Wimbledon champion MARION BARTOLI "offered the first hint that her shock retirement may not be quite as final as she first indicated," according to REUTERS. Bartoli "hinted on Sunday she could make a comeback." Speaking in N.Y., Bartoli "left open the possibility that she could possibly make a return next year." Bartoli: "You never know what is going to happen. It's pretty hard to say I will never come back" (REUTERS, 8/25). In London, Simon Briggs reported "a further hint of indecision in the fact that Bartoli has yet to ask for her name to be removed from the rankings list." Such a move "is usually a signal that a player has gone beyond the point of no return -- or at least thinks she has." When pressed on this question, Bartoli "shrugged and blamed her own curiosity." Bartoli: "I just wanted to see where my ranking would end up at this year without playing any more. We’ll see where it takes me. Perhaps we should not read too much into these details. Most of Bartoli’s press conference underlined how ready she was to say goodbye" (TELEGRAPH, 8/25).
