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Marion Bartoli announces shock retirement

August 15, 2013
Marion-Bartoli
Cincinnati, Aug 15: Having realised a lifelong dream by claiming the Wimbledon title, Marion Bartoli decided she had nothing left to give on Wednesday, shocking the world of tennis by bidding a sudden and poignant farewell to the sport.

Just six weeks earlier, the 28-year-old Frenchwoman had shed tears of joy as she soaked up the applause following her straight sets win over Germany's Sabine Lisicki in the Wimbledon final to claim her first and only grand slam title.

The toast of France, Bartoli was on top of the sporting world but came crashing back down to earth on Wednesday when a second round loss to Romanian Simona Halep at the Western and Southern Open was enough to convince her it was time to quit.

"Well, it's never easy and obviously there is never a time to say it but that was actually the last match of my career. Sorry," the world number seven said with tears pouring from her eyes.

"It's time for me to retire and to call it a career. I feel it's time for me to walk away.

"My body, I just can't do it anymore."

Bartoli had offered no hint that she was contemplating retirement and appeared focused on preparing for the upcoming U.S. Open, where she had her best grand slam result last season by reaching the quarter-finals.

But the loss to Halep persuaded the circumspect Frenchwoman that the time was ripe to hang up her racket and as the crowds left the stadium and headed out into the night, Bartoli did likewise to start a new life.

"You never kind of know before it's going to be your last match but I felt that way after the match. I felt I just couldn't do this anymore," Bartoli admitted. "After one set, my whole body was in pain.

"You know, everyone will remember my Wimbledon title. No one will remember the last match I played here.

"There are so many things to do in life rather than playing tennis, so I'm sure I will find something."

PAIN EVERYWHERE

An eight-time winner on the WTA Tour, Bartoli played in every grand slam since the 2002 U.S. Open and was seen as one of the sport's more durable competitors.

But Bartoli made it clear that 13 years on the circuit had taken a heavy toll and it was a price she was no longer willing pay.

"I've been already through a lot of injuries since the beginning of the year," she added. "I've been on the tour for so long and I really pushed through and left it all (out there) during that Wimbledon.

"I really felt I gave all the energy I have left inside my body.

"I have pain everywhere after 45 minutes or an hour of play. I've been doing this for so long... it's just body wise I just can't do it anymore."

The decision to retire was made easier by the fact that Bartoli had battled long enough to realise her dream of becoming a grand slam champion.

After winning Wimbledon, Bartoli said it had been her dream since she was six-years old to hold the trophy.

For 13-years and through 47 grand slam tournaments Bartoli had chased that singular dream and finally made it a reality but in doing so had sacrificed everything she had to offer.

"It's hard to explain but when you dreamed about something for so long and you have been on the tour for many, many, many years and you have been through up and downs and high and lows," said Bartoli, struggling to regain her composure.

"My body was really starting to fall apart and I was able to keep it together, go through the pain with a lot of pain throughout this Wimbledon, and make it happen.

"That was probably the last little bit of something that was left inside me.

"I made my dream a reality and it will stay with me forever."

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Agencies
August 2,2020

New Delhi, Aug 2: Batting great Rahul Dravid has attributed Chennai Super Kings' consistent run in the IPL to skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's instincts, game-smarts and the incredible amount of work that goes behind the scenes.

N Srinivasan, the former BCCI president and head of India Cements, which owns the CSK franchise, agreed that Dhoni is a man of instinct who doesn't believe in attending team meetings and going over data.

Both were speaking at a webinar organised by the Great Lakes Institute of Management.

"If you look at the success CSK has had, they've got really good access to data and they've got really good access to people behind the scenes and they've run cricket teams at the junior level," Dravid said at the webinar according to ESPNcricinfo.

The former India captain added, "They understand talent and they've obviously got a good scouting process in place. But, what they also have is a captain who really understands instincts.

