By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Tuesday, November 8, 2022
For a few years on tour, Caroline Garcia was a shell of herself. A talented former World No.4 in 2018, the Frenchwoman had gone relatively stagnant, hampered by nagging injuries that didn’t allow her to play her favored formidable brand of tennis.
Then the confidence suffered – and the clarity. But in 2022, a season that started with Garcia ranked at No.74, everything changed.
Garcia got healthy, hiring physiotherapist Laura Legoupil and coach Bertrand Perret (the pair recently parted but his contributions are undeniable) and rediscovered what made her happy – and effective – as a tennis player.
It took time, to be sure, but by summer the rise of Caro took hold and the tried-and-true #FlyWithCaro became a trending hashtag on Twitter pretty much every week.
Garcia soared through the second half of the season, winning more matches (36) than any other player, and racked up titles in Bad Homburg, Warsaw, Cincinnati and – her coup de grâce – the WTA Finals.
The victory in Fort Worth sets Garcia at No.4 in the year-end rankings, back to where she once climbed in 2018.
She talked about her journey during the week at the WTA Finals, where she showed off her streamlined game and mental toughness as well. Garcia, who was two points from missing out on the semis during her winner-take-all round robin match with Daria Kasatkina, has made strides mentally as well as tactically.
A lot of her success seems to come from the fact that she is enjoying the sport once again.
“I was starting to feel very old and I was not able to train and enjoy tennis anymore, which was very frustrating,” she said this week in Fort Worth. “And we did a very good job, like every day, little by little, trying to improve and when it was tough.”
CHAMPIONNNNNN 🤩🙌🏻🦁🐝🏆🎾
@WTAFinals pic.twitter.com/gcchYYadF6
— Caroline Garcia (@CaroGarcia) November 8, 2022
In March, when Garcia had to retire in Miami, suffering a foot issue that had been plaguing her, she says she felt ready to give up. She says her physiotherapist Legoupil made all the difference at that point.
“When we had to stop after Miami – I was a bit negative,” she said. “I was like ‘I’m never again going to get out of that.’ She and all the team were very positive with me, thinking one day at a time, [showing] me that every little improvement was good and we were going in the good direction. So I think that was the most…
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