"Marion Bartoli"

Marion Bartoli (born 2 October 1984) is a top-10 French professional tennis player and the current French no. 1 and the only one in the top-50 (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 also a runner-up at the 2007 Wimbledon Championships.

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 Williams, Serena Williams, Ana Ivanović, Lindsay Davenport, Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, Dinara Safina, Caroline Wozniacki, Petra Kvitova, Sam Stosur and Kim Clijsters.

She is known for her unorthodox style of play using two hands on both her forehand and backhand. On January 30th 2012 she rose to a new career high ranking of No.7 in the world.

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. 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.

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, 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 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, though unlike Seles, Bartoli is right-handed.

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.

Bartoli is currently playing using the new Prince EXO 3 Warrior racquet. She has previously used the Prince EXO3 Black and the Prince O3 Red. All her Prince racquets are modified in New York to make them longer by 1.5 inches than standard racquets to give her better reach with her two-handed strokes. For many years she had no clothing sponsor, but wore Nike. In October 2011, she signed a three year clothing deal with Lotto. Before her breakthrough into the top 100, Bartoli was playing with a standard length Babolat racquet and she was wearing Le Coq Sportif apparel.


2012

Bartoli competed for France alongside Richard Gasquet in the 2012 Hopman Cup. They defeated China 2–1, Australia 3–0 and Spain 2–0 to book a place in the final against the Czech Republic which they lost 0–2.

Ranked No.9, Bartoli entered her first WTA tournament of the year in Sydney and was seeded 8th. In the first round she defeated Polona Hercog 6–3, 6–3. In the second round she defeated Jelena Dokic 6–0, 6–3 to set up a quarterfinal clash with No.3 seed Victoria Azarenka. She lost 5–7, 4–6 despite being up a break in both sets.

At the 2012 Australian Open, Bartoli defeated compatriot Virginie Razzano 7–5, 6–0 in the first round, and Jelena Dokic 6–3, 6–2 in the second round. In the third round she was upset by Zheng Jie 6–3, 6–3. Despite the premature exit, Bartoli broke into the top eight in the rankings for the first time.

Ranked No.7, Bartoli was seeded 2nd behind Maria Sharapova for the 2012 Open GDF Suez in Paris, an indoor tournament commencing on 6th February. She received a bye into the second round where she defeated Petra Martic 7–5, 6–1. In the quarterfinals she defeated No.7 seed Roberta Vinci in a marathon match. Bartoli lost the first set and rallied back from a double break down in both the second and third sets to clinch a 4–6, 6–4, 7–6 victory. In the semifinals she defeated Klara Zakopalova 7–6, 6–0 but in the final she lost to No.9 seed Angelique Kerber 6–7, 7–5, 3–6.

In Doha, Bartoli was seeded fifth and advanced to the semi-finals by defeating Anabel Medina Garrigues 6–2, 6–0, Tsvetana Pironkova 6–3, 6–3 and Lucie Safarova 7–5, 4–6, 6–1. She retired due to an injury at 3–6, 0–0 against No.3 seed Samantha Stosur in the semi-finals.

At Indian Wells, Bartoli reached the quarterfinals by defeating Varvara Lepchenko, Chanelle Scheepers and Lucie Safarova. She fell to Ana Ivanovic 3–6, 4–6.

Seeded 7th in Miami, and armed with her new Prince EXO3 Warrior racket, Bartoli received a bye into the second round where she defeated Polona Hercog 5–7, 6–2, 6–1. In the third round she came back from a 2–5 deficit in the second set to defeat Simona Halep 6–4, 7–6. In the fourth round she crushed No.22 seed Maria Kirilenko 6–1, 6–2. Bartoli's big victory came in the quarterfinals where she defeated World No.1 Victoria Azarenka 6–3, 6–3, ending Azarenka's 26 match win streak. In the semi-finals she was defeated by No.5 seed Agnieszka Radwanska 6–4, 6–2.

At Charleston, Bartoli was seeded No.3 and received a bye into the second round where she defeated Vera Dushevina 6–2, 6–7, 6–4. In the third round she lost to Polona Hercog 6–4, 1–6, 6–4.

Ranked and seeded No.7, Bartoli entered the 2012 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix. In the first round she defeated qualifier Iveta Benesova 6–3, 6–2. Bartoli was then crushed 6–3, 6–1 by rising star Mona Barthel in the second round. Bartoli didn't perform any better at the 2012 Mutua Madrid Open where she was defeated by Sorana Cirstea 6–7, 6–4, 6–3 in the first round. Seeded 7th once again, Bartoli entered the 2012 Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome and got a bye into the second round where she lost 6–3, 6–1 to Julia Goerges. Bartoli then lost in the first round of Brussels to Urszula Radwanska 6–4, 6–2.

Bartoli dropped to No.8 in the world and was seeded 8th at the 2012 French Open in Paris, where she was defending semifinal points from the previous year. Having only won one match on red clay in 2012, Bartoli defeated qualifier Karolina Pliskova in the first round 6–3, 6–3. In the second round she was upset by Petra Martic 6–2, 3–6, 6–3 . Despite losing Bartoli remains in the top 10 at #8.

At Eastbourne, Bartoli defeated Sorana Cirstea, Aleksandra Wozniak and Lucie Safarova in straight sets to reach the semifinals where she was defeated by eventual champion Tamira Paszek 6–4, 5–7, 4–6.

In the first round of the 2012 Wimbledon Championships, Bartoli defeated Casey Dellacqua 6–2, 6–4. Her run would end there as she was upset by Mirjana Lucic 6–4, 6–3 in the second round.

Seeded No.2 at the 2012 Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, Bartoli received a bye into the second round where she came back from a 2–5 deficit to defeat unranked college player Mallory Burdette 7–5, 6–0. She met Yanina Wickmayer in the quarterfinals and lost against her 6–3, 6–2 on 13th July 2012.

Bartoli is currently competing at the 2012 Mercury Insurance Open in Carlsbad, California, where she is the top seed. She received a bye into the second round where she battled past Vania King 6–4, 5–7, 6–4.

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org