Caroline Garcia farewell to tennis after her defeat at the US Open

She will not have given right to the former player Andy Murray who saw in her, in 2011, a future world number one, while she was manhandling Maria Sharapova in Roland-Garros. But Caroline Garcia will not have to be ashamed of her career on which the curtain fell on Monday, August 25, in the first round of the US Open of tennis, in New York.

At 31 years old, the Frenchwoman, eliminated in three sets (4-6, 6-4, 3-6) by the Russian Kamilla Rakhimova, leaves-as she had announced-the circuit with eleven single titles, two double coronations in Roland-Garros (in 2016 and 2022 with Kristina Mladenovic) and a victory in Fed Cup with France, in 2019.

For her latest lap, the Lyonnaise offered a great fight to New York spectators in the short number 6. She hung on and almost rolled up a delay in the decisive set. But she ended up giving in to the 65^e world player. It was the same Rakhimova that Garcia had dominated in the first round of her epic to the semi-finals of the US Open in 2022, his best high school result.

“I am very at peace with my decision”

The lost match ball, the Frenchwoman went to sit on her bench, her eyes fogged with tears, before walking up with a smile towards the tense microphone, once is not customary, the loser of the match for a brief farewell ceremony. “Tennis brought me so much”said Caroline Garcia under the benevolent gaze of her coach, Bertrand Perret, of the president of the French Tennis Federation (FFT), Gilles Moretton, and her husband Borja Duran, whom she married in July. “I am very peaceful with my decision. Suffer like that on the court, I am no longer capable of it ”concluded the now ex-player.

After receiving organizers from the US Open a bouquet of white flowers and a frame with her effigy, Caroline Garcia crossed the short out of the front, her personal celebration called “Fly with Caro”. She finished her race in the arms of her clan before leaving the court to close a chapter of her life. After Richard Gasquet, retired in May in Roland-Garros, French tennis loses a second striking figure in a few months.

After a first break far from the circuit, at the end of 2024, to recharge your batteries mentally, Caroline Garcia returned to the circuit at the start of the year.

The Frenchwoman, who has already expressed her desire to start a family, cultivated an ambivalent relationship with professional tennis. “Since I started, tennis has always represented much more than victories or defeats”she pointed out, on May 23, when she chose to announce that she was living her “Last weeks” On the WTA circuit, two days before the kick-off of its ultimate Roland-Garros. “It was love or hatred. Joy or frustration “continued the one who, very young, tried himself with dance and basketball before cracking for the little yellow ball.

Aggressive game

“There are still many French women who would dream of having this career”it was fulfilled, in addition, his compatriot Leolia Jeanjean, “Very girlfriend” With the Lyonnaise of the time they played double among the juniors. “It’s a huge champion with an incredible careerapplauded Chloé Paquet, another contemporary. She was an example for me. »»

“Last year, I stopped thinking that I hated tennis and that it only brought me negative things”entrusted Caroline Garcia, Friday, to the France-Presse agency. “That’s why I wanted to come back to do an extra year. I would have liked to play more, but the body did not agree ”she added.

Without ever reaching them, the Frenchwoman, with her aggressive and risky game, will nevertheless have tuned the summits by occupying fourth place in 2018 then in 2022 after her victory at the prestigious Masters WTA, on American soil, in Texas.

“I always tried to do the best I could with what I had”recognized Caroline Garcia, at a press conference after her last match on Monday. “” It was a beautiful and long career ”admitted the French who wants the public to retain that she has ” always played with passion, with all [s]Emotions, whether they were good or bad. »»