3 years after winning Wimbledon, Bartoli says she is ill

LONDON — Three years after winning the title at Wimbledon, Marion Bartoli said she has contracted an unknown virus and her life is an “absolute nightmare.”

The 31-year-old Frenchwoman is now extremely thin and said it’s because she is ill.

“My life right now, it’s an absolute nightmare,” Bartoli said in an interview on British channel ITV’s “This Morning” show. “What I’m going through, I wish it to absolutely nobody.”

Bartoli won the women’s title at Wimbledon in 2013, and retired from the sport the next month. She now works in fashion and also does TV commentating at tennis events.

She is working at Wimbledon, and had planned to play in the women’s invitational tournament for former players but said her doctors told her she couldn’t.

Serena Williams, a longtime rival on the court, praised Bartoli for going public with her problem.

“I was really proud to hear she did say something,” Williams said Thursday after reaching her ninth Wimbledon final. “She took it upon herself to acknowledge what she’s been fighting through. I really admire anyone that is courageous like that.”

Bartoli said she believes she contracted the disease while on a long flight in February.

She said she can only eat organic leaves and cucumbers without skin because her body rejects other food. She also can’t be in contact with tap water, she said, adding she has been seeking treatment.

“As a Wimbledon champion, I’m trying to fight my hardest to go through it and to survive,” Bartoli said. “I think my Wimbledon title is actually the strength I have inside me. I just really want people to understand I don’t do that to myself on purpose.” TVJ

source: sports.inquirer.net

One Direction will return, says Tomlinson

One Direction "fully intend" to reform, the British pop phenomenon's Louis Tomlinson said ahead of Saturday's final concert before their planned hiatus.

The four-piece boy band, who have sold more than 50 million records worldwide, are ending their On The Road Again Tour at the Sheffield Arena in northern England.

The group are set to separate for at least a year, leaving the band's enormous global teenage following devastated.

"We fully intend to come back," Tomlinson told ITV television.

"We absolutely love this. We had a little sit down before and we decided that we wanted a break.

"We've had a very intense couple of years so we're just going to have a little bit of breathing time and spend that with our families.

"I don't think anyone could keep this pace up forever so I think it's the most healthy and constructive thing for all of us."

The band consists of Tomlinson, 23, Niall Horan, 22, Liam Payne, 22, and Harry Styles, 21. Zayn Malik, 22, quit due to stress in March.

Horan admitted the last gig of the tour would be difficult.

"We've done almost 1,000 shows or more over the last few years so to think we won't do one for over a year will be strange, so it will be a little bit emotional," he said.

The group's fifth studio album, "Made In The AM" will be released on November 13 and they will make a promotional appearance on US television four days later.

Put together for a British television singing contest in 2010, the group swiftly developed a giant, fiercely loyal following of young girls worldwide.

Malik has signed a new recording deal as a solo artist.

"I am leaving because I want to be a normal 22-year-old who is able to relax and have some private time out of the spotlight," he said at the time.

The Sunday Times newspaper's Rich List 2015 reckoned the band members were worth £25 million ($39 million, 35 million euros) each. —Agence-France Presse

source: gmanetwork.com