Sunday, August 21, Caroline Garcia managed a final winning service. She kneels then lies down on the court, overwhelmed by emotion. Facing Czech Petra Kvitova, the Frenchwoman has just won the third WTA 1000 of her career in Cincinnati (Ohio) – the category just below the Grand Slam – the first since her Chinese double Wuhan-Beijing in 2017. A feat since she became the first player to win a tournament of this level after qualifying.
This title, the third this season, confirms above all the return of the Lyonnaise to the front of the stage. At the right time, since the US Open, fourth and last Grand Slam tournament of the year, opens Monday, August 29 on the New York courts of Flushing Meadows. Seeded number 17, the 28-year-old right-hander will be opposed, in the first round, to the Russian Kamilla Rakhimova (90e world).
Ex-fourth player in the world in her firmament, in September 2018, Caroline Garcia knows the upper echelons of world women’s tennis. But the peaks had receded. Four years of doubts and numerous injuries had made him fall to 79e world rank, in May, his worst WTA ranking in eight years.
“Often, when I went on the court, I had pain somewhere, she said to The Team, August 24. This is the most frustrating thing for an athlete: not being able to do your sport and not being able to train as you would like. You don’t have 100% confidence because you don’t know if it’s going to hold. »
In parallel with its physical glitches, the Habs seem lost in their game. “As a result, I lost the thread of my identity a little, she remembered after her title in Cincinnati. I doubted my way of playing and started going at 50%. You try to make fewer unforced errors, you back up, but you land fewer winners because you’re less inside the court. “We all know the diamond she had in her hands, we said to ourselves ‘it’s a shame'”explains Pauline Parmentier, former world number 40 and consultant for Amazon Prime Video.
A new structure
The genesis of this revival dates from December 2021, when Caroline Garcia surrounded herself with trainer Bertrand Perret and physiotherapist and physical trainer Laura Legoupil. Before turning to the former coach of Paul-Henri Mathieu and the Tunisian Ons Jabeur, Caroline Garcia spent her entire career under the orders of her father, Louis-Paul. Away from the court at the request of his daughter, in May 2021, the father was able to give way to his successor (after an interlude with the Spaniard Gabriel Urpi) while reintegrating the structure, from a distance, in a role of manager.
Bertrand Perret does not revolutionize Caroline Garcia, often criticized for her risk-taking. On the contrary, he encourages him to develop an even more attacking game. “Bertran [Perret] comforts her, reassures her in the style she wants to develop”appreciates Julien Benneteau, captain of the French team of the Billie Jean King Cup (formerly called Fed Cup).
Despite a start to the season again weighed down by a foot injury (she missed two months of competition between March and May), Caroline Garcia hints at the beginnings of a good vintage at Roland-Garros, where she won, for her recovery, the women’s doubles with Kristina Mladenovic. “I found his striking quality interesting, analyzes Julien Benneteau. She hurt opponents without making big mistakes like in the past. » Eliminated in the second round of the singles tournament, she was positive: “I’m starting to understand where I’m going. It means that we are going in the right direction in training. »
“Winning Roland-Garros for the second time [après 2016] with Kristina was one of the most beautiful moments of her career because she was coming out of a difficult moment, underlines Camille Pin, consultant for Amazon Prime Video. I’m sure it clicked. » Quickly, the native of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (Yvelines) confirmed these good feelings by winning the WTA 250 in Bad Homburg (Germany), on grass, her first trophy since 2019.
A clinical service and a better built game
Her serve is currently the most effective on the circuit, since no one has scored as many aces as she has this season: 286. “It’s a good weapon in my game, which gives me confidence to put pressure on the opponent, she admitted, on August 19, after her victory in the quarter-finals in Cincinnati. We worked a lot on it. “She is still very aggressive except that, physically, she is better, so much more precise, observes Julien Benneteau. Her opponents have a feeling of suffocation by what she installs in her game.
Thanks to all these ingredients, the winner of the 2019 Fed Cup with the French team has continued its momentum. First by winning a second tournament, in July, on clay in Warsaw, by dismissing, at home, the Polish world number 1, Iga Swiatek. Then by winning, therefore, the WTA 1000 in Cincinnati last week, with three successes against members of the top 10. Since mid-June, she has totaled twenty-six victories for only four defeats.
✈️ @CaroGarcia on the circuit since mid-June: ✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅❌✅✅✅❌✅✅❌✅✅✅✅✅❌✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅ ➡️ 4 26 titles, 4 26 wins … https://t.co/HUpaLtV1N2
“Everything is clearer in my headshe says. I also feel much better physically, healthier. We have clearly defined the way I have to play, the direction I have to take. When I enter the court, I know what style of game I have to practice. »
In this continuity, Caroline Garcia approaches the US Open with an outsider status. She has proven in the sequence of matches and in her successes against top 10 players (four, zero defeats since June) that we should not forget her when making predictions, even if she has never exceeded until here are the quarter-finals of a Major.
“She has to have pretty lofty ambitions, assures Camille Pin. She must tell herself that she is one of the five best players in the world in her mind. She can hope for a half and then the title, why not! »
