US Open – Caroline Garcia on her revival: “In March, I could never have believed it”

These mixed feelings can also be seen as a good sign. At her age and after everything she has been through, Garcia cannot and does not want to be satisfied with having achieved her best performance in a Major. She is aiming higher and has given herself the means to do so by assuming her game identity: that of an offensive and aggressive player and not a marathon runner from the baseline. While she wanted at all costs to fill her defensive gaps, she began with her new coach to further cultivate her strengths to impose her tennis on her opponents. And at the same time, the pleasure and the smile returned.

“At the beginning of the year, in Australia, I remember that one day Paul-Henri Mathieu (head of high level at the FFT) came to attend training and Bertrand (Perret, his trainer) who knows him very well (he trained “PHM” in tennis as a child), warned him: ‘Get ready, you’ll see, it’s different from last year.’ Of course, he had made me train even more inside the field and I was back positioned two meters inside. It was important that someone from the outside prioritized this attacking style of play to make me better. And it is the style with which I play the best and take the most pleasure. As a person and as a player, I have learned a lot from the last few years which have been difficult. I’m more mature to accept my style of play“, she still confided to the French sports daily.

Rediscovered ambitions and an injury overcome thanks to a close-knit team

His return to the Top 10 and his new ambitions are only the consequence of this bias. They also reward her perseverance and the solidarity of the new team working around her. Because in the spring, the outlook seemed much bleaker. Forced to retire in the first round of the WTA 1000 in Miami against the Hungarian Anna Bondar because of a foot injury, she had to resolve to undergo an operation. The beginning of a period of two months without playing, difficult to cross.

“In March, I could never have believed it. Impossible. We had a foot problem that had been going on for months or even years. A tear in the aponeurosis. (…) First there were ten days on crutches. We got back to the gym pretty quickly to do what we could. We spent two hours there, then an hour and a half on the table, for specific exercises. You take care of yourself like that, telling yourself that at some point it’s going to get better. Afterwards, when you come back on the court, you’re still in pain, it’s not okay, but the team was super positive, super close-knit. Everyone knew which direction to go. But I doubted a lot“, she remembered again.

The rest, we know it: a return to Roland-Garros with a certain lack of rhythm, a defeat in the 2nd round in singles, but a great epic up to the title in doubles with Kristina Mladenovic. This breath of fresh air was the trigger for Garcia, who embarked on a second part of the high-flying season. It now remains to confirm this new momentum by qualifying for the Masters and making the famous “progress” that could bring her closer to the Holy Grail: a Grand Slam victory. With this state of mind, this confidence, this assumed offensive tennis and a hint of more lucidity when the sensations are less good, there is no reason not to believe it.