A former top-five-ranked tennis star contesting her final grand slam tournament has laid bare the pain she endured – and lengths she went to – to remain at the top of the sport.
France’s Caroline Garcia, who made the 2022 US Open semi-finals and 2017 Roland-Garros quarter-finals, almost called time on her career last year after a shoulder injury ended her season, on top of her mindset becoming “toxic” while obsessing over rankings and not meeting expectations.
Caroline Garcia will bow out at Roland-Garros.Credit: Eddie Jim
“I’m exhausted from the anxiety, the panic attacks, the tears before matches,” Garcia said at the time.
“[I am] tired of missing out on family moments and never having a place to truly call home. I’m tired of living in a world where my worth is measured by last week’s results, my ranking, or my unforced errors. For too long, I’ve let tennis consume me, ride the emotional highs and lows of every result. But I’m more than that.”
Garcia offered even more insight into her tour existence ahead of her Roland-Garros farewell, including how her love for tennis convinced her to play this year, only for her ongoing physical woes to force her hand.
She relied on anti-inflammatory drugs, corticosteroid injections and plasma treatments to get on court this year, which she was no longer able to tolerate.
Garcia’s story is both personal but familiar on the demanding tennis circuit.
Another top-10 WTA player, Spain’s Paula Badosa, believes a back injury will one day force her into early retirement, while American world No.4 Taylor Fritz conceded at the weekend that he should have skipped two events in February while dealing with a persistent abdominal problem.
“I definitely never feel like I don’t [want to go] out there,” Fritz said. “I always want to go out and play. But that is something I have struggled with a lot this year. I have just been playing when I probably should not be playing.”
There was also last week’s case of Germany’s Alex Zverev, who revealed after his loss to Alexandre Muller in Hamburg that he had vomited 37 times the night before while dealing with an extreme fever.
“If it had been another tournament, in a city in another country [other than my own], then I certainly wouldn’t have played,” Zverev said.
“I think there are two players in the whole world who would have taken to the court today. I’m one of them – and I’m really proud of that. I was two points away from winning the match. There’s a lot to be said in my favour.”
It is that type of thinking that bothers Garcia, or at least the narrative that comes with it.
“If you really wanted to do it, you would play through the pain. Someone said this to me a few weeks ago after I explained that I wasn’t ready to play,” she wrote on X this month.
Germany’s Alexander Zverev playing at home in Hamburg last week.Credit: AP
“It’s not an attack on that person, but rather a reflection on a mindset you’re conditioned to early on as an athlete: as if playing injured is a badge of honour or a necessity. Make no mistake – greatness requires sacrifice.
“Pain, discomfort and struggle are all part of the journey to excellence, but there is a limit we must learn to recognise and respect.”
That expectation was apparent in one scene of four-time major champion Carlos Alcaraz’s Netflix documentary My Way, where his coach, former world No.1 Juan Carlos Ferrero, questioned his fellow Spaniard’s ability to battle through adversity.
“It’s always been a bit difficult for him to deal with physical problems,” Ferrero said in the documentary. “I remember when he first started getting cramps. He was like, ‘No, I can’t play. Impossible’.”
Juan Carlos Ferrero coaches Carlos Alcaraz at the Australian Open in January.Credit: Getty Images
Ex-AFL footballer Tom Couch was the high-performance manager for Australia’s Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup teams, and said players and coaches were generally getting “smarter” about pushing the limits.
However, that came with a caveat.
Couch, who runs Grand Slam Performance and is Melbourne’s VFL high-performance manager, has worked with top-liners from Australia’s Alex de Minaur and Daria Saville to Danielle Collins and Alexander Bublik, so he knows how elite athletes think.
“It’s important to recognise the part of the season the tour is in right now. No player wants to miss this swing. You have two grand slams and multiple Masters events in such short proximity,” Couch told this masthead.
“You try and be proactive rather than reactive. Everyone’s got an injury history, but tennis can be very surface-dependent. With clay, there are longer rallies, so it’s a lot more taxing. Obviously, you’re sliding. So it’s your adductors and shoulders.
“On the grass, it stays lower, so it’s your glutes and lower back … [but] at the pointy end, there’s a lot of money to be made.”
Couch said he gathered as much information to present to players, from scans to expert opinions, and then it was largely up to them to make the call.
He was impressed with de Minaur and his team for withdrawing before his Wimbledon quarter-final last year, even while knowing it was the biggest match of his life.
“Ultimately, players are just great competitors,” Couch said.
“Sometimes, they won’t push through it. I was someone who wanted to give the athlete the information that’s there, provide what I think, and then you’ve got to give them the option, basically. But there are times when you need to put your foot down and say, ‘Look, I don’t think you should play this week’.”
