Bartoli nap helps her to semi-finals

Bartoli nap helps her to semi-finals

By Paul Majendie

LONDON, July 4 (Reuters) - France's Marion Batoli, refreshed by an hour's sleep nap in one of Wimbledon's rain breaks, battled her way into the semi-finals on Wednesday with a 3-6 6-3 6-2 victory over Michaella Krajicek.
Bartoli, who says she needs 10 hours' sleep a night to be at her best, took a much needed nap when rain stopped play.

Much refreshed after bedding down in the locker room, she came from a set down to book her place in the last four of a grand slam for the first time at the age of 22.

Bartoli, explaining her unorthodox route to victory, said she was late to bed last night when her doubles match was finally postponed and, as a result, got only eight hours' sleep.

"I need at least 10 hours each night for me to sleep so I am missing two hours" she said.

Cat-napping in the locker room worked wonders. "After one hour of sleep it was much better," she said.

Reporters at her post-match news conference wondered how she woke up.
She explained: "When I heard the referee's office announcement 'We are uncovering the court, checking the court and we'll get back to you as soon as possible' I knew it was time to wake up!"

The refreshed number 18 seed dropped just five points on her own serve in the second set. In the decider, Bartoli, who is coached by her doctor father Walter, twice broke the disconsolate Dutch teenager's serve to coast to victory.

Bartoli will certainly need her full quota of sleep before her semi-final as she will be facing the most redoubtable opponent the tournament has to offer -- number one seed Justine Henin.

Bartoli weathers Krajicek storm to line up Henin showdown

Richard Jago at Wimbledon
Thursday July 5, 2007

Marion Bartoli is the rain-break queen of SW19. For the second successive day the Frenchwoman recovered from water torture and an uncomfortable deficit, beating Michaella Krajicek 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 to become one of Wimbledon's most improbable semi-finalists.

Bartoli performed the restart trick twice in defeating the world No3 Jelena Jankovic on Tuesday, and was a set down yesterday against an 18-year-old opponent who had been trampling her way forwards with much weight of shot and little inhibition.

Then the stair rods fell from the sky. Two hours later, Bartoli broke Krajicek's serve for the first time, clung to the advantage to take it to a decider, and then began preying cleverly on the youngster's fears.

"This time I slept during the break," the Frenchwoman said. "When I put my head down in the locker room I was so tired I fell asleep and when I heard the referee's office calling I woke up."

Bartoli is well made for these exasperating situations. Not only does she remain steady but she gains a respite from long spells of play which might expose her relative lack of mobility and stamina.

Jankovic had put it less politely. "If we played long rallies she got tired. She was breathing hard. And when we came back she was completely different."
Bartoli is better than this sounded. She has modelled her style on Monica Seles, which means that with double-handed strokes on both wings she alters the angle of the racket face with subtlety to create rare discomfort for an opponent trying to regain optimum movement after a delay.

Like Seles she is coached by her father, Walter, who, Bartoli says, makes her practise tight situations by pretending the score is 30-40 and serving with only one ball. The 22-year-old had also worked out how to break down Krajicek's big game. She stood in close and tried to make angles which kept the ball away from the Dutch player's formidable forehand.

It brought huge reward at 2-2 in the final set. At 30-40 on her serve, Krajicek tried to attack on the backhand as well as the forehand and caught the ball with a ballooning top edge. Her screeched disappointment announced that as a turning point. At the end she held her head but she had done more than enough to suggest that, like her brother Richard 11 years ago, she has the kind of imposing game with which she will make her name at Wimbledon.

Bartoli now faces Justine Henin, the top seed. Could she succeed where Amélie Mauresmo, her compatriot, failed? "I won't answer that question till I get to the final." She may be praying for rain.

I've been wondering since I first read this a few hours ago.... where exactly in the locker room can a person nap? I've been in a lot of locker rooms and just can't picture what kind of place this would be. Anybody? :confused: