ROLAND GARROS

May 26, 2022

Caroline Garcia

Press Conference

M. KEYS/C. Garcia

6-4, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: What's your take on this loss today on center court. We had the feeling that it was really close.

CAROLINE GARCIA: Well, globally it was quite a positive match on my side. It's been my second match in two months. It's never easy, you know, and key moments and the opportunities that I got on her serve I think she was a bit more aggressive than I was and she was more successful in the end. That's what made the difference. I was lacking a rhythm a little bit, but I think there's a lot of positives to take from that match.

Q. What are the positive things that you can use for the future?

CAROLINE GARCIA: Well, the first thing is that I've been able to play, which was not a hundred percent sure that my foot is okay. Of course the prep work was really short. But it was still a solid match against a top-30 player that's quite a, she's quite a good player in the Grand Slams.

And I've been able to enjoy the atmosphere here at Roland Garros, which is a good thing, and I've been able to improve throughout the match and to be quick on my footwork. And I think my serve went well as well. So I just need to keep playing. That's it.

Q. Through the first set it took you a very long time to find solutions because she has won her first four serves game to Love.

CAROLINE GARCIA: Well, at the beginning it was really tough because she was really serving out well, and then I managed to find my rhythm and to keep the ball in play, and then she started doubting when she was getting less free points and this is something that's quite difficult for me to do usually, and against this good server it was quite a positive point for me.

Then on some second serves a little bit of bad luck. I hit some net cords a little bit, but I tried to keep my identity and my game and tried to cut the trajectories of balls, etcetera.

Q. The more the match went on, the more, the quicker you were, that's what we saw, and she had a hard time organizing her game.

CAROLINE GARCIA: Well, at the beginning it was quite tough with my footwork. I tried to really organize myself as quick as possible. But, you know, I was just lacking rhythm in matches, you know, when you practice, and I only started practicing again 10 days ago.

She's one of the most powerful players on tour so she doesn't give you a lot of rhythm and it goes really fast. So I had a hard time at the beginning, but I didn't get frustrated, which helped me stay focused.

Q. What's with the rest of the season? Is it a good way for you to begin to get back on track?

CAROLINE GARCIA: Well, obviously, the fact that physically I feel good is really a positive point. Of course I would have wanted to go further in the tournament and play more matches.

But, you know, I'm starting to understand where I'm going. It means that we're moving in the right direction when we practice, and that's been the case since the beginning of the year, and so it just means that we need to keep playing matches.

Q. I wanted to ask you, for you, how important is your ranking? Some players say they look every week. Some players say, no, they care more about either winning things or making money or whatever. I want to know for you and your career as a tennis player, how important is the ranking?

CAROLINE GARCIA: I don't watch it every week. I don't really follow it like very closely, but I have to watch it to see which entries I'm going to make or not. So that's mostly the way I know what is my ranking.

Right now, my ranking is kind of so-so, so it doesn't allow me to enter wherever I want, and that's actually the worst part, it's like when you can't make the cut in the main draw and you have to go through qualies or you have to wait a little bit last minute to see where you are going to enter.

Obviously I would like to be 60 or 80. It's kind of the same, you know. Like, outside of top 50 or like 30, when you are seeding in the Grand Slam, it's kind of the same.

Q. Is there an element of stress or pressure as you go to a tournament where maybe you did well the year before? Do you think, oh, I need to defend those points?

CAROLINE GARCIA: It depends how you did in the rest of the year. If you did only one result in the year, of course you are going to be very tight when you come to this tournament.

After, like if I had been pretty solid, obviously outside of winning a slam it's not such a big deal and the goal is to be the most consistent as you can and that's the best way to manage it.

And after like when you arrive to slams you know that there is bigger points, and in two matches you can have as much as making a final almost to a 250. So it's not at all the same behind the scenes of it. And maybe only it's for big tournament and slam you are good in the top 10.

Q. I wanted to ask, we saw earlier today a French woman, Jeanjean, beat Karolina Pliskova. She has a very interesting story. I'm wondering how well you know her and what you think of seeing her now at this stage winning matches in a Grand Slam tournament.

CAROLINE GARCIA: Yeah, I'm definitely super happy for her. When she came back last year trying to make it to, make her way to the top, and she did very good very fast. She got a wildcard by playing well in the French tournaments and I was super happy for her.

We played some junior in South America, I think I was 16 so she was like 14. And, I mean, her game was always nice to see, you know, she knows how to play tennis, she kind of played smart. And I saw few points of today and she kind of plays the same, you know, like she ran very well and then she can change the rhythm.

Like in tennis, maybe other sports as well, I don't know as much, but in tennis everyone, I mean, doesn't matter what is your history, what is your past, you can always try to make it. And she was like the best of the best when she was 10, 12, and everyone thought she was going to be like unbelievable. And then she completely disappeared, everyone left her, she went to U.S. and now she make her way again and she can prove to everyone like, if you believe it, you can do it. So it's really good to see.

Q. Just to clarify, you were much younger in South America, did you play against her?

CAROLINE GARCIA: Yeah, together. We were the two French playing together in doubles.