Four months after her last official match, Caroline Garcia is preparing to return to the courts in Australia. “I want to take it as a first step“, explained the 58th player in the world during a press conference.
“It’s been September since I played an official tournament, so it’s not after this tournament that I’m going to make an important decision or that I’m going to change everything“, warned the 31-year-old player, who ended her 2024 season in September, injured in the shoulder and mentally exhausted.
Of course, I’m a little stressed
“I don’t want to project myself on my results“, assured Garcia, who will face for the second year in a row in Melbourne the Japanese Naomi Osaka, winner of the tournament in 2019 and 2021. “I’m super happy to come back to competition“, even if “sometimes I’m a little apprehensive about knowing how it’s going to go“, explained the Frenchwoman, winner of eleven singles titles including the prestigious WTA Finals in 2022.
“The French can really make an impression at the Australian Open”
Video credit: Eurosport
“Obviously, I’m a little stressed, but anyway, even if I play every week, I still arrive stressed so it doesn’t change much“, she had fun. Asked about the benefits she gets from her long break, Caroline Garcia highlighted the possibility of “refresh your ideas, think about things more deeply, do more important work and come back with energy, desire, motivation, have (clear) objectives“.
“It allowed me to continue to work on my identity apart from just being a tennis player, to do other things, to continue to discover and that, for me, is also (…) important“, concluded the Frenchwoman.
