France’s Caroline Garcia doesn’t like to dwell on the past, which is why she didn’t go into the circumstances surrounding her partnership with coach Bertrand Perret.
Perret, who has also previously worked with the likes of Ons Jabeur and Peng Shuai, has been instrumental in the revival of the world No.5 in recent months. Under his guidance, Garcia started 2022 ranked 74th in the world but shot up the rankings following a trio of titles she won in Bad Homburg, Warsaw and Cincinnati. Then at the US Open, she reached the semi-finals in what was her best-ever performance at a Grand Slam event before winning the biggest title of her career at the WTA Finals.
It was shortly before the start of last year’s WTA Finals when Garcia confirmed that she is no longer working with Perret who told L’Equipe that he stopped working with the tennis star due to ‘problems’ that had ‘ended ruining the atmosphere.’ However, five months after those comments the two reunited once again on the Tour. Raising the question of what went wrong in the first place.
“Why we split up, why we come back (together), it’s part of the past,” Garcia said following her second round win in Stuttgart on Thursday.
“It’s a good chemistry between the two of us and he understands very well my aggressive game style. He’s open-minded to make me train inside the court or to make me return in that position.’
“It’s paying off. Now we are just focused on the present and what can we do and what can we improve for the future.”
Garcia is yet to win a title this year after settling for runner-up to Alycia Parks in Lyon and Donna Vekic in Monterrey. Overall, she has won 18 out of 26 matches played so far this season but is yet to defeat a player ranked in the top 30.
As for her next steps, the 29-year-old admits that she needs to work more on her confidence which she believes has affected her shot-making during matches.
“First is to get that confidence, that rhythm again. Since the beginning of the year, I’m not as confident in my game style. I’m not going 100% in my shots. I think it made me sometimes less powerful on the court,” she said.
“I think I can still return better and can defend a little bit better sometimes.”
Garcia will play Anastasia Potapova in the quarter-finals of Stuttgart.
