"No point in prolonging it artificially, I preferred to cut rather than tear" - Caroline Garcia's coach cuts ties with her ahead of WTA Finals
Just days before the commencement of the WTA Finals in Fort Worth, Texas, French tennis player Caroline Garcia, who is having one of the finest seasons of her career, parted ways with her coach Bertrand Perret.
The news broke yesterday when a social media post by Perret suggested the split. He later sat down for an interview with L'Équipe and confirmed it. The coach claimed that there had been issues in recent weeks and he preferred to split with the Frenchwoman because he didn't want to pretend.
"In recent weeks, there have been problems. They ended up spoiling the atmosphere and I preferred to stop. I do this job for fun and there, there was less," Perret said.
"I would have liked to go to the Masters, yes. But I'm not a man of pretense and when it's over, it's over. There was no point in artificially prolonging. I preferred to cut rather than tear," he added.
He declared that he has no ill will against Garcia and that he is "happy" for her, adding that he is not currently considering coaching anyone.
"I'm glad I took her to the Masters, everything we did. I have no problem with Caroline and I'm happy for her. For now, I'm cutting. It will soon be time to see if I can find someone to coach, but I'm not thinking about it now," he said.
The Frenchman assisted Garcia in relocating her lost aggression. She began the year ranked 74th and will compete in the season-ending WTA Finals next week as the World No. 6. Under his supervision, she won titles at Bad Homburg, Warsaw and Cincinnati, besides reaching the US Open semifinals.
"You have to have a true belief in it; if not, mistakes are coming quite quickly" - Caroline Garcia
Caroline Garcia stated in an interview with WTA that maintaining one's beliefs is essential for tennis improvement because mistakes will occur otherwise. What had helped her move forward was engaging with others who believed in her game style, she revealed.
"I think when I arrived on tour, I was definitely playing like that. That's the way I learned to play tennis. You have to have a true belief in it. If not, mistakes are coming quite quickly," Caroline Garcia said.
"Then I doubted. Time goes and you realize it's not working the other way, and you try to change, you try to get people around you who believe in this game style who made you move even more forward than you did in the past. I did and liked it a lot," she added.