US OPEN

September 6, 2022

Caroline Garcia

Press Conference

C. GARCIA/C. Gauff

6-3, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Straight sets, hour and 37 minutes. Very efficient.

CAROLINE GARCIA: (Laughter).

THE MODERATOR: Give us an assessment of your performance.

CAROLINE GARCIA: Yeah, I'm super happy about the win, to be in the semifinal. It was a very intense match. Every point, every game was really tough. The atmosphere was really American with a lot of energy out there.

Yeah, I'm just very happy with the performance today, to manage the emotion in my game. I've been able to play my game, and that's very important for me.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Do you feel like you're in the zone or is this now normal for you?

CAROLINE GARCIA: Yeah, I'm just trying to focus on my game, on what I like to do, how is the best way for me to play tennis.

The path is very clear right now, which direction I have to go, under stress, under pressure. I'm just trying to follow this path. That's how we prepare with the team. We try to do the best we can in this direction.

Q. When Amelie Mauresmo won Wimbledon, she said she didn't want anybody to talk about her nerves any more.

CAROLINE GARCIA: What did she say?

Q. She didn't want anyone to talk about her nerves any more. On a stage like this, does that feel like that kind of moment for you, a breakthrough?

CAROLINE GARCIA: Yeah, I mean, to have nerve, it's normal. That's mean you care about it. It's a lot of passion to play a sport, to play tennis. I mean, you play tennis because of the passion, because of the emotions it brings you. So it also drives you to keep practicing, to go forward.

Obviously sometime it's a little bit worse, but it's also what brings you... I mean, that's what drives me and that's how I want to keep enjoying things.

Q. Back to what you were saying about the path, how it feels clear to you now. Have you ever felt that way before this clearly? If so, when?

CAROLINE GARCIA: It was not that clear in the past. It was not that clear. I mean, I always been very aggressive. I always try to put the pressure on the other one to be on the court.

But I was younger. Sometimes I will say that, yeah, I mean, I did not have stress as I have today in which direction I have to go, in which way my game is the best, and to accept that it's actually the only way for me. So if I want to do good, I have to go that way. Yeah, now it's way more clear.

Obviously with a lot of wins, yeah, I'm having fun playing. I can see so many things I can still improve. So it's a great challenge for our team.

Q. You and Ons go way back. What do you remember of your very early days in the juniors and what does it mean to you after all this time you get to play in a semifinal at a slam?

CAROLINE GARCIA: Yeah, we played semifinal I think in Roland Garros in junior. Other tournament as well in juniors.

I mean, she was always like playing, especially in junior, it was really rare to play someone doing so much dropshots, slicing in the backhand. She was really, like, changing a lot the balls. It was really rare in the juniors. She was very tricky already to play. Now she's even more. She's in the top five in the world, made the final in Wimbledon. She has improve a lot. It's a great challenge.

It's great to see players, we have been growing up together. With a bunch of other one as well. It's nice to see that, yeah, we made it to the top and we keep improving.

Q. How unusual do you perceive your game is on the tour right now, the strategy, approach and the strokes?

CAROLINE GARCIA: I don't know. It doesn't look that different to me (smiling). I'm trying to play tennis.

Maybe I'm a little bit more inside the court on the return, trying to play as early as I can. Yeah, that's maybe the biggest difference.

A lot of girls play hard, play strong, take the ball early. Just trying to do everything a little bit faster and everything a little bit earlier.

Q. How about where you stand to receive serve?

CAROLINE GARCIA: Yeah, we are working on the team. That's my best way to return. That's how I manage it the best way. It's a challenge obviously to try to always go more inside the court.

My coach is challenging me always to practice inside. Now I like it to do it more. It's more under control. But obviously at the beginning was a challenge. It was my best way for me to return.

Q. Because you had success when you were young, there were high expectations for you. Was it hard to live up to those? Did it make disappointments when you did lose feel that much worse?

CAROLINE GARCIA: Yeah, it was definitely a challenge. I don't know which part exactly you are talking about. When it was 2011 after the Sharapova match, it was a lot of pressure coming from actually nowhere. I was 150, 200 in the world, 17 years old. My game was not ready. I was not able to play that consistent, this kind of level. The weeks after I went back trying to play the same level, but it was not possible for me.

It was tough because people were expecting a lot. But the game, I was not ready for anything of that. It took me some time to come step by step to the top.

End of 2017, 2018 was great year, a lot of success. Yeah, I made some mistake. We made some mistake. I really hope and I think we learn from it.

Now, yeah, it's a new year, trying to learn from every challenge. I think I grow up a lot with all the challenges on and off court. Off court, it's very important to manage all of it.

Q. Back to the junior days with Ons, she kind of ended a bunch of your junior runs.

CAROLINE GARCIA: She did (smiling).

Q. Were you annoyed when you saw her in the draw?

CAROLINE GARCIA: Yeah, I mean, it was really a challenge for me to play her in junior. We played in senior I think two years ago also. It gave me the challenge.

She was a rare kind of style. Yeah, a few times she stopped me on my way to get a slams in juniors. It's fun to see two player again in semifinal in US Open. It's a great challenge for my game, for me. I'm really looking forward to it. Try to do the best I can.

Q. It was said that you went out to Arthur Ashe before the first quarterfinal to experience the atmosphere.

CAROLINE GARCIA: Yeah.

Q. What did you see? Did it help in any way?

CAROLINE GARCIA: Yeah, I mean, just I went there. They were warming up. I squeeze in to see a little bit of it, to see the atmosphere.

It's not a court I've been able to practice on. I did not see any match on it this year. I didn't really know what to expect.

On the first quarterfinal, was not an American, it was not really great atmosphere at the beginning of the warmup. People left a lot.

But it was just to see. It's very impressive with the roof. It's a huge court. So I was less surprised after when I got in.

I tried, yeah, a little bit to get the atmosphere, do a plus 10 for when I was walking on. But it was nice, yeah.