Caroline GARCIA

Olympic hurdles and Paris 2024 dreams

Before their Rio 2016 opener against Japan's Doi Misaki and Hozumi Eri, Garcia and Mladenovic were forced into a late wardrobe change and blamed the French Tennis Federation (FFT) for not telling them they had to wear the same colours on court.

The FFT handed the pair a suspension, later lifted, but that did not stop them amassing four titles and clinching the WTA Doubles Team of the Year and ITF World Champions awards.

Garcia split with Mladenovic the following March to concentrate on singles, but then fell out with her former partner and French Federation Cup team-mates in April 2017 when she pulled out of a match against Spain.

After winning the French Open warm-up event in Strasbourg, she met one of those disgruntled compatriots, Alize Cornet, at Roland Garros. In a much-hyped encounter, Garcia won in straight sets to reach the quarter-finals which would remain her best showing at a Grand Slam for over five years.

Two tournament wins in China in late 2017, Wuhan and Beijing, helped Garcia break into the top 10 of the world rankings. She reached number four in May 2018 but consistently failed to go deep in majors.

Despite reuniting with Mladenovic in France's 2019 Fed Cup triumph, Garcia was struggling in singles and dropped her father as coach in 2021. There followed more disappointment at the Olympics as she made early exits in both singles and doubles at Tokyo 2020.

In 2022, working under Bertrand Perret, she rediscovered her touch. She and Mladenovic accepted a wildcard for the French Open doubles and regained their crown by beating American pair Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula in the final.

Garcia ended a singles title drought of three years before winning the WTA 1000 event in Cincinnati. And the Frenchwoman ended the year on a high, defeating Aryna Sabalenka to take the WTA Finals title and returning to number four in the world rankings. She revealed that before her return to form, she had struggled with the eating disorder bulimia.

While she has failed to add to her title collection since then, Garcia is very much looking forward to returning to Roland Garros for Paris 2024 and putting the woes of previous Games behind her.