The fabulous second half of 2022, with four titles including the Masters, seems very far away for Caroline Garcia. After a complicated 2023 season, the 30-year-old Frenchwoman is attacking 2024 on the same bases. Faller in the first round of the Australian Open by the returning Naomi Osaka, the 19th player in the world fell ingloriously this Wednesday against the 69th, the Polish Magdalena Frech (6-4, 7-6 [2]).
The French number 1, however, led 4-1 in the first set and twice scored a break ahead in the second, before breaking down. “Sometimes, in the match, I couldn’t even breathe,” confided the 8th finalist at the Australian Open last year, who hasn’t done better since a third round in a Grand Slam tournament, losing each time against a lower ranked player. “How can I find the solution on my service if I can’t breathe, the simplest thing in the world? »
In front of the media, the Lyonnaise did not hide a certain moral distress, already perceptible before the success against Osaka, after which she admitted to having been “afraid to enter the court”. “I cried a lot,” she added after her victory. The tone of the remarks was the same after his defeat of Frech.
It’s only a second round of the Australian Open. Why does playing a girl lower ranked than me put me in such a state? I don’t know anything about it actually. It’s been like this for a certain period of time, I can’t get over it. And it eats me up. Sometimes I say to myself: “but why am I doing this?” And in the end, every day I tell myself: “I’m going to keep trying”. »
“In my next life, I would have learned a lot about myself,” Garcia added. It will definitely help me in my second career. » Despite all the torments that a high-level athlete can go through, the time for retirement from sport has not yet come for the Frenchwoman. “The dream of winning a Grand Slam is still there,” she assured.