A Serving Of French Inspiration

She's young, 22, she plays sport, and she served up massive inspiration to many people.
So, who am I talking about, and why? Read on...
Her name's Marion Bartoli.
She comes from a small French village, and her sport is tennis.
Sport is a constant source of great motivational stories, but Bartoli adds charm and enthusiasm.
She's ranked at 19 in the world, and at the recent Wimbledon Championships she lost to Venus Williams in the final.
It was Venus's 4th win, an impressive story in itself, but I want to focus on Marion.
She is coached by her father, and has a most peculiar service action.
She does a little hop and skip before each serve, doesn't bounce the ball, and before serving she cocks her wrist as if it were totally limp - very weird! Not so weird when it goes sailing past her opponents! On the way to the final she knocked out the players ranked 1 and 3 in the world, including the Belgian player Justine Henin.
At the start of that game she was nervous and it showed in her play.
The she saw her favourite actor in the crowd, Pierce Brosnan, and told herself she couldn't play that badly if he was watching! She then proceeded to blast Henin off the court! What a lovely story! Then in the final against Williams she came back from another bad start, but needed treatment to a foot blister.
When she was having treatment, Venus Williams suddenly found that *she* needed treatment too! That's a tactic used often by the Williams sisters, it's unsporting in my view.
Did Marion let this extra delay unsettle her? No! In fact when the crowd started a Mexican wave, Marion joined in from the middle of the court! Fantastic, and it's this enthusiasm and charm which makes her story so appealing.
Of course enthusiasm and charm will only get you so far, and Marion certainly used other vital ingredients - good old hard work at her skills, coupled with belief! When asked if she was surprised to have got that far, she said that although she was certainly excited, she wasn't that surprised because 'I *am* a top 20 player after all!' Superb! I couldn't help but smile when I watched her play and talk, and her name alone serves as a great motivational tool - hopefully when you hear that name you can think of this article and remember why!