Caroline Garcia: “Don’t listen to what people are saying”
Caroline Garcia, beaten in her opening match by Naomi Osaka in Doha, makes no secret of the fact that she’s having a difficult time on the court. But she intends to hang in there, both in singles and doubles, with the Olympics also in her sights
Caroline Garcia at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in 2023 (Zuma/Panoramic)
In a match just as close as in Melbourne, Caroline Garcia was unable to close the door on Naomi Osaka in Doha.
“It was a tough match that came down to a few points. I was in control at the start of the match but I lost that at 5-4 in the first set and she took her chance, then played better and better. At times, my serve helped me better in Australia. I was a little less loose on certain points, I wasn’t able to close out the first set in particular.”
Of course, it’s a defeat that encapsulates Garcia’s start to the season. Caught between aggression and restraint, the French No 1 and world No 21 knows she’ll have to decide to tip the balance one way or the other if she doesn’t want to lose her way.
“There’s bound to be frustration and disappointment” – garcia
“Sometimes it plays tricks on me a bit, because I get a bit passive at 5-4,” explains Garcia, referring to that first set she had at the end of her racket. “I’m a bit more into the stereotype of staying and playing cross-court, whereas I usually go for my points more by going along the line. It would be better to be more aggressive because in the other style of play I find it hard to impose myself on my opponents.”
Clear about her objectives, she is a little less clear about the means to achieve them, and those few seconds of hesitation here and there have cost her dearly in the end this season: second-round defeats in Adelaide (to eventual winner Jelena Ostapenko) and Melbourne, followed by first-round defeats in Abu Dhabi and Doha. “There’s a lot of fight and intensity, but I don’t necessarily seize my opportunities. And I’ve also got some good opponents in front of me. Inevitably, there’s frustration and disappointment with the results, but we’re trying to focus on the season’s objectives and keep things in perspective.”
“I’VE BEEN CRITICIsED SO MUCH FOR BEING TOO AGGRESSIVE”
When asked precisely how she keeps things in perspective, she laughs, “Right now, I’m struggling a bit with it so I’m not going to say how I do it because I don’t.”
Will there be any decisions to be made in the coming weeks on this playing identity, which seems once again to be looking for itself? “Sometimes it’s good to refocus. I can see at 5-4 that I’m losing the game by being a little less intensive, a little less aggressive. It helps to see what’s working and what’s not. But it’s funny to have these questions because I’ve been criticised so much for being too aggressive,” she smiles.
And now we’re getting to the heart of the matter: there’s the game that comes naturally to Garcia and has paid off handsomely on a regular basis, but there’s also the other game that many have been telling her for years now will be the only one to give her a Grand Slam title. Heart and reason. No third way for the moment. At the age of 30, Garcia is understandably a little fed up with this debate.
“It’s never good enough”
“When it works, everything’s fine, but when it doesn’t…” she says politely. You can tell she is almost at the end of her tether when it comes to this back and forth, though. “Inevitably, when 99% of people say that to me, sometimes it has an impact on the way you see things when you start to fail a little. But it’s up to me and us to be clear about what works for me, and not listen to what people say because they don’t actually know you.”
Is all this getting on her nerves? “Yes, it’s getting on my nerves because it’s never good enough. You’re at the top, it’s not good enough: you have to do more. And when it doesn’t work, we’ve forgotten everything you’ve done for 15 years.”
Isn’t the problem that she also tends to forget all the good things she’s done in the last 15 years? Starting from scratch every year doesn’t necessarily work for everyone.
“IT’S ALWAYS MORE, ALWAYS MORE, UNTIL YOU’RE EXHAUSTED”
“Tennis is hard, because you always have to reset the counters. When you’ve won a big tournament, you have to get back on track pretty quickly, because there’s another big tournament coming up. You’re always putting everything into perspective. It’s always more, more and more, until you’re exhausted. I try to find a good balance. I can’t say I’ve got the same energy as when I arrived on the circuit, but I’ve got the same dreams as before. Sometimes it just feels good to see how to find a balance so that I’m really happy doing this and the journey is worth it.”
It has to be said, too, that this is a season like no other for Caroline Garcia, as her sights are set on Paris 2024, notably in doubles with Kristina Mladenovic. Having won the French Open in 2016 and 2022, Les Bleues are bound to be ambitious. Beaten in the semi-finals in Adelaide, in the quarter-finals in Melbourne and outright in Doha, the Tricolores are determined to give themselves the time and resources to shine this summer. But this inevitably complicates the schedule.
DOUBLES IN THE SIGHTS IN PARIS
“There are advantages and disadvantages. Paris 2024, we want to prepare each other and we’re trying to combine that as best we can with our singles program. We’re not on the same tournaments in singles, so it’s not easy, and since the start of the season it’s especially Kristina who’s had to make a few concessions in relation to her personal career. We’re trying to find the right balance and use doubles to give us positive energy and drive for our singles matches. In Paris, it’s going to be a very tough draw, so the aim is to get there thinking we’ve done the job and then play to the maximum.”
Here again, Garcia surprises herself when asked if this doubles with Mladenovic – with all the ups and downs their relationship may have experienced – still represents a special page in her career. “It’s a page that’s very important, but I often forget about it. I often don’t rely enough on this part of my career, and that’s a shame, because I don’t see myself with this doubles record at all, even though what we’ve achieved is pretty great, and I should use it a little more. My doubles career is far from negligible.”
Neither is her singles career, but for the time being it’s harder to view over the long term.
