Marion Bartoli (; born 2 October 1984) is a French former professional tennis player. Bartoli won the 2013 Wimbledon Championships singles title after previously being runner-up in 2007, and was a semifinalist at the 2011 French Open. She also won eight WTA Tour singles and three doubles titles.
Bartoli was known for her unorthodox style of play, using both hands on her forehand and backhand. On 30 January 2012 she reached a career-high ranking of world No. 7; she returned to this ranking on 8 July 2013 after triumphing at Wimbledon. Bartoli reached the quarterfinals at each of the four majors. Her win at Wimbledon made her only the sixth player in the Open Era to win the title without losing a set. She is also one of only three players to have played at both the WTA Tour Championships and the WTA Tournament of Champions (later renamed the WTA Elite Trophy) in the same year (2011); the other two being Kiki Bertens and Sofia Kenin.
Early life and personal life
Marion Bartoli was born on 2 October 1984 in Le Puy-en-Velay, Haute-Loire. She is of Corsican descent; her family is from Palneca, Corse-du-Sud.
Bartoli was introduced to tennis by her father, Walter, when she was six years old. She would practice tennis with him late at night after school on small, icy, unevenly surfaced courts which restricted free movement and influenced her playing style. When weather was sufficiently bad, they would train in an old indoor facility where there was very limited room between baseline and the wall, meaning Bartoli became adept at playing inside the baseline. He devised original training methods, such as improving hand-eye coordination by using balls of different size and color, or encouraging Marion to stay on her toes by taping tennis balls to the heels of her shoes. He drove hundreds of kilometres to tournaments while she would do her homework in the back of the car.
In December 2019, Bartoli married Belgian football player Yahya Boumediene. Their daughter was born a year later.
Playing style
Bartoli was known for her unorthodox and intense style of play on the court. She used two hands on both the forehand and the backhand, and was generally classed as an aggressive and hard-hitting player who played primarily from the baseline. She developed her two-handed style on the advice of her father and longtime coach, Walter Bartoli. He had seen the classic 1992 French Open final in which Monica Seles defeated Steffi Graf, and immediately was inspired to teach Seles' technique to his daughter. Bartoli had previously had trouble with her forehand, but it improved significantly when she made the switch to two hands. Her game was based on power and she used her double-fisted strokes to create sharp angles to open up the court and preferred to take the ball very early on groundstrokes.
Her serve was considered a weakness but her return of serve was considered to be her biggest weapon. She often stood well inside the baseline to receive serve, even on first serves, and managed to take advantage of break point opportunities.
Her style of play could be most closely compared to that of Seles, who had a strong influence on Bartoli as a young player. In a TV interview during the 2012 US Open tournament, Bartoli explained that both Seles and she are left-handed, and that she had a very weak forehand before changing to two hands.
Bartoli was not a very good mover on court, a state exacerbated by her two-fisted strokes, which made her vulnerable to fast all-court players such as Agnieszka Radwańska (whom she never beat). Instead, she relied on her excellent hand-eye coordination and anticipation skills. Bartoli did however work on her fitness and mobility throughout her career to varying success.
Bartoli was also known for her unusual serve, in which she used her wrist to generate speed. She also changed her service motion many times over the years. During the 2013 Wimbledon Championships, she had an unusual setup for serves – no ball-bouncing, arms crossed, right wrist resting on her left thumb before the toss.
Bartoli manifested unusual on-court mannerisms, such as energetically bouncing on the spot and practising racquet swings between points, and being noticeably restless during changeovers. She claimed that this was to maintain the focus needed for her intense style of play.