It's a return to the unknown. In her late thirties, Caroline Garcia approaches the final straight of her Tennis journey on Monday against Naomi Osaka in the first round in Melbourne with one priority: to rediscover the simple pleasure of playing. Don't talk to her about results, because it is precisely this obsession that has consumed her slowly over the last two seasons on the circuit. After an impressive comeback in 2022, she dragged away her spleen and her frustrations, gradually disconnecting from her passion.
By prematurely ending his 2024 season in September, Garcia made a strong choice, confirming that he was fed up. Despite the experience of the circuit, the Lyonnaise has never really managed to find stability in the control of her emotions, very sensitive in particular to the views and expectations of others. His powerful messages on harassment on social networks have, among other things, illustrated this in recent months. But have these four months of break from competition allowed him to regain mental freshness? This is the major challenge of this new start in 2025.
The quest for a healthy distance from the gaze of others
“It's very hard to step back, especially in our profession with the media and with so many people who come to watch us play and ultimately judge our way of playing.explains Justine Henin, consultant for Eurosport. Personally, it took me a long time to really build my bubble and understand what really helped me. Even though I heard positive things, I asked myself: 'Is this really helping me move forward?' So I preferred to take a lot of distance to the point of suggesting that I was perhaps cold. I preferred it to protect myself from all these expectations, because I couldn't make everyone happy. You can see that she goes through a lot of ups and downs emotionally. It's never too late to learn and find a path.”
Alone to hold French women's tennis at arm's length in recent years, the weight of expectations (her own as well as those of the public) and pressure ended up being undoubtedly too heavy to bear. And when the stress linked to results inhibited her again – as was the case after her first accession to the Top 5 in the world in 2018 – Garcia therefore looked for solutions to find a healthy distance from her sport the year last.
Osaka, the example to follow?
This materialized through the launch of a podcast with her fiancé Borja Duran, the “Tennis Insider Club”, the aim of which is to give tennis players a voice on their careers, their lives and the obstacles they face. had to overcome. Naomi Osaka was also the guest of an episode a few months ago, the Japanese openly addressing her mental health problems and her fight to define herself outside of tennis. Obviously, the theme resonated with what Caroline Garcia herself is going through.
And the fact of challenging the four-time Grand Slam champion, a year after beating her at the same stage for her post-maternity comeback, has a special flavor. “Even when we weren't playing each other last year, we crossed paths something like 20 times a day on the circuit. She is a great champion, a great person who has been through ups and downs. It's good to see her come back for herself, but also for tennis. The podcast experience, the fact that she was vulnerable and opened up about hard times, it was nice. She trusted us by coming, so it was a good time“, confided the Frenchwoman at a pre-tournament press conference.
A break to explore post-tennis and… reconnect with your sport
So can Garcia rely on the trajectory and example of the Japanese – performing again at the start of 2025 with a final lost only by abandonment in Auckland – to get back on track? “For Caroline, it's a little difficult to find the right distance to think about herself, about what she wants to do, about how she wants to play and not do it for others. And I know how hard it is to find that freedom to finally do it for yourself. Motivation is the key. When you don't have it and you continue to do something so hard, there's a big conflict. I hope she finds joy again. We can only be successful if we enjoy doing what we do. There is no secret: protecting yourself from what people think and say, learning to say no, it's important“, observes Justine Henin again.
In this quest for balance and meaning, Garcia seized an opportunity offered by the WTA to follow a business program at Harvard Business School, especially after finishing her season. By diversifying her interests and activities, she is of course preparing for after tennis, but she could also finally find this healthy distance from her sport. The passion, the pleasure and perhaps even finally the results – she has not been in the second week of a Major for two years – will follow.
