Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli recalls infamous John Inverdale remark: ‘Absolutely disgusting’

Former Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli has said she “still can’t understand” the offensive and infamous remark John Inverdale made about her appearance live on air during the moment of her biggest professional achievement.

Bartoli beat Sabine Lisicki to the Wimbledon title in 2013, the zenith of a career in which she repeatedly overcame injury struggles and public criticism of her playing style, ability and weight.

BBC commentator Inverdale was widely condemned for suggesting on 5 Live commentary immediately after she had won the title that Bartoli’s father and coach, Walter, might have told her as a child that she would have to “be scrappy and fight” because she was “never going to be a looker” like contemporary Maria Sharapova. The BBC later apologised for his comments and admitted they were “insensitive”.

Speaking in an interview with The Times, Bartoli, who now coaches British player Harriet Dart, said: “I still can’t understand the comment he made. How on earth, when someone just achieved a childhood dream, can you say that?

“It is just absolutely disgusting, so yes, unfortunately it’s been a constant pressure. And it’s only on female [players]. A male would never be treated that way.”

Bartoli retired 40 days after her Wimbledon triumph citing the toll injuries had taken on her body, leaving her in constant pain. She made a brief return to the sport in 2018 but it was short-lived as she continued to be hampered by injury.

The years after her initial retirement were marked by a frightening and life-threatening battle with anorexia; by Wimbledon 2016 she had lost 30kg and she was hospitalised for months before her health began to improve.

She credited then-All England Club chairman Philip Brook for triggering her to seek help, after he told her that summer that she was too unhealthy to play in the Wimbledon legends’ invitational event.

She told The Times: “That’s when I really hit the lowest of the low, because you can take everything away from me, but not tennis.

“Tennis is my true passion. When the racket is in my hand, that’s when I’m happiest, so that’s when I thought, ‘I have to get myself back up somehow. I can’t let this destroy me.’

“I will be forever thankful to Philip because I was in such denial that I think otherwise I would have kept hurting myself. He was strong enough to tell me and that got me to understand that I had to recover.”