M. BARTOLI/P. Parmentier

3-6, 6-1, 6-3

An interview with:

MARIONBARTOLI

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. You seem to be a bit of a streaky player, where on a different day wedon't
know what we're going to get from you. We saw it a little bit in Australia
where one day you'rebeating the No. 1 player in the world, and the next day
not looking likeyourself. Can you explain sort of how itis when you come out
on the court? Doyou have any idea which player we're going to see from you?

MARION BARTOLI: Well, I guess it's the same for every player,first of all.
That's how our sport, makeit like that. It's never easy, especiallywhen you
play the Grand Slam in your home, to play your best, but, you know, asyou
said, sometimes I could beat the No. 1 in the world; sometimes I couldlose.
But when I lost in Australia, itwas against Vera Zvonareva, and she's not 200
in the world.

The thing is in tennisyou never know what to expect for anyone. I guess it's
the same in some sport, as well, like golf or some sportlike that. It's very
difficult to comeout on the court and play your best every single day. Maybe
somebody like Nadal can do it, butotherwise, even Federer sometimes on some
down day, you know, it's happening.

The thing is you have to find a way to winand try the next day to play
better. That's the only way.

Q. Sotoday, did you ever have a feeling, you know, that you were in trouble
and thatyou might lose, or were you confident throughout that you could turn
it around?

MARION BARTOLI: Well, the thing is the first set, I guess Iplayed the worst
first set in my whole life. I couldn't feel anything. First ofall, the
warmup, I couldn't put two balls on the other side of the court. I was so
stressed. I couldn't feel my grips. I didn't know how to grip the
racquetanymore.

It's like I didn't playtennis for two months or something, and, you know, I
knew I couldn't play worseso if I was trying to play a little bit better
maybe I could turn the matcharound.

I tried to fight on every single point. Even when I was playing badly, I
tried tostay positive and stay focused. I thinkit helped me to go through
this match. It was very difficult mentally.

THE MODERATOR: French questions, please.

Q. You had three points to be up 3-1, and after that we had the
impression,physically, you had problems. You hadproblems breathing. Was it
the heat?

MARION BARTOLI: No, not at all, because in the third set Iwas absolutely fit.
I think it was onlythe stress. When you are very stressedyou can't breathe,
and my impression was that my legs were weighing 100 kiloseach. I was late on
each ball. I couldn't see the ball properly. It was a nightmare.

The first set was anightmare, but I have experience with important matches in
my career. But it was very difficult to be more tensethan I was in the
beginning of this particular match. So I really needed to use all my
mentalcapacities to keep fighting and to believe I could win until the end,
andlittle by little I was able to come back into the match. I was able to
settle my game, and even to gobeyond the frustration I had accumulated during
this first set.

Q. In the beginning of the second set, we saw you were touching your side.

MARION BARTOLI: No, no, I had problems with my patches. They almost fell.
They were not sticking properly. So I had no problems with my muscles.

Q. You said you have experience, but you were stressed. Is there a particular
reason?

MARION BARTOLI: There's a little reason. First, we are in France. Second, we
are in the French Open. Third, we have - my results in theFrench Open haven't
been great. Then Ialso played against a French player, and also, it's clay.
So all of this sums it up.

If it had been a greensurface on Centre Courtin Wimbledon, it would have been
different.

Q. You say it's France. It's the French Open. Can you say more about it? When
you are a French player playing oncenter court here, what is the feeling you
have?

MARION BARTOLI: I think when you - when we are French,we dream of winning the
French Open. Since we are kids, we want to be, on Saturday, the last Saturday
forgirls and the last Sunday for boys, holding this trophy when we are able
toplay the French Open. It's already agreat performance, and we put pressure
on ourselves, on our own, because webelieve that if we are here, we have to
give it our best shot, and we get stressed,and every match is so difficult
mentally and for our nerves.

It's because there is aculture of the French Open in France. It's so
important for us tennis players thatwhen we are here, we want to give all we
have. For some players it's tough. Others are able to play.

Q. You're afraid the crowd will turn against you if you don't play well?

MARION BARTOLI: Yes. People support you when they feel there are long rallies
and you aregiving the best you have. That was thecase in the end of the
second set and the third set. We played good rallies.

People wereappreciating. But when we make unforcederrors on four second
serves, I made mistakes, and then people don't supportyou. So then you start
thinking, whatare they going to think about me, you become more and more
stressed. So it's more difficult for us.

Of course, some players like to play here,but for me, it's very difficult
emotionally.

Q. Sohow can you come out of this stress?

MARION BARTOLI: I think it's thanks to the experience Iaccumulated little by
little. I was ableto relax, to move my legs, to have longer rallies, and to
put the ball in evenif sometimes it was not great points.

But at least - Iwas not even trying a winner, because I knew I couldn't do
it. Just putting the ball in, and then I startedmoving better and feeling the
ball better, and I was able to play winners atthe end of the second set.

And in the third set I think physically Iwas a bit better than Pauline. She
was abit more tired than I was, and I was able to come out of it, but I know
themost difficult thing would be winning this second set. And after, in the
third set, I was moreconfident.

Q. Peoplewere saying Amélie Mauresmo would be the one that was going to do
betterhere. What do you think?

MARION BARTOLI: I think she had a tough draw. I thought playing Groenefeld
first round wasvery tough on her, because Groenefeld either plays a winner or
misses, and Imean, she would have needed one or two easier matches to get
into thetournament and develop the game.

She has a beautifulgame, but she really needs to start - like in Coubertin,
she had weakeropponents in the first round, so it helped her getting into
thetournament. Groenefeld first round is avery tough draw.

Now I'm not in her mind. I can't tell you what happened to her. I don't know
if she thinks she played ahorrible match, but from outside, I believe
Groenefeld played very well, andshe really took her opportunities.