Carolina Garcia, formerly ranked number four in the world, is ending her season prematurely, partly for psychological reasons. In remarkably open words, she describes how the pressure affects her.
It is common knowledge that the professional tennis tour often pushes players to their physical and mental limits. Time and again, stars like Alexander Zverev have called for a reform of the tournament calendar to allow them to recover during the year.
Now the next player has capitulated to the excessive strain. Former world number four Caroline Garcia has declared her tennis season over – and explained this step with remarkably frank words.
“Even victories didn’t feel fulfilling”
Garcia wrote in a social media statement that she needed a longer break for physical and mental reasons: “My mindset this year was toxic. I lost the joy of being a tennis player and became obsessed with victories and rankings. I am exhausted by the anxiety attacks, the panic attacks, the tears before the games. Exhausted from missing time with my family and from not having a place I can call home.”
She is ‘tired of living in a world where my worth is measured by last week’s results, my ranking or my unforced errors.’ The pressure to perform had overwhelmed her: ”Even victories no longer felt fulfilling, only relief that it was over.”
She now needs a mental “reset,” the 30-year-old wrote.
Guadalajara marked the end of my 2024 season. It wasn’t an easy decision, because in tennis, every week off feels like falling behind—losing ranking points and “missing” opportunities. But I know this is the right call to come back stronger in 2025 and fight for those big moments… pic.twitter.com/UISnUQnuWf
— Caroline Garcia (@CaroGarcia) September 27, 2024
Garcia 2022 number four in the world
In 2022, the Frenchwoman was still one of the best tennis players in the world. At the time, she was ranked fourth in the world. She celebrated victory at the WTA Finals and stormed to the semi-finals at the US Open. But two years later, not much is going well for Garcia on the court. She has not made it past the second round at the Grand Slam tournaments. She now wants to get mentally and physically ready for 2025, the 30-year-old explained further.
Garcia was crushed by her own expectations and focused on everything she hadn’t achieved. “I never made it to number one, never won a Slam, never made it to the Olympics podium. I was inconsistent and couldn’t manage to stay in the top 10 for a full year,” said the Frenchwoman. Garcia is currently ranked 36th in the world.
In 2021, Japanese Naomi Osaka had already made her depression public. The then 23-year-old had announced her withdrawal during the French Open and took an extended break. By then, she had already won four Grand Slam titles and became the first Asian to top the world rankings in January 2019. Now, the 26-year-old is ranked 73rd in the world and only parted ways with her coach Wim Fissette in September.