Caroline Garcia has been unstoppable since the start of the summer.

The 28-year-old Frenchwoman won the Cincinnati Masters 1000 on Sunday August 21 – the highest level in tennis outside of the Grand Slams.

She had not won in this category since 2017. For the native of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, the doubts of recent years now seem behind her as the US Open approaches, where she will have a card to play, given his condition.

Her performance in Ohio also goes down in tennis history, as she is the first player to win a WTA 1000 from qualifying.

Only the Briton Emma Raducanu did better last year, by doing the same type of dizzying course, to win at Flushing Meadows, a Grand Slam tournament.

Caroline Garcia has chained eight matches and as many victories in nine days at "Cincy", for a total of 27 since June.

No one can say the same, currently, on the circuit.

Caroline Garcia breaks down in tears.

Huge week.

– Quentin Moynet (@QuentinMoynet) August 21, 2022

Because Garcia, who was ranked 79th in the world in May and became 17th on Monday, won the bet on the grass of Bad Homburg and on the clay of Warsaw, where she offered herself the scalp of the n World No. 1, the Polish Iga Swiatek.

A wonderful fortnight in 2017 and crossing the desert

This wonderful summer is a real rebirth for Caroline Garcia.

The Frenchwoman has had several complicated years after what was so far the peak of her career: October 2017 and the Chinese tour marked by eleven victories in two weeks and two titles in a row (Wuhan and Beijing) against what women's tennis did best then: Kerber, Svitolina, Halep...

If she reached fourth place in the WTA rankings shortly after, a period of wanderings and doubts followed, to which were added recurring physical problems.

Caroline Garcia loses herself in the game, hesitating between completely reinventing herself or capitalizing on her ultra-aggressive style.  

"Everything is clearer in my head", she explains now, after her triumph at the expense of the Czech Petra Kvitova, who described her as the "girl on fire" ("girl on fire"), in reference Alicia Keys hit.

"I feel a lot better physically, healthier. It's already a big step. We have clearly defined the way I have to play, the direction I have to take. When I enter the court, I know what style I have to practice," she explained.

Garcia used the "we" wisely.

Because his return to his best level has been taking place since the end of 2021 under the aegis of a new coach Bertrand Perret, who succeeded his father Louis-Paul.

And the former coach of Ons Jabeur made him understand that his style of play, aggressive, sharp, made of taking risks by taking the ball very early, was in fact … the right one.

It was this game that made him rise to 4th place in the world in 2018, a year after two first coronations in the WTA 1000, in Wuhan and Beijing.

"French technique", she half-joked on Saturday after her victory in the semi-final against the American Jessica Pegula, in response to a journalist asking her "where did she" come from "playing like that".

The ace of aces

"That's how I learned to play actually. I had my doubts, because it didn't always work. But you also have to try to forget what people say, but it always happens to your ears one way or another, and sometimes from famous people... So it affects you. The road has not been straight," she agreed.

"But by playing this style of game, by winning matches, this title here ... If I still had doubts, it proves to me more than anything that this is the right way to go", immediately completed the one who strove to broaden her palette, improving her volley and especially her first serve.

Players to hit 200+ aces in 2022 so far



286 Garcia 🇫🇷


262 Rybakina 🇰🇿


208 Pliskova 🇨🇿 pic.twitter.com/bz4cav1MDY

— Chris Goldsmith (@TheTennisTalker) August 22, 2022

Proof if any, she has slammed 286 aces since the start of the year, making her the leader of the ranking in this exercise.

An additional asset that makes Garcia a more offensive player than ever, ready to meet expectations at the US Open, where the fiery New York public, so fond of showman Gaël Monfils, who will be absent due to injury, could be passionate about Sweet Caroline.

With the possibility of hearing the famous tube of crooner Neil Diamond, which has become a stadium anthem, taken up in chorus on the side of Flushing Meadows in a week.

With AFP

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