WTA: Former Wimbledon winner Marion Bartoli enters coaching business

Half a year after the burst comeback on the professional tour, Marion Bartoli wants to dedicate herself to a new task from now on. The 34-year-old will be looking after her French compatriot Lucie Wargnier in the new season.

When the great dream of returning to the WTA tour could not be realized, Bartoli mourned in her own way. To her Twitter message in June 2018 she presented the photo of a rose in black and white.

“The necessary increase in the amount of training I had to do has caused pain in my right shoulder. This is not compatible with a comeback at the highest level. I want to thank everyone who accompanied me on this wonderful adventure,” said the former world number seven at the time.

About six months later, Bartoli has found a new job – and is full of anticipation. She has recently started training young hopeful Lucie Wargnier, who is currently ranked 761 in the world rankings. The 19-year-old had once won the national twelve-year-old championship in France and was again in the final two years later.

But a knee injury suffered in 2015 and the consequences slowed the talent down for the time being. Eleven months Wargnier could not train on the court. She spent part of her rehabilitation with victims of the devastating terrorist attacks in Paris. The teenager had a lot to do with survivors of the Bataclan massacre – and got a whole new view of things.

“These encounters have opened my eyes. Compared to these people, I really had a tiny problem,” Wargnier told the daily Le Parisien, saying: “Since then I’ve listened better to my body and been more patient.

In the upcoming season she wants to focus on the 25k tournaments instead of the 15k events. “It’s a new beginning for me. And if it’s possible, I want to play Roland Garros for the first time,” Wargnier said. With a Bartoli in the box, the chances of a wildcard for the second Grand Slam tournament of the year have certainly increased.

It will be interesting to see whether Bartoli will adopt some of the curious training methods of her father Walter, a doctor and tennis autodidact, at her premiere as a coach. These had caused astonishment worldwide.

The 2013 Wimbledon coup in the final against Sabine Lisicki was also the personal satisfaction of Marion B. of Le Puy-en-Velay, whose habitual playing style was smiled at by many.

In an interview in January 2018, Bartoli spoke for the first time about her motives for her comeback, which she was still striving for at the time. She had sharply criticized her ex-boyfriend and blamed him for her large weight fluctuations. “I let someone destroy me,” Bartoli told the L’Equipe. “I never would have thought it possible.”