"I couldn't even breathe": Caroline Garcia left in tears discussing mental health battle and range of emotions during Australian Open defeat

World No. 17 Caroline Garcia suffered a painful defeat in the second round against world No. 69 Magdalena Frech, losing 4-6, 6-7, just two days after overcoming 2-times Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka in the first round. The French player spoke about her mental health upon leaving Melbourne, revealing that she "couldn't breathe" while playing against Frech.

The 30-year-old athlete publicly addressed issues of anxiety, stress, and bulimia in a recent interview. Through tears, Garcia spoke to French media, explaining that she has been grappling with anxiety for a significant period:

“In this match, I couldn’t even breathe,” Garcia said while in tears to French media. “How can I find the solution on my serve if I can’t even breathe — the simplest thing in the world? It’s only the second round of the Australian Open. Why am I in such a state? I do not know.

“But for a certain period of time, it’s been like this and I can’t get over it. And in fact, it eats me up. Sometimes I say to myself, ‘but why am I doing this?' If we could understand and manage emotions overnight, there would be no stressed person left on earth.

Prior to the match against Osaka, Garcia shared a message on social media, saying, "Sometimes there is a lot going on. Sometimes I'm really struggling with my emotions. On court, I'm not always having a great time lately."

“We are trying to, yeah, work on it. Sometimes it's overwhelming. Definitely to be playing first round Naomi, coming back, great, great player, playing very late match, I was overwhelmed and I was scared to step out there. Sometimes it is good to let emotion out, yeah, embrace it. Then you try the best you can,” she concluded.