Caroline Garcia, victorious over Daria Kasatkina on Saturday evening, is playing the semi-final of the Women's Masters this Sunday against Maria Sakkari (10:30 p.m.).
The Frenchwoman, badly embarked on Saturday in this ax match, ended up getting out of it by applying the method that smiled on her during the summer: not deviating from her offensive line of conduct, even when the meeting seems to escape her.
This state of mind, instilled by coach Bertrand Perret in recent months (before announcing his departure a few days ago), is the one that must carry Garcia to even greater heights.
Forget "Flying Caro", it is rather the "Fighting" version that Caroline Garcia offers in Texas in this end-of-year Masters.
Opposed to the Russian Daria Kasatkina on Saturday evening in a cutthroat match to reach the semi-finals, the Lyonnaise had to fight, especially against herself after a completely crooked first hour, to win in three sets (4-6 , 6-1, 7-5) and win the right to continue the adventure.
A painful qualification, but ultimately revealing his great progress of the year: this new ability to never deviate from his line of conduct, offensive and aggressive.
So that's maturity?
“It shows a little more that this year was definitely good, she observed after this victory in the snatch.
It comforts me in my style of play and the fact that I have to continue on this path and to fight.
From her suburbs of Lyon, Muriel Merolle did not miss a crumb of this internal battle.
Garcia's former youth coach shouted a lot in front of his TV, delivering advice and encouragement that the world No. 6 couldn't hear.
But hard to hold back, of course.
The director of ASUL Tennis Villeurbanne is impressed by the maturity shown by her former protege:
“The difference [with these last years] is clearly this attitude, the fact of not giving up.
She tended to get frustrated very quickly and lost track of her game. There, we see a big consistency, even when she makes mistakes, that it doesn't work, she manages to calm down.
She no longer has any doubts about what she has to do on the court.
»
Caroline Garcia would however have had every reason to explode on Saturday.
When she dropped fourteen of the last sixteen points of the first set while leading 4-2, ball 5-2, for example.
Or when she let slip six break points at 4-4 in the third set, after an endless game.
On the contrary, it is the last she will leave to her opponent.
“I made good progress on that this year, accepting when things don't work.
I saved myself from a lot of matches like that, explains the player.
I tried to put that aside and managed to make a great service game.
»
The fact that the US Open semi-finalist managed to maintain this attitude during these WTA Finals is all the more interesting since she is no longer accompanied by Bertrand Perret.
The Alsatian coach, architect of the revival of the one who had fallen to 79th place in the world at the start of the season, decided to everyone's surprise to cut ties just a few days before flying to Fort Worth.
It was he who had managed to instill in the Lyonnaise this confidence in his style of play. He had apparently worked well, since she survived him.
"She found this confidence, and this parameter is really the basis of everything for a tennis player", observes Muriel Merolle.
Words that resonate with those of Felix Auger-Aliassime from Bercy.
Semi-finalist of the Rolex Paris Masters after having surveyed 16 victories in a row in the space of a month, the Canadian explained on Friday the difference between economic confidence, which can fall on you for a tournament or two, and the structural one, which remains because it is based on something solid.
Damn interesting:
"We think that confidence is like something in the air, that you can't name or point to, but I remember after beating Djokovic in the Laver Cup saying to myself: I want to know why I managed to win, and not just because it was a good day and I was on cloud nine.
No, I wanted to know what improvements I had made, what had really worked in my game for me to beat a player like him.
I thought about my practices, the things that are working and the things that I still have to improve, and I felt a deep thing, a great confidence on concrete things in my game and I tried to capitalize there above and to really continue to play this way, with a lot of conviction.
»
“It has become a trademark”
Sure that Caroline Garcia would subscribe to this observation without being asked too much.
In any case, it corresponds well to the feelings of his ex-coach.
"It's not random, a hit every once in a while or a game that goes by like that.
She has passed a milestone, this way of moving forward has become a trademark, ”says Muriel Merolle.
A kind of signature, made possible by a foolproof physique since her body left her alone and, above all, considerable progress on the fly, judges the former mentor.
At 29, Caroline Garcia, whose observers have long awaited take-off, should no longer set limits.
Faced with the Greek Maria Sakkari this Sunday evening (10:30 p.m.), she will have to deal with her "heavy legs" and the bluffing dynamics of her opponent since the start of the week.
Before, whatever the result of this semi-final, to aim very high next season.
“She must have the objective of winning a Grand Slam tournament, no doubt about it”, announces Muriel Merolle, who will still be in support in front of her post.
In addition, she will have heated her voice just before with the OM-OL shock.
"The timing is perfect, it's going to be a great evening," imagines the Villeurbannaise, laughing.
That's all we wish for him, as the saying goes.
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Caroline Garcia
Women's Tennis