French Fried

Reuters

Marion Bartoli, one of my favorites, sums up the anguish that seems to undo so many French players on the terre battue of Roland Garros.

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 the French Open haven't been great. Then I also played against a French player, and also, it's clay. So all of this sums it up.

If it had been a green surface on Centre Court in 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 on center 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 for girls and the last Sunday for boys, holding this trophy when we are able to play the French Open. It's already a great performance, and we put pressure on ourselves, on our own, because we believe 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 a culture of the French Open in France. It's so important for us tennis players that when 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 are giving the best you have. That was the case in the end of the second set and the third set. We played good rallies.

People were appreciating. But when we make unforced errors on four second serves, I made mistakes, and then people don't support you. So then you start thinking, what are 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.

Full interview

(Thanks, Pamela)