Caroline Garcia, qualified for the semi-finals of the US Open: “Get more”

“How satisfied are you with your performance today (Tuesday)?
I am very happy with the victory, to be in the semi-finals. It was a very intense game. Every point, every game was very hard. The atmosphere was very American with a lot of energy on the court. I am very happy with my performance, to have managed to manage my emotions. I was able to play my game and that’s very important to me. The path is really clear now and I try to follow it.

The way is clear, you say, has it ever been so clear?
It wasn’t so clear in the past. I have always been aggressive. I always try to put pressure on the other. But I was younger. I didn’t need to find that right direction as much as I do now and accept that, in fact, it’s the only way for me. If I want to do well, I have to go in this direction. Now it is clear. And I see so many things that I can still improve.

You will play Ons Jabeur in the semi-finalsyou had already met in the semis of a Grand Slam but among the juniors, what do you expect?
Among the juniors, it was very rare to play someone who made so many drop shots and so many slices with his backhand. She put a lot of effects in her balls. It was already tricky to play against her. Now it is even more so. She is Top 5 in the world, she made the final at Wimbledon. She has improved a lot. It’s a big challenge.

A first Grand Slam semi-final at 28, when you have experience, what does it change compared to living it at 18?
I’m not that old! Your career is sometimes made of ups and downs, you have to accept everything, take what you can take. There were complicated and painful passages. We managed to bounce back well, to have confidence in what we were doing. It’s great fun for me, for the team. We always want to go for more.

Because you had a lot of success at a very young age, there was a lot of expectation around you. Was it difficult to live up to those expectations?
Yes it was really a challenge. I don’t know exactly which period you are talking about. In 2011, after the match against Sharapova (defeat in three sets against the Russian at Roland-Garros, during the match, Murray had tweeted that she would be a future n°1), there was a lot of pressure coming out of nowhere. I was around 150th, 200th in the world, I was 17 and my game wasn’t ready. I was not able to play consistently at this kind of level. The following weeks I tried to play at the same level but it was not possible for me. It was difficult because people expected a lot from me. But I wasn’t ready for that. At the end of 2017, 2018, I had a lot of success. And I made mistakes, we made mistakes and I really hope we learned from those mistakes. »