ROLAND GARROS

May 26, 2025

Caroline Garcia

Press Conference

B. PERA/C. Garcia

6-4, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Caroline, how special was it for you to play with all that support of the crowd?

CAROLINE GARCIA: Yeah, I mean, obviously was very special for me, you know, like I had the chance to play many times in Roland Garros in front of the fans, but obviously today was very special moment for me, and I really enjoyed it the most as I could.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in French.

Q. Can you tell us when you really gave up? Because we were talking about two very difficult years in your career. Do you remember the time when you passed through, as it were, and decided to leave tennis?

CAROLINE GARCIA: I think that 2023 was a hard year for me. I can't remember. I don't know what you mean about passing on, but 2023 was very difficult for me to find the good balance with tennis and to have a healthy relationship.

Each time there was a lot of tension, frustration, and expectations, lots of black things cropping up at once that affected my life. Even everyday little things. So it was quite a hard moment, and I tried to find a solution to strike a better balance and to do things differently and to have different objectives and goals. But it took me some time.

Last year everything was too much and I had to stop. I wanted to stop at the beginning of the season, but then I just wanted to play the Olympic Games so I kept on until September. But I needed to get a breath of fresh air in order to realize certain things.

Q. We saw the pictures before the match where you were emotional. How did you try to control this emotion and to get into the match afterwards?

CAROLINE GARCIA: I don't know if I was trying to control myself or if I was letting myself go. I wasn't really expecting that to happen when I went into the corridor. I don't know if it was a good or a bad surprise. But I really wanted to live this moment intensely with all of the emotions I was going to have.

I didn't know how things were going to roll out, but it was emotional to getting ready to go onto the court, and knowing that it was maybe my last match in Roland Garros.

But in any case, I was happy that it was on that court, on Suzanne Lenglen, with a lot of public.

Q. Can you tell us a little about the day, about this match? We saw you just before you're going into the match. But can you tell us about the days preceding this match, as well?

CAROLINE GARCIA: Yes, there have been moments the last few days, this morning when I was warming up. Like I said, I wanted to live this moment intensely with all its associated emotions. And when I chose to make the announcement, for me, it was a moving time to share this moment with the outside world. My nearest and dearest knew this already, but to share it with the public.

Yesterday afternoon and this morning, when I said I was going to be playing singles in Roland Garros, you see all your career passing before you. For me to win Roland Garros was an obvious dream, which was never really going to happen in reality in singles, and you have to mourn it and get over it.

This is something I used to dream about when I was younger. You know, I wanted to be a tennis player. When I was at the top, I was in the top, I dreamed of winning a Grand Slam and Roland Garros. But there were always stronger players than I was at that time.

Q. What's the best memory of your career?

CAROLINE GARCIA: They asked me the question three days ago. There is not any one that pops to mind.

There are several. Winning the doubles here with Kristina, that was something that was fantastic for us, and it was unexpected to win a second time. And then in my singles career, Cincinnati was something that represented a lot to me. Afterwards, the Masters, in its own way, positively and negatively. This made me grow a lot as a tennis player and also as a person, even if I had to ask myself a lot of difficult questions.

Q. You talked to us about emotions before the match, but surely also during the match and afterwards when you were with the public and the court.

CAROLINE GARCIA: For me it wasn't easy, because afterwards, I had my expectations with respect to my level of game, my physical form. I was quite realistic about what I wanted to do, but then of course when you're on the court, you want to do better.

Sometimes I was frustrated with myself, because I was missing sort of timing or my game or my anticipation or my speed with my footwork, and I wanted to do more.

Sometimes it's a little frustrating to see what I did today, but I was clear about all of this before the beginning of the match, and I wasn't expecting miracles, even though you helped, because it was just too much for me physically.

Then when I was discussing with the public and having the support of the public during the match, it was wonderful, and it warmed my heart to have their love and support and respect for my career.

Q. What will you miss the most about Roland Garros? Is there something in particular? The locker room?

CAROLINE GARCIA: I can come back. I can ask to have access. What am I going to miss? The trophy (smiling). I'll always miss the trophy, but that's just the way it is. I haven't thought about it. If I'm depressed one day, I'll just come back and visit the locker room.

Q. You talked about your stress and that you wanted to do things good in Roland Garros. Was this match very different because you knew it was maybe the last one of your career, that you were completely free and stress-free?

CAROLINE GARCIA: I think, no, I was tense. Of course it's a very different stress than usual, because like I explained to you with respect to my expectations and my game level, et cetera, I couldn't dream of miracles, you know, when you look at my level of tennis over the last few months.

But every year when I came to Roland Garros, you know, I came and I know there's a lot of points, that it's a very important tournament, that you want to get to the end, you want to hold the trophy in your hands at the end, and, you know, there was a lot of things that were different, a lot of parameters that were different. But to be able to get on a court and to try to profit at every instance but not having stress, but it's not easy.

I would have liked to have won, would have liked to do more, but my game wasn't good maybe, and the time was just too short for me in the end. Yes, I enjoyed it.

Q. Can you just come back to this talking about mourning the victory in Grand Slam? You were saying you would have liked to have won a Grand Slam. Is it an enormous work to sort of like put a cross over it and put up something different?

CAROLINE GARCIA: I think this part is going to be from now on. Of course Serge has heard it a lot of times, and even within myself I had dreams, and there were real goals there at some time when I was at the top of my career, it was a real goal. This was the reason why I was preparing and getting on with the season.

So I was doing the maximum, and my results weren't always there. But I have got to be on the long list of people who never won it in singles. But I have had a good career, and this is what I will remain with.

Q. So this is your last Roland Garros, but it's not the end of your career. Are you going to stop after the US Open?

CAROLINE GARCIA: It's not as good as I thought. It's not going to be pain-free, but it was positive. But this is going to be my priority, to try to play doubles tomorrow with Diane and to try to recover things as well as possible and try to do the best for this tournament.

Afterwards, you know, I'm not as high in the rankings, either. So I'm not going to be able to get into all the tournaments I want to play necessarily, but I'll see if I'm going to keep playing on or not.