Caroline Garcia: 'Expectations from the outside world are still the same'
France’s Caroline Garcia opened her run in her home Grand Slam by getting past German Mona Barthel in straight sets. Coming straight from the final in Strasbourg, where she fought a long 4-6 7-5 6(3)-7 against Dayana Yastremska, the World No. 22 was asked if there was a relationship between this evolution and her tension at the end of Tuesday’s match.
“It had nothing to do with Strasbourg," explained Garcia. “Obviously I had to adapt very quickly. Only two days between the two tournaments, but, well, you're travelling and recovering. You're right into it.
Sometimes it's not a bad thing not to have too much of a break, but obviously, you always have some tension, you're playing in Roland Garros, starting a Grand Slam tournament.
I hadn't played on Suzanne Lenglen before today, so I just warmed up. My shots were a bit too short, not as long as I wanted. But in my mind, things were okay. I knew what I wanted to do. Then the implementation was not necessarily perfect, but it was the first round. Important thing is to get through.”
“I believe that the expectations from the outside world are still the same,” the best WTA-ranked French player said, regarding eventual pressure for this event. “Even though I'm a bit down in the ranking [she was World No. 7 previous to Roland Garros 2018], it's still the same.
I see the report I get and I try to make the most of it. Now I also try to learn from the management mistakes I made last year.
But it's not always easy sometimes to manage everything. You don't necessarily know how you're going to react. When you make mistakes you try to draw the lessons from them. This is what we have been trying to do since the beginning of the year. Things are improving.”
Coming back to her positively extended streak of victories in Strasbourg, the French confessed, “Strasbourg was very positive. I missed the title by very little, but it was very positive. The beginning of the tournament was rather complex. The first day I finished a match and I played another one right away. I was down one set, then I managed to get back into it. So there was a lot of positive points both in terms of management of the week and what I was able to play, one match after the other. But physically I held up.
So obviously when I had the two matches, the next day I was tired. But my training was good.”
Garcia will face qualifier Anna Blinkova to keep on the race toward the French crown. She is the only French left in the women's draw after Kristina Mladenovi and Diane Parry's departure in the second round.
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2W2wr1U
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