Just 15 months ago, Marion Bartoli seemed at the peak of her WTA career, lifting the Wimbledon trophy on Centre Court, wrapping up the unlikeliest of title triumphs at the All England Club.
This week, the 30-year-old is in Singapore, not as one of the top-eight players who have qualified for the WTA Finals, but as one of the ‘legends’ invited to play in a newly-introduced tournament that will go alongside the season-ending championships.
The Frenchwoman, who abruptly drew the curtains on her career in August last year, just five weeks after winning Wimbledon, finds herself in the company of the likes of Martina Navratilova and Tracy Austin – who are two decades her senior.
Bartoli’s decision to retire was sudden and unexpected. She made the announcement in Mason, Ohio, of all places, after losing her second round match to Simona Halep.
“Body-wise, I can’t do it anymore,” a tearful Bartoli said at the time. “My body was really starting to fall apart and I was able to keep it together, go through the pain throughout this Wimbledon and make it happen. That was probably the last bit that was left inside me.”
This year at Wimbledon, she was ushered onto the court to be honoured as the reigning champion before the first women’s match kicked off and she spent the fortnight there as part of BBC’s commentary team.
She was asked whether she had any regrets over her retirement and she said what she has been constantly reiterating: “I don’t miss every morning having to wake up and not being able to lift my arm; having my whole body terribly sore. So definitely no regrets at all. I moved on into something different.”
That “something different” has been her venture into the world of fashion. Bartoli’s new career came to life just as quick as her retirement. She launched her shoe line at the French Open last June and showcased her new jewellery line here in Singapore.
Add to that her regular commentating duties at tournaments – which started two weeks after her retirement – her numerous media commitments and appearances in exhibition matches and you get the sense that Bartoli never really took a break to savour life without tennis.
“I’ve been really busy after my retirement,” she says. “Because I had other passions outside tennis throughout my career which was designing, creating and painting and I knew I wanted to explore that right away after my tennis career.
“I was able to put a plan together and stick to it, and to be at the point I am now, which is extremely advanced, I’m really happy with the way things have been moving.”
In a way, her diving straight into work has helped her avoid any post-retirement blues.
“You can have a massive hole inside your life because all of a sudden the schedule and the routine you were in stops, and you don’t really know how to replace that,” Bartoli adds. “So I think getting yourself, towards the end of your career, starting to think about the next chapter is absolutely critical to get into your new life on a positive note.”
In that respect, Bartoli has done very well for herself. In fact, she’s even thought about her life many years from now.
Asked whether she sees herself coaching a player in the future, the way her good friend and compatriot Amelie Mauresmo is with Andy Murray, Bartoli said it’s something she’d be interested in.
“Obviously, you won’t be a full-time coach, 32-plus weeks of travel, because that’s what I’ve been doing all my tennis career and it’s not something I’m willing to do anymore,” she says.
“But to coach, like maybe Boris Becker is doing with Novak Djokovic – to coach for a few specific weeks and to be around some important grand slam winner, it’s definitely something that maybe in six or seven years’ time from now could be a refreshing point and something I definitely would think about.”
Mauresmo was part of team Bartoli during her dream Wimbledon in 2013. She helped her handle the pressure and be prepared for the final, which was her second one at SW19 having been runner-up to Venus Williams in 2007.
“In my first Wimbledon final, the main difficulty I had to face was playing the semi-final against Justine Henin on Friday night, finishing extremely late, and then I had to be on court again the next day at 2pm,” she recalls.
“So I felt it was almost coming right after already putting so much effort into getting into the final and winning my semi-final. I didn’t have the time at all to get ready for the final and that was something that mentally was very hard to deal with.
“On the other side, I think Venus was just too good for me on the day. So the whole combination was very hard.
“But it was a great experience and it definitely helped me to deal with all of that in my second one (in 2013).”
She may insist she has no regrets over her career or retirement, but asked if there is something she’d like to see change in tennis, Bartoli says: “Sometimes maybe the public, the crowd need to have a little bit more entertainment because tennis can be very repetitive so maybe to do a little bit more like the NBA. To put something like the half-time show or something between sets but that’s just an idea, I don’t know if it would be possible to do.”
For now, Bartoli is relishing her new life, even if she’s unable to stay away from the sport she has been part of for so long. She went for a hit at the All England Club last Saturday – one more perk of being a Wimbledon champion is becoming a member of the world’s most exclusive tennis club.
“It’s probably one of the biggest honours you can get as a tennis player,” she admits.
Marion Bartoli will be speaking at the annual sports forum Doha GOALS 2014 from November 3-5 in Qatar.
