ROLAND GARROS

May 31, 2023

Caroline Garcia

Press Conference

A. BLINKOVA/C. Garcia

4-6, 6-3, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: Caroline, can we have thoughts about your match. Bad luck today, but can you share your feelings right now.

CAROLINE GARCIA: Yeah, obviously I'm disappointed about the result, and I think I could have played better tennis, but she played very good. She managed the crowd very well and kept very calm after having so many match points.

Obviously very disappointing with the result and to be out of the tournament in the second round and I wanted to do more, but it's tennis.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in French.

Q. How did you feel after the second set when you were one set, one break up, and then it was as if it were another match from that point onwards?

CAROLINE GARCIA: From that point on, I felt much more tense, and after the first set, I was actually very good on my game choices. My ball would go faster. I would hit harder.

Then I was passive. I let her take the upper hand. I had a wait-and-see approach. I couldn't read the court anymore, I couldn't walk around in the court anymore, and I couldn't get out of this bad momentum.

I didn't manage to have the upper hand through and through.

Q. How can you explain this U-turn in the match? Is that tension? Is it because the opponent plays better? How can you explain this?

CAROLINE GARCIA: I can't explain it right now, as I couldn't explain it live on court. These things have happened in the past already.

I know what I have to do on court, but then I get afraid that I will not make it, that I will fail in unrolling my game plan.

I start to make mistakes. Then my balls are too short on my opponent. It's tough to lose after playing like this.

Q. With some hindsight, could you say that that's the Roland Garros effect? You can't get away from the pressure when you're French, as must be the case for you as a French tennis player.

CAROLINE GARCIA: It didn't happen only in Roland Garros. Of course that tournament is dear to my heart. I want to do well.

Did I play loose? No. I thought I had solutions to outplay her and to play as well as possible.

I was playing good on and off, basically. There were so many different parameters. I couldn't say what really is the real reason for it all.

Q. Are you happy with the way you fought at the end? You actually managed to have some breakpoints. You didn't give up.

CAROLINE GARCIA: That's actually the fundamentals of sport. If you don't have a never-die spirit, you never win. It's with this mindset that I will manage to get back on my feet, that I will go back to training, that I will hit balls again.

This is what failed me at the beginning of the week, because I felt frustrated very early on.

Q. You have talked about this game identity that works so well when everything is on track. However, whilst listening to you, it feels that sometimes you have doubts about your own game play DNA. Can you explain this?

CAROLINE GARCIA: Yes and no, really. It's a dilemma that I shouldn't even have. Had I needed more evidence after last year's season, I shouldn't need anymore. What I mean is that I could have winners, and on the flip side I can also make unforced errors.

Sometimes when I'm on the court, I don't dare go to the net. I don't dare pummel through my balls. And the greatest regrets I have is that I don't up my game when I should.

When I won in the past, then I would actually go to the net, I would actually take the balls even when they are short. That means that I actually seized all the opportunities when they were there.

But this is not the case here. My backhand is bad. Everything is bad. And this is what is tough to digest right now.

Q. Could the grass season swing help after your clay court season?

CAROLINE GARCIA: Yes. When you change the surface, you turn the page, in a way. You go back from scratch. At first everyone is at a loss somehow. We need all to find our groove, to find our feet.

We don't ask ourselves any questions, because we have no time to do so, anyway. So that could help. Often you need some time. Especially after a Grand Slam, you need to turn the page once and for all.

But changing surface helps, definitely.

Q. You could play twice on the central court. What did you feel about the atmosphere? Did it help you to actually save all these match points?

CAROLINE GARCIA: At the end of the match, the atmosphere was wonderful. The public was great, was supporting me. At the end there was actually a lot of fans that were there to cheer for me.

So I would have liked to earn some further points and maybe go through a third round in the match to overturn the match. I would have liked to live these moments again.

Q. You say that often the atmosphere is different in smaller courts. Would you like rather to play in smaller courts rather than the big courts? Because with your ranking, you obviously are playing central courts.

CAROLINE GARCIA: In Grand Slams, you don't have a lot of people in central courts apart from Wimbledon, if I'm not mistaken. It's true that you have actually a greater atmosphere in smaller ancillary courts rather than on central.

I'm not saying that the atmosphere was no good, because that's not the case. I don't know. Maybe we'll ask something else next time (smiling).