The worst part of the BBC radio announcer’s takedown of the newly crowned Wimbledon women’s champ? He put his own ugly words in her father’s mouth.
Choosing French player Marion Bartoli’s moment of triumph to attack her non-blondness, John Inverdale showed true cowardice when he said: “Do you think Bartoli’s dad told her when she was little, ‘You’re never going to be a looker? You’ll never be a [Maria] Sharapova, so you have to be scrappy and fight.’”
He said this while Bartoli was rushing to the spectator’s box to her father, Dr. Walter Bartoli, who taught her to play. Dad later said, “I am not angry. She is my beautiful daughter. The relationship between Marion and me has always been unbelievable, so I don’t know what this reporter is talking about.”
And Marion Bartoli’s classy response? “It doesn’t matter, honestly. I am not blonde, yes. That is a fact. Have I dreamt about having a model contract? No. I’m sorry,” she said. “But have I dreamed about winning Wimbledon? Absolutely, yes.”
