Abu Dhabi: Former Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli insists she is passionately committed to her new business interests and was on Thursday eager to quash speculation that she would return to tennis.
Earlier this month, Bartoli had tweeted to her 69,000-plus Twitter followers: “Coming back or not coming back to #tennis? What do you think? Should I?”.
Media worldwide latched on to this as an indication that the Frenchwoman, who retired due to persistent injuries after winning her only Grand Slam title at SW19 in 2013 with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Sabine Lisicki, was pondering a comeback.
But Bartoli, who is taking part in the inaugural ‘Fortnum & Mason presents Tennis at the Palace’ exhibition event at Emirates Palace hotel in Abu Dhabi over the weekend, clarified matters in an interview with Gulf News.
The 30-year-old, who was due to launch the UAE’s first grasscourt tournament with a singles match against the 1998 Wimbledon champion Jana Novotna on Thursday evening, said: “Will I be returning to tennis or would I be interested in coaching? Absolutely not for now. I really want to be known for something else.
“I feel I may go back to tennis at some point and coach, but for now that’s not one of my priorities.
“I enjoy doing [television] tennis commentating, but I don’t want to live out of my suitcase again. I have been doing that for 15 years.”
Bartoli has instead launched jewellery, sportswear, shoe and underwear ranges, which she is heavily involved in designing.
“I am really embracing this new life and I am going to try my hardest to reach the same heights as I did on the tennis court,” she said. “I am working extremely hard on this, between 12 and 15 hours a day.
“My particularities when I was playing were to leave my heart on the court and be passionate about what I was doing. That would be the trademark of my product.”
Explaining her recent tweet, she said: “I wanted to hear from my amazing fanbase following me and get their thoughts and ideas. The majority said I should stay in retirement and enjoy what I am doing now.”
What if the majority of her followers had urged her to resume her tennis career?
“I didn’t expect anything from the outcome,” she added. “I just wanted to ask them to be able to speak out and to express themselves. It was just amazing to see the response.
“I did that tweet out of New York and some of my friends in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia were texting me the next day to say: ‘It’s on Malaysian radio that you’re coming back to play tennis’.
“The response was really moving and it shows how much people liked me when I used to play.”
But Bartoli is relishing the chance to make a temporary return to the court at this weekend’s Emirates Palace event, which features lighthearted singles and doubles matches between past players.
It’s the first time she has played in Abu Dhabi, although she was a regular at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
Bartoli joins Novotna and fellow ex-Wimbledon champions Richard Krajicek and Pat Cash on the bill.
Britain’s Tim Henman, a six-time grand slam semi-finallist, Morocco’s Younus Al Aynaoui, flamboyant Frenchman Henri Leconte, Iranian trickshot maestro Mansour Bahrami and 1970s and 80s veterans Mikael Pernfors and Peter McNamara complete the line-up at what organisers are billing as a quintessentially British garden party.
A purpose-built court has been erected in the grounds of Emirates Palace and laid with rye grass to replicate Wimbledon, organisers say, making it the first grasscourt tennis tournament in the UAE.
Bartoli believes the event can further boost the profile of tennis in the Emirates, commenting: “There’s the tournament for the men’s players at the beginning of the year [the Mubadala World Tennis Championship] and this is a great showcase for tennis in the region to follow that up.
“Doing it on grass, which is very unusual as well, brings some interest to tennis in Abu Dhabi, and I am very excited to be part of it.”
