When she was in middle school, Marion Bartoli would do homework in the car while her father, who was also her coach, drove for hours from their home in central France to various junior tennis tournaments.
During the week, when Dad would finish his day job as a doctor, they would head out for a couple of hours of practice, sometimes starting at 9 or 10 p.m.
‘Then coming back home and waking myself up in the morning to go to school - and do it over and over again,’ Bartoli said. ‘So that made me the person I am right now on the court. It’s coming all from there.’ Today, at 28, Bartoli is a Wimbledon champion.
And when the 15th-seeded Bartoli’s 6-1, 6-4 victory over No. 23 Sabine Lisicki in Saturday’s final at the All England Club ended with an ace, she climbed up into the stands and gave her father a hug. ‘To share this moment with my dad was absolutely amazing,’ Bartoli said, ‘and I’m so proud of it.’ Speaking to reporters after the match, Walter Bartoli acknowledged he was tough on his daughter.
‘When she was a little girl, on Sundays, she wanted to eat cookies, but I kept telling her that if she wanted to win Wimbledon one day, she had to play two more points before lunch,’ he said. ‘And as long as she did not win those two extra points, she was not allowed to eat cookies. She was 13 or 14, but I’m sure it had an effect on her.’ He was never a tennis player himself; chess was his favored pastime. But from when little Marion was about 6, he was determined to figure out how to make her a success. At 7, she watched on television as Monica Seles beat Steffi Graf to win the 1992 French Open.