When Madison Keys lifted the Australian Open trophy in January, securing a maiden Grand Slam title just a few weeks shy of her 30th birthday, her words describing the mindset that allowed her to achieve that feat resonated with many of her peers.
Keys said that once she accepted she may never win a major, and that she already has plenty to be proud of when it comes to her tennis career, she felt unburdened by the pressure of chasing that elusive slam and somehow ended up capturing one.
Those words struck a chord with Caroline Garcia, who at 31, is grappling with her own tennis journey, and is slowly starting to realise she too has plenty to be proud of.
The talented Frenchwoman is a former world No 4, a Grand Slam singles semi-finalist, a two-time Grand Slam doubles champion, and an owner of 11 titles – including the prestigious WTA Finals and three WTA 1000s.
Last year, Garcia played just 34 matches, winning only half of them. By the end of September, she decided to pull the plug early on her season for a much-needed break.
She said she needed to give her shoulder time to fully heal, but more importantly, needed to reset mentally and step away from the “constant grind of tennis”.
Garcia had been struggling all year but kept powering through so she could be mentally prepared to play her home Olympics in Paris. She contested singles, doubles and mixed doubles at the Games but walked away empty-handed, and after a first-round exit at the US Open and a semi-final showing in Guadalajara, she knew she had to stop her campaign and take a breather.
“You don't really know when you take a break what it's going to bring you, but it was good for me to take time to really think it through and ask myself good questions and understand where I was in my career and why I wanted to keep doing it – or not,” Garcia told The National.
“It felt good; we had time to plan our wedding, to go around, to just relax. For me also to keep working with my psychologist was very important because I was in a more relaxed state. It felt good, it went very quickly actually.”
Garcia finished 2022 on a high, coming off a maiden Grand Slam semi-final appearance at the US Open and impressive title runs in Cincinnati and the WTA Finals in Fort Worth. She ended the year ranked No 4 in the world and playing some devastating tennis.
The two seasons that followed did not go according to plan and her results did not match the expectations she had placed on herself. She finished 2024 ranked 41 in the world.
“The last two years the relation with tennis was very toxic and very negative and I didn't really want to go practice or compete,” said Garcia. “And now I'm happy to go practice. I understand that there are good days and bad days and when tennis practice of the day is over, even if it was bad I can move on to my day and have a great day and this is the most important thing.
“I really want to go out there and have a good time, try my best every single day. It doesn't matter how top level it is, but I will try my best.”
Garcia has a 2-5 win-loss record this season, but she is adopting a more relaxed approach to her tennis and is cutting herself some slack.
In a message she posted online after Guadalajara last season, she said she was “exhausted from the anxiety, the panic attacks, the tears before matches. Tired of missing out on family moments and never having a place to truly call home. I’m tired of living in a world where my worth is measured by last week’s results, my ranking, or my unforced errors.”
So does she feel differently after taking that short break from tennis?
“I think I'm doing way better in balancing tennis life with enjoying doing other things,” she explains.
“Sometimes you have been doing it for so many years that I got lost a bit of why I wanted to do it and forgot also what I already achieved in my career.
“Sometimes you just want to run for the title and for the big title, but maybe not everyone will win one, obviously. It's hard, it's a hard journey and I had to work little by little to be already proud of the career that I have.
“It's a work in progress but it's much better and if tomorrow I stop, I will be proud of my career.”
It’s the same realisation Keys came to before she won the Australian Open and Garcia insists it is an important lesson to learn.
“I was super happy for her,” said Garcia of Keys. “I read and heard a lot what she said about how she believes she won it because she finally became proud of her career and it was just an extra thing. And this is something I think all the kids, everyone who starts to learn to play tennis and all those who want to be a pro should hear.
“And I think it's great that she shared her journey and how she believes she finally won a slam. Like everyone should write it down on their tennis bag.”
Listening to the journeys of her fellow tennis peers has become Garcia’s favourite pastime. She actually turned it into a podcast.
A year ago, Garcia and her fiance Borja Duran launched the Tennis Insider Club podcast, which features in-depth conversations with tennis players and coaches.