"So, I mean, look, I know Dhoni quite well and I hope he hasn't changed, but I know Dhoni is probably not one to look at reams of data and statistics."

The Super Kings have won the lucrative tournament three times -- one less than Mumbai Indians -- and reached the knockouts in each of the 10 seasons they have been a part of.

Srinivasan also spoke about how Dhoni's instinct and judgement contributed to his team's success at a time when a lot of emphases is placed on data.

"We're awash with data just now. To give you an example, there are bowling coaches and in a T20 game, they play videos of every batsman whom they're going to come against and they see how he got out, what's his strength, what's his weakness etc.

"So, MS Dhoni doesn't attend this, he's a pure instinct man. The bowling coach, (head coach Stephen) Fleming will be there and everybody will be there, everyone is giving opinions, (but) he'll get up and go.

"In the context of instinct, he feels that okay he can assess a batsman or player on the field, that's his judgement. On the other hand, there is so much of data that is available to help a person also analyse. It's a very difficult line to draw (between data and instinct)."

Srinivasan also recalled how Dhoni once refused to take "one outstanding player" suggested by the franchise boss as that could have broken the team's cohesion.

"There was one outstanding player that we suggested to MS, he said: 'no sir, he will spoil the team'. The cohesion within the team is important and see in America, franchise-based sport has been there for such a long time," he said.

"In India, we're just starting and we're new to it. But we at India Cements have had a lot of experience running teams at junior levels."

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Agencies
February 25,2020

Bengaluru, Feb 25: India opening batsman KL Rahul will be available for Karnataka's Ranji Trophy semi-final clash against Bengal at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on February 29.

Rahul had asked to be rested from Karnataka's quarter-final match but is now available for the climactic stages of the Ranji Trophy. 

Karnataka had already been strengthened by the addition of Manish Pandey for the quarter-finals, with both Pandey and Rahul having returned from New Zealand after India completed the limited-overs leg of their tour, ESPNcricinfo reported.

Last year's finalists Saurashtra will take on Gujarat in the other semi-final at Rajkot. The other prominent players who will be part of the last four include Parthiv Patel (Gujarat), Jaydev Unadkat (Saurashtra) and Manoj Tiwary (Bengal).

Gujarat, Bengal, Karnataka, and Saurashtra had finished on top of the combined Groups A and B table, and all four progressed to the semi-finals after dominating their respective quarter-final matches.

Rahul has been phenomenal with the bat in the limited-overs series against Australia and New Zealand. He scored one century and four fifty-plus scores in his last ten innings in ODIs and T20Is combined

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News Network
May 8,2020

New Delhi, May 8: India skipper Virat Kohli believes cricket in empty stadiums is a real possibility in post COVID-19 world and though it is unlikely to have a bearing on the intensity of players, he feels the magic would certainly go missing.

Cricket Boards across the globe are exploring the option of resuming the sport in empty stadiums. There is speculation that fans could be kept away from stadiums in a bid to salvage the T20 World Cup in Australia, which is currently under threat due to the global health crisis.

"It's quite a possible situation, it might happen, I honestly don't know how everyone is going to take that because we all are used to playing in front of so many passionate fans," Kohli said in Star Sports' show 'Cricket Connected'.

"I know it will be played at a very good intensity but that feeling of the crowd connecting with the players and the tension of the game where everyone goes through it in the stadium, those emotions are very difficult to recreate," he added.

Kohli said the many moments which are created because of the passion brought in by fans, would be missing.

"Things will still go on, but I doubt that one will feel that magic happening inside because of the atmosphere that was created.

"We will play sports how it is supposed to be played, but those magical moments will be difficult to come by," he said.

Cricketers such as Ben Stokes, Jason Roy, Jos Buttler and Pat Cummins have backed the idea of playing behind closed doors.

However, legendary Australian Allan Border has said it would defy belief to host a World Cup without spectators.

Another Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell and some other cricketers have also expressed similar sentiments.

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