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QATAR TOTAL OPEN

February 11, 2018

Caroline Garcia

Doha, Qatar

Q. As you come into this section of the season in February with Doha and Dubai, what's the mentality and kind of historically in the past what's been your relationship with this swing? I mean is this one that is a positive for you or is it one that you're trying to snap it back on?
CAROLINE GARCIA: I had some good times sometimes and some more difficult ones. I think it's kind of so-so in the past year, but fortunately it's a very nice tournament to be part of, two very big tournaments and really trying to invest on women's tennis. So it's always a pleasure to come back and have some great practice and to train and have matches. So it's not much to say about this tournament outside of I'm very happy to be here.

Q. And health wise, how is the body feeling as you go into this section?
CAROLINE GARCIA: It's always in progress situation, I would say. And I know it's a long tournament, I think, and I'm really working on it every day. And I can train, and with the way it's going it's never going as fast as you want, but we are here and ready to compete.

Q. And I mean since St. Petersburg to here what has the last week or week-and-a-half or so been like? Has it been mostly rest? Has it been training?
CAROLINE GARCIA: Let me think about it, what I've done. No, yeah, I did practice, for sure. And a couple of day off and spend time with the family to rest. And it's mostly practice at this time of the year. And we arrived -- when did we arrive? Friday night. And practiced outside Friday. It's a little bit better, a little bit warmer. In France we were very cold.

Q. Speaking of which, how hard is it for you to make those sorts of transitions from going from indoor courts and practicing in the cold and everything to --
CAROLINE GARCIA: I mean it's very difficult for us because when I got back, I was back in France, and it's cold. It's indoor, but it's not heating or anything. So it's approximately two degrees inside. So it's freezing, and it's difficult because we are most of the time outside and the ^ indoors is not very warm. It's only two degrees. So our body is not really ready for cold conditions. So it's difficult. But you manage. You put a lot of clothes on and you try to run even more. But it's nice to be with the family. So sometimes you have to deal with cold conditions.

Q. What's the court speed like when you've been practicing here?
CAROLINE GARCIA: I just played yesterday on centre, and I saw some nice blue colors. And it's nice. And it's always a little bit slower maybe than some tournaments in Doha. But it was nice to play on centre again.

Q. Are you planning to watch the Olympics at all or can you not?
CAROLINE GARCIA: Just a little bit. Not much. Because with jet lag it's a little bit complicated. So I want to switch on really for now. But I'm trying to see some disciplines, but not often. But it's difficult with jet lag.

Q. What are your favorite disciplines in the winter Olympics?
CAROLINE GARCIA: I'm not really a winter sports person, but I'm trying because it's Olympics. And in France there is a very good guys in the Olympics. I'm looking forward to see how far he can go, and there is plenty of nice athletes. And I will see. As they say, it can be a good year for France. So it's always interesting to see, but it's difficult to follow all day long.

Q. Is there a winter sport -- I know you're not a winter sport person, but is there a winter sport that if you had to quote, unquote be an Olympian in that you would pick?
CAROLINE GARCIA: For me it's very difficult because I think I ski once in my life. So it's difficult to see myself as a winter person. But there is some nice combination. Always to kind of combine different disciplines together.

Q. Back to the tennis competition, what can you personally be expecting from the tournament this year? Some people might say that the level of women's tennis at the moment is more competitive than it has been before, especially after the Australian Open which saw some amazing competition, some long games, some really difficult stages of the game to get through. For example, Halep's win over Kerber, 9-7. So what are you expecting? Do you think there's a reason why the competition is so much more difficult, maybe the fact that Serena has not been in the game for a while?
CAROLINE GARCIA: I think the competition was difficult even all through last year, but maybe because some of the good players was less strong. So people were less interesting and you didn't see these kind of matches. But trust me, last year it was a lot of difficult matches. And everyone in the competition it was not easy matches and easy points, but of course, this year the Australian Open a couple of times we went over 6 all in the third set, and because it's a Grand Slam more people watch it than if it's a regular competition. But it's already a long time competitive in the women's tennis, but it's nice to see that ^ in general. So it's for sure Australian Open was very interesting matches to watch, and it was great fun, and it was nice to see so many goals can be reached at the Australian Open. So it was definitely nice.

But yeah, for sure, Doha is always a really strong tournament. The draw is always amazing. So it's a tough first round, tough second round already. So I'm just ready for my game and to be competitive on court.

Q. There are several former world number ones taking part. What are you going to bring different? How are you going to tackle that? There's at least five former world number ones in the draw.
CAROLINE GARCIA: Yeah. There is a lot of them. Last year it was a couple of number ones, and Sharapova is here also. And it's a lot of great players for sure. And it's always nice to compete against them and try to improve against top players. So yeah, I'm really happy to be a part of the tournament and just want to play my game and learn and see how far I can go.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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