At No. 14 on the WTA charts, Marion Bartoli is France’s top-ranked woman. But despite her lofty standing, the ’07 Wimbledon finalist appears to be suffering from an acute case of Rodney Dangerfield-itis.
As far as she’s concerned, she’s not getting much respect.
The two-hands-off-both-wings Frenchwoman bristles at the very mention of her No. 19-ranked compatriot Aravane Rezai, who has become a darling of the French press in recent months.
“I don’t give a damn,” said Bartoli, who limped into Roland Garros with subpar results in the clay-court warm-ups. “That people forget or don’t forget, I don’t care at all. I’m not interested in this.”
But it’s clear that she’s not happy about sharing headlines with the likes of Rezai, who knocked off Justine Henin, Jelena Jankovic and Venus Williams en route to the Madrid title, and moved into the third round at Roland Garros with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 win over German Angelique Kerber.
“I’m not jealous about anybody else’s results. I don’t envy anybody,” said Bartoli, who’ll face another Frenchwoman, Olivia Sanchez, in the second round at Roland Garros. “I do my job every day. I try and do my job in the best possible way. The rest I can’t control. There you are. I try and be as efficient as I can on all the parameters that I can manage.”
“Marion is a difficult girl,” jabbed Rezai. “She already attacked me two years ago when I reached the final in Istanbul. So it’s a bit strange she says that, because if she has a problem with me, I did nothing. That’s a bit of a shame, but that’s her education. She attacked me many times in the press. I don’t have the same education as the one she has. I have respect for players. I do what I have to do. I get on with many people. But with Marion, it’s very difficult. She has difficulties getting included with the other girls.”
“It’s a shame she says that, because I’m a French player, just like her,” Rezai continued. “So that kind of behavior is a bit of a shame, because I never had any bad behavior towards her. I always showed respect for the other players, and I think players that deserve to be spoken about in the media, it’s because they deserve it. But today I’m on the Fed Cup team. I’m part of many things. I try and get included to many things, and if she’s not happy, she’s not that much in the media.”
