Mumbai:She sprang a surprise by retiring from tennis after winning the 2013 Wimbledon women’s singles title and France’s Marion Bartoli on Thursday said she took the decision as she was unable to endure the physically tough training process that makes a champion.
“My body could not take any more training, especially my shoulder. I had to train more than others. There was a stage during that Wimbledon championship when I could not even brush my teeth because of the sore shoulder,” she said here on Thursday.
The French tennis star is the event ambassador of the January 18 Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon. Bartoli, who retired at 29 after winning the coveted Wimbledon singles title in her 47th attempt to win a Grand Slam crown.
“I was not in the sport for the money. If you ask me how much I earned I wouldn’t be able to tell you. But I can tell you about the matches I had played, the scoreline. That’s all mattered to me,” the former tennis professional said at a media conference called by marathon organisers.
Bartoli, among the few to have played two-handed forehand and backhand shots in tennis to which she was introduced by her physician father, said she cannot say for certain whether world number one Serena Williams can equal Steffi Graf’s record of 22 Grand Slam singles titles.
“When she is fit and plays she is the best player in the world. But I cannot say how her body would hold up, how injury-free she will be,” said Bartoli, who is now into fashion designing.
Serena of US has 18 titles to her credit till date. Bartoli, who idolised NBA legend Michael Jordan as a teenager, ruled out coaching as a vocation and said she was pretty happy with what she has been doing since retiring.(PTI)
