US OPEN

September 8, 2022

Caroline Garcia

Press Conference

O. JABEUR/C. Garcia

6-1, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. Tough luck today. I'm just wondering what made it difficult for you today. What was it like when you stepped on the court? Were there nerves? What was going on?

CAROLINE GARCIA: Obviously nerves were there. I think it's pretty normal. You know, when I started the tournament in my first round, I was stressed out already. Every match means a lot. You want to win every one of them.

Obviously today I did know it was semifinals, so you know what it's bringing you if you win and what you want to achieve. It's a dream since I'm a little girl.

Yeah, I mean, today, the beginning of the match was not great. Made a few mistakes in important points. The arms and the legs were not moving as great. Obviously for my game, if I'm a little bit slower or if I don't go for my shot, mistakes can come very quickly.

I try the best I could. I kept fighting, kept going for it, because I know it's my way to do things. That's what bring me so many victory in the last couple of months.

I kept fighting for it, even if I was playing sometimes really bad. But it's the way of thinking, and I'm going to keep going that way.

Q. We have seen you stand inside the baseline a lot the last couple of weeks. Ons hit her spots very well. Eight aces. Did you consider trying to drop a bit deeper to give yourself more on serve or were you committed to...

CAROLINE GARCIA: Yeah, I was fully committed to my return strategy. Like you say, sometimes when player hits a target really well and you start from really far from the baseline, it's not going to help you at all. You have more court to cover. It depends what you like and how you feel comfortable. My way and our way to think is to go for it.

Today didn't work. It shows me that I can still improve a lot. It did bring me a lot of wins the last couple of weeks, so I think 13 against 1, I will keep going.

Q. Congrats on a great tournament. What do you think about the way Ons played today? I'm curious to know your take on what made her so effective today. What was the most difficult part of facing her?

CAROLINE GARCIA: Today was a lot of things (smiling).

Obviously she served pretty good. A lot of first-serve, especially first set and first part of the second set. She gave me more opportunity at the end of the second set with the second serve. But she did read very well my serve, always bringing back the first serve.

Today I was taking the ball a little bit later. I was not moving as fast. I was hitting it well. Didn't give me a lot of points. That's what it feels like. I had no free points.

Q. So you mentioned the serve of Ons, and her serve is not the fastest on the tour, but still she can manage to make many aces.

CAROLINE GARCIA: Yeah.

Q. Is that because it's tough to read her serve, or it's placement or...

CAROLINE GARCIA: It's a little bit of everything. Obviously she did ace me a lot, but she's acing a lot of other players, as well.

Like you said, her placement and target are really good. She mix it up pretty good. Her ball toss is pretty low, so it's kind of weird to read, kind of unusual.

It does not bounce very high, so it's pretty low on slice. Yeah, it's a combination of everything.

Q. Obviously you have known Ons for a very long time.

CAROLINE GARCIA: Yeah.

Q. She's the first African, first Arab woman to do the things she's doing. What do you make of what she's been able to do from a region that doesn't really have these kind of players and these kind of accomplishments? What does it mean for the tour in general?

CAROLINE GARCIA: Yeah, she accomplished so much already since the junior, being the first player to do a lot of things and keep doing it. It's a great inspiration for all her country and all Africa.

Yeah, she's bringing so much to our tour, as well, for diversity, for touching more people, and she's doing it very well. I'm sure it's a lot of pressure on her shoulder. But she looks like to be managing it really well. And just wishing her the best.

Q. I just wanted to ask you about your emotions. You seemed quite sort of evenhanded at the moment. Do you think a few days down the line this result might hurt a bit and how hungry are you to be back here?

CAROLINE GARCIA: Yeah, media, you don't always see everything and what is happening in the background. We had a little breakdown just before to come here, but things are under control for now. We see for how long.

But, you know how it is. Obviously there is a disappointment of the win of today. Today was not a great match. There is still a lot of positives to take: semifinal here, big jump in the ranking. I know where I was standing few months back, few years back. So let's take the positive.

Obviously tomorrow we will try to learn the most we can about this match, because I'm sure there is a lot of things I can learn and give me hope for the future, and yeah.

Q. Congratulations for the three months. That's absolutely amazing what you have done. The question I have is do you think there is a way that you could have prepared better to play tonight? I saw you practicing off outside-court in the heat when the court on Ashe was much more cooler and colder. Did you feel any difference when you came from the practice court to Arthur Ashe was very in the shade really? That was the one thing that I thought I didn't quite understand why you would not practice on the court that you're going to play the match.

CAROLINE GARCIA: I did not warm up once so far since even in Cincinnati on my match court. Most of time because it was not possible. And, no, I did not find any difference, actually. I didn't feel it's that cold in the Arthur Ashe. Maybe I miss-feel it.

But no, I mean, we wanted to stick to our routine. It was more quiet on the practice courts. We had our routine over there, and we just stick with it. We didn't know it was free before, and we think about it, but no.

Q. You said several times that you feel already still many things you can improve. Can you talk a little bit about what you have in your mind that you maybe want to start work on?

CAROLINE GARCIA: I can't really talk about it. The list is too long. We will still be here tomorrow. Too many things.

Q. Really that long?

CAROLINE GARCIA: Yeah, really too long. Today the backhand down the line was not working, and I needed it (smiling).

Yeah, I mean, so many things. We didn't really talk about the match with the team. It was not the right moment. I was a little bit on edge obviously. I think we will talk about it tomorrow and see, debrief about all the three weeks and see what we can do.