’22 Champ Garcia Takes One Last Shot At Cincy Title

Ready For ‘New Chapter’, Frenchwoman To Retire At Year’s End

By Richard Osborn

Cincinnatians will always have a soft spot for Caroline Garcia.

They love an underdog, after all, and in 2022 the Frenchwoman authored the most compelling against-all-odds tale in the already-storied history of their hometown tennis tournament. That’s the year, as a lowly qualifier, she went all the way to the title — something no one had ever accomplished at the WTA 1000 level.

Once ranked as high as No. 4 in the world, Garcia had been struggling with her form. She came into the Cincinnati Open that summer relegated to the qualifying draw. But the athletic all-courter would reel off eight straight match wins — including three main-draw decisions over Top-10 opponents — to raise the coveted Rookwood Cup.  

“Pure joy” was how she described it after a 6-2, 6-4 dismissal of Petra Kvitova in the title match. “I guess no one expected it. It’s a long way to come from qualies.”

“It was a week that meant a lot for me,” reflected Garcia on Friday afternoon at the Lindner Family Tennis Center, where she’s appearing for what seems to be the final time. In May, on familiar ground at Roland Garros, Garcia announced her intention to retire at the end of the year. The 31-year-old Garcia, who has spoken openly about dealing with anxiety and panic attacks, said she’s very much at peace with her decision to “close my chapter of being a tennis player.”

“I’m glad I was able to play a bit this year. Obviously, my body didn’t help much,” said Garcia, who has struggled with a variety of back and shoulder injuries. “Some people understand. Some people don’t understand. They say, ‘Oh, you are young’. But I’ve been there for a long time. I’ve had ups and downs. I’ve been through tough moments, level-wise, results-wise. I know how I was as a person, how much I suffered.”

“I don’t want to just play tennis. I’ve been at the top and I know what it takes to be at the top again. I don’t have the strength. I cannot do it anymore, and it’s fine. At some moment, you have to take another way and open another chapter of your life, and opening this new chapter for me, it’s bringing me way more joy and light in my life.”

The winner of 11 career singles titles, including both Cincinnati and the year-end WTA Finals in that comeback year of 2022, Garcia is already penning that ‘next chapter’. She’s been busy with the podcast (“Tennis Insider Club”) she launched in 2023, which often features her longtime tour colleagues.

“We felt that we didn’t have the platform. We wanted to be able to share some things. And I think player-to-player, you probably have a different relationship and trust than with the media, which is normal because we’ve known each other for a very long time,” she explained. “I wanted another platform to be able to share some more personal stuff. It’s working very well for me. It was also a good way to be able to hear different stories and how other players made it to the top. Sometimes it’s not only one way.”

“It also gave me a lot of confidence to learn something new and build my identity as a person outside of just being a tennis player.”

On July 19, Garcia married her longtime boyfriend and podcast co-host Borja Duran.

“It was very special day,” said Garcia. “It was even better than in our own dreams. And we did it our way. We were very happy to have all our friends and family there to celebrate this special day with us. A lot of people say it’s very special, but it is very special, to be honest.”

No qualifying draw for Garcia this time around. Instead, she took a main-draw wildcard. So far, the former champ is making the most of her opportunity, an underdog once again. On Friday, she topped Great Britain’s Sonay Kartal in the opening round, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.

“I’m very happy to be back at this tournament,” she said. “It means a lot for me.”