Together, the couple have hosted the likes of Iga Swiatek, Naomi Osaka, Nick Kyrgios, Ons Jabeur, and many more, allowing the players to share their stories and shed some light on some of their deepest struggles.
The podcast is an operation of two, with Garcia and Duran responsible for everything from prepping, to recording and editing, and it has given Garcia a purpose away from the tennis court.
But beyond having something to look forward to after practice or a tennis match, Garcia says the entire process has been eye-opening for her.
“There are so many learnings, already me getting outside of my comfort zone and trying to do something else because I used to think I can only play tennis and I'm not good at other stuff, so it was already a big discovery,” she said.
“We are doing it as a team with my partner, so for us it's good memories and we are learning together because as a media we are beginners, both of us.”
Garcia also feels her peers’ reflections have helped her see the professional tennis landscape in a different light.
“I had my thinking of how you can be a great tennis player and sometimes you believe that's the only way and I understood and I heard that there are many ways,” she added.
“Between players, obviously it was a big question mark at the beginning if they opened up and would they tell us the struggles they have? And they definitely do, so it's super interesting to have that trust of players and of their team around.
“And I understood that the players who are a bit older, at the end of their careers, they all kind of wish they would have enjoyed it more, have more fun, balance more, do more stuff around tennis.
“And that's obviously the journey I am on now, so it was a big learning on that side. But I think we can relate most of the time between each other to what struggle we can have. And we really try to provide a safe platform, so there is no judgment, and sometimes we kind of laugh at each other’s thinking or mindset. It's a good time for sure.”
One of the stories that resonated the most with Garcia was Stefanos Tsitsipas’. In his episode, the Greek spoke about how tough it was to make decision to stop working with his father as his coach.
Garcia herself has had to make that tough call. After having her father Louis Paul by her side throughout her entire career as coach, Garcia cut professional ties with him mid-2021 in order to preserve their relationship as father and daughter.
In the episode, Garcia and Tsitsipas spoke about how lines often get blurred when a parent doubles as a player’s coach.
“It’s true that when you spend so much time together, on court, outside the court, in tournaments and everything, it tends to go more towards the business relation and you miss sometimes the emotional part of this connection. You just need someone to tell you it’s OK,” said Garcia, and Tsitsipas nodded along.
“It takes time [to cut the professional ties] because it’s what you’ve known since many, many years, so you build your identity around it. And, in a way, they help you to go in the direction, they kind of protect you, in a way they believe they will protect you.
“And then you have to go away from something you feel comfortable, even if you’re uncomfortable in it sometimes, but it’s what you know. And maybe you have made it to the top with that team around you and sometimes you can be tricked by the fact that, OK, but it worked with that team, why isn’t it working anymore? Why do I feel like I need something else?
“But you feel like deep inside, and sometimes it got built in years, that I need to change, for my own good and for my personal life, I need to go somewhere. I don’t know where I’m going but I need to go there.”
Elaborating on her decision, Garcia tells The National: “Now, professionally we parted ways. It's not an easy journey for sure. Like the one of Stefanos is not easy, mine is not easy either.
“And you have to understand, why you want to do it, which relation you want to have with your parents and who is supposed to be the main actor of that journey at the end, the goal of being a tennis player and how you want to be supported.”
Looking ahead, Garcia still has the drive to step on a tennis court and compete, but she wants this upcoming chapter of her career to be less obsessive.
“I think I used to sometimes be goal-oriented or obsessed with titles or rankings or things like that. Which is good, it makes you also, when it's a tough day, to go practice and do a bit more effort or whatever,” she said.
“But also sometimes you have to understand you have to also listen to your body or to your mind. And sometimes too much is not always the answer and you have to see outside of the box and also take time for yourself, find balance.
“And now it's where I am, it's like, OK, I tried the harder way for tennis for 10, 15 years. It brought me great stuff, but at one point it was not working anymore and it was making me unhappy and depressed and all this stuff. So, I have to find my own way and I think that I'm on a good path.”
