‘It’s annoying, I can’t get free’: Garcia’s bitter remark after his Melbourne departure.

This defeat will be hard for her to forget and swallow! Caroline Garcia, world number 4, left the Australian Open head down in the round of 16, losing to Poland’s Magda Linette 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 on 23 January. This is a huge disappointment, a slap in the face. And it’s all the more infuriating that after eliminating the favorite, another Pole, Iga Swiatek, at the same stage this weekend, the Lyons seemed to have a clear horizon before the final. With the possibility of a first Grand Slam triumph on the horizon, his goal after winning the Masters.

But boom, everything hit the ground! “I am very disappointed,” the Frenchwoman responds. You go out on the court to play a good match, to try to win, and that’s not something I managed to do despite a lot of chances in the first set. It was difficult for me to keep my emotions under control, to collect my game and release it forward. But we’re not going to say it’s a real surprise that we couldn’t make it today (Monday). I have struggled to do this in my previous matches and have often won by fighting. Today it was not enough, the other one was firm and went to get his match at important moments. What was not smooth in my game cost me dearly. »

It’s not the first time Caroline Garcia’s emotions have gotten the best of her game: the second part of 2022, which took her to the US Open semi-finals, seems to have solved the problem. Then not yet. “What’s annoying,” she continues, “is that I just can’t get free, put my game in place, move forward. I didn’t really get into the network … And this upsets me the most. »

Not comfortable with pressure

Before continuing: “There is what we show and what we keep for ourselves. In the last days of training, he was more relaxed. But at first it was very stressful. Those who were with me all the time felt it, and at the matches it was clear that I was tense, nervous about some things. But when I played well it was also because I had my emotions and I put my heart into it. In this tournament, it cost me. »

For the first time among the favorites, Carolina Garcia simply could not stand the pressure. “This is one of the parameters with which I am less comfortable. I have to work on it to manage it better. There is pressure that you put on yourself about what you want to do. As a rule, when the rating goes up, it goes up with it. My own expectations are quite high and I may be shooting myself in the foot. »

Lyon at home, good tournament to digest disappointment

But Caroline Garcia doesn’t want to quit. “Still, there are positive moments!”, She notes. When you arrive with the top ranking, the US Open semi-finals, you want to relive those moments, those great matches. There were difficult matches against Leila Fernandez, Laura Sigmund, and these victories are a plus. Today the level of the product was not enough. »

The Lyonnaise will now have to digest it, and it will go through home therapy: “A grand slam defeat, whatever the next tournament, is hard to digest. I have the chance to play in Lyon, at home, in a tournament that is very close to my heart (and in which she is a shareholder). But we will have to endure disappointment. »