WTA: Bartolis’ comeback becomes more concrete: Start next week in New York

The announced comeback of the former Wimbledon winner Marion Bartoli will be more concrete. The French woman is scheduled to arrive next Monday (5th. March) stars such as Serena and Venus Williams, as well as Garbine Muguruza will be competing at the “Tie Break Tens” in Madison Square Garden, New York.

Bartoli is thus one of eight players taking part in the Big Apple show event. And the eyes will also be on the 33-year-old, who surprisingly ended her career in 2013 just a few weeks after her triumph in the lawn mecca of Wimbledon. She won the final against Sabine Lisicki – and fulfilled her childhood dream of a Grand Slam title. She was smiled at by not a few because of her unusual technique (two-handed forehand) and the strange-looking training sessions. This particular coup on Church Road at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in London SW19, he was also the very personal satisfaction of Marion B. from Le Puy-en-Velay.

What followed, however, were depression, a rapid weight loss of just under 20 kilograms, cutting rates over a virus and the separation from her boyfriend, to whom she recently made serious accusations in an impressive interview with the L’ Equipe.”He told me every day that I was fat. Every time we saw a slender woman on the street, he explained how beautiful and thin she was,”Bartoli said.

In December 2017, the doctor’s daughter announced her unexpected comeback on the WTA tour for this spring. And the return becomes more concrete: in the past few days, she took a wildcard for the event in Monterrey (2nd place). till 6. April). Their first official WTA match after just under five years, however, is scheduled to take place at the top-class Mandatory Tournament in Miami (20. until 31. March) will take place. Most of the time, Bartoli was preparing for her big day at the national tennis centre in Paris:”I wake up happily every day because I’m healthy,”she said recently.

The appearance at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan is perhaps just the place to get used to the spotlight in the circuit waiting for the woman who claims to have an IQ of 175. In 2009, Bartoli won the premiere of the “Tie Break Tens” – at the time in the finals against Chinese Li Na. It seems to be from another era. But Bartoli doesn’t look back, just “I want to prove to myself that I am alive, that I can play these big matches and feel the emotions again”.