corsican, Catalan, and metropolitan French descent. She started playing tennis at the age of six. Bartoli trained in a small facility as a youngster, where there was not much room behind the baseline. Her father, Walter, gave up his career as a doctor to become her full-time coach when Bartoli won the 2001 Junior US Open title, defeating Svetlana Kuznetsova, 4–6, 6–3, 6–4.

She is an animal lover and has a cat named Calinette. Bartoli has a brother who is in the French military. Her role model off the court is Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. She is also an admirer of Roger Federer and Monica Seles. Her mother Sophie, is a nurse and is rarely seen in the crowd, as she gets so nervous watching her daughter play. Bartoli has told the press she had an IQ of 175 when tested as a child although there isn't any evidence of this being a fact. ==Early life and personal life [edit] ==

Bartoli was born in Le Puy-en-Velay, Haute-Loire. She is of Corsican, Catalan, and metropolitan French descent. She started playing tennis at the age of six. Bartoli trained in a small facility as a youngster, where there was not much room behind the baseline. Her father, Walter, gave up his career as a doctor to become her full-time coach when Bartoli won the 2001 Junior US Open title, defeating Svetlana Kuznetsova, 4–6, 6–3, 6–4.

She is an animal lover and has a cat named Calinette. Bartoli has a brother who is in the French military. Her role model off the court is Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. She is also an admirer of Roger Federer and Monica Seles. Her mother Sophie, is a nurse and is rarely seen in the crowd, as she gets so nervous watching her daughter play. Bartoli has told the press she had an IQ of 175 when tested as a child although there isn't any evidence of this being a fact.

Playing style
Bartoli is known for her unorthodox and very intense style of play on the court. She uses two hands on both the forehand and the backhand, and is generally classed as an aggressive and hard-hitting player. She developed her two-handed style on the advice of her father, Walter Bartoli, who is also her coach. He had seen the classic 1992 French Open final in which Monica Seles defeated Steffi Graf, and immediately was inspired to teach the technique to his daughter.

Bartoli also had trouble with her forehand at the time, so when she made the switch to two hands, it greatly improved and she has never stopped. She uses her double-fisted strokes to create sharp angles to open up the court and prefers to take the ball very early on groundstrokes. Her return of serve is considered to be her biggest weapon and she often stands well inside the baseline to receive serve, even on first serves.

Her style of play can be most closely compared to that of Seles, who had a strong influence on Bartoli as a young player. In a Tennis TV interview during the 2012 U.S. Open tournament, Marion explained that both Seles and she are left-handed, and that she had a very weak forehand before changing to two hands.

In the past she was not a very good mover and was further inhibited by her two-fisted strokes, which could make her vulnerable to fast all-court players. Since then Bartoli has worked on her fitness and mobility and has lost weight, and now her court movement has improved markedly.

Bartoli is also known for her unusual serve, in which she uses her wrist to generate speed. She has also changed her service motion many times over the years. Furthermore, Bartoli manifests unusual on-court mannerisms and never stops moving and jumps on the spot between points. She is continuously moving her legs and sometimes does this when her opponent is serving.