“I struggled to accept not winning a Grand Slam”: Caroline Garcia details why Roland-Garros felt like ‘life or death’

Caroline Garcia has completed nine months since her retirement following the US Open 2025 and has given a recent interview about her major ambitions in her career, and the moment when she accepted that she would not end her career having won a Grand Slam. The former world No. 4 established herself among the best in the world, but she never fully managed to reflect that in the major tournaments.

In an interview with 20 Minutes, published on the occasion of the broadcast of the series Entre les lignes on France 2, Garcia revisited key moments of her career. One episode of the series focuses specifically on her final appearance at Roland-Garros, a tournament that carried particular emotional weight for her.

The French player addressed her complicated relationship with Roland-Garros, where she reached the quarterfinals in 2017 but never fully established consistent success, despite being one of the main names in French women’s tennis over the last decade.

Garcia spent years orbiting the top positions of the ranking, reaching the top 10 for the first time in 2017, and again in 2022, when she finished the season as world No. 4 after winning the WTA Finals title. The Frenchwoman never fully consolidated herself in Grand Slams and only twice managed to go beyond the Round of 16 in a major: French Open 2017 (quarterfinals) and US Open 2022 (semifinals).

Garcia described Roland-Garros as a tournament where expectations significantly shaped her performances, both from external sources and internal ambition. She acknowledged that the clay surface was never naturally suited to her game, but the psychological weight extended beyond technical considerations.

“Of course, it wasn't my favorite surface. Naturally, it didn't make my style of play easier," she said in an interview with 20 Minutes France. "And then I put a lot of pressure on myself because it was Roland-Garros, a tournament I dreamed of winning as a child, where I wanted to go deep. I played with that weight on my shoulders.”

The combination of media attention and personal expectation created what she described as a sustained mental load during competition. “Fans and the media talk about this tournament as if it's the only tournament you have in your year when you still have 25 others, like a matter of life or death.”

Garcia added that external reminders constantly reinforced that pressure loop, making it difficult to treat the tournament as “normal,” despite attempts to approach it with a calmer mindset. “When you try to approach the tournament more lightly and tell yourself it's a normal tournament, every five minutes someone from the outside makes you understand that it's not a normal tournament.”

Beyond Roland-Garros, Garcia reflected on the broader interpretation of her career, particularly the absence of a Grand Slam title. She explained that for a long period, the lack of a major title influenced her perception of success, creating a more negative internal assessment of her career despite other accomplishments on tour.

“There was really a journey to make regarding the view I had of my career, the titles I won, the titles I didn't win,” Garcia explained. “For a long time, I struggled to accept not having won a Grand Slam because it was my dream.”

She added that this perspective affected how she contextualised her results overall, even when performances and titles at other levels were significant. The emotional weight of that absence persisted throughout much of her career.

“The mere fact of not having won that title gave me a rather negative view of my career. Being able to play this last year on tour while changing my mindset a little did me good. I am much more positive about my career.”

The Frenchwoman ended her career with a total of 11 titles – three of them at WTA 1000 level, as well as her WTA Finals trophy in 2022, the final title of her career, where she defeated Aryna Sabalenka in the final. She also had a notable doubles career, winning Roland-Garros twice (2016, 2022), both times alongside her regular partner Kristina Mladenovic.