After a sensational second half of the 2022 season in which Caroline Garcia went 39-6 (including qualifying), she went on a well-earned solo vacation in Bali.

Back to a career-high No.4 in the world, Garcia scooped up titles at the WTA Finals, Cincinnati, Bad Homburg and Warsaw. She also made a first Grand Slam semifinal at the US Open.

But now it’s back to the court. On Friday, the Frenchwoman Garcia will take on Argentina’s Nadia Podoroska in an opening tie at the United Cup.  

More from the United Cup

I'm very excited to have the new season started, and it's going to be a big match,” Garcia said during her United Cup press conference.

“Obviously the offseason was good. But matches are matches, and you need rhythm, and I will try my best and give everything.”

United Cup results

Earlier this month, we caught up with Garcia to discuss her offseason, along with her news goals for 2023:

Tell me what you’ve been up to since we spoke after the final in Fort Worth, how much time did you take off?

Garcia: I had in total I think two and a half weeks off. I went for the Billie Jean King Cup after the WTA Finals and then I had to do three days of media and PR in France. It was a very busy three, four days. Then I went to Bali for 12 days. It takes a big day to get there. It’s pretty far from Europe and then two days when we came back to Europe to adapt a little bit to the jetlag.

You went to Bali on holiday, right?

Garcia: Yes, I went alone.

Why did you choose to go alone?

Garcia: I was supposed to go somewhere else with some friends and then things happened and we couldn’t do it. And I wanted to go that destination and I thought after all the year, what happened, I needed some time to kind of think, to let it go, to spend some time for myself, take care of myself. So yeah, I decided to go by myself, it was my first experience.

The first two days I was like, what the hell is wrong in my life, going on holiday by myself? But after I really had a great time. In tennis you have always a team around you. Obviously, you’re alone in your room but it’s different. And you’re trying to make everyone feel comfortable and it was great to have some time for myself, do whatever I wanted, eat when I wanted, having the dessert for a main course if I wanted. It was like no judgment, nobody knows about tennis, I was just a regular tourist out there and it was pretty nice.

Did you visit temples, meditate? Was it also that kind of trip?

Garcia: More inside of the island, it’s more meditation, it’s like healthy food and yoga. I tried some yoga. It was not easy. My mind was thinking too much. My body is not used to it, but it was a great experience. You book some tours, you meet some other people. There are a lot of people traveling alone over there and it was really interesting. You just start to know each other and it was really fun. I had a great time.

Did you get a chance to reflect on your season and perhaps think about what you were most proud of in 2022?

Garcia: Yes I think I had a lot of time to write down my thoughts when I was on holiday and I really enjoyed it. What went great, what went wrong, what did I learn, what I wanted to keep improving. It was so many things and when I came back it was obviously too much, too loud, everything was too crazy, but it was good because I know why I wanted to go back to practice because I feel I have so many more things to do, and many more goals and I have to work.

Champions Reel: How Caroline Garcia won the 2022 WTA Finals Fort Worth

Did you sit down with your team to discuss what you wanted to do during preseason?

Garcia: We sat down and discussed what we wanted to improve physically, what we can keep going, what works. I sat down with the trainer to talk about what we can still improve recovery-wise and same with the coach, with my dad. I think it was pretty clear what I wanted to keep improving. I feel obviously what I’m doing, my game style, it is what it is, and there are still so many more things I can do faster. But in that direction, it was pretty clear for everyone. Also I think we learned a lot about the way I have to practice, what is working for me and obviously this year it worked, so we wanted to take it and try to do better.

And you decided to continue with Juan Pablo Guzman as your coach after he joined you in Fort Worth end of last season?

Garcia: It was a weird end of the season outside of the WTA Finals, but yes, we decided to keep going with Juan Pablo. He has a lot of positive energy, good vibes, Argentinean, different culture, but I pretty like that matching French, Argentinean, Spanish, and it was pretty clear what we wanted to work on and we’re doing that.

What are some of the things you can share about what you wanted to work on?

Garcia: Try to improve my second serve. I was pretty much hitting the same spots always, so mix it up. On return I think I can try to be more accurate, and that’s what I’m trying to do. Still being very aggressive inside the court and try to find a way to be more aggressive while making less mistakes, so maybe go lower on my legs. I think physically, because of the injury, we didn’t really work on dynamic stuff early in the season, only at the end, so that’s one of the big points we wanted to keep improving during the offseason if the body was cooperating and it is so far, so that’s something we’re very happy about because there were things I couldn’t do and I can start to do them again and it's great fun.

Are you going to enjoy going to the first Grand Slam of the year as a high seed for the first time in a while?

Garcia: It will be better for my practice, you get some priority out there, so it’s always nice and convenient. It’s obviously some good pressure to have to come as one of the top seeds thanks to the last couple of results I had. I want to enjoy it. I made it up there because I enjoyed what I was playing on court and I think today, compared to two days ago, I was feeling better on court. I was feeling lighter and that’s the way I want to keep going.

What’s high up on your priority list for 2023?

Garcia: Winning a Slam. Being healthy first, but winning a Slam is probably one of my goals and dreams since I was a little girl, and with the last couple of results, with the WTA Finals, with the semifinal at the US Open, made it obviously more concrete and something I can reach, something I achieve. But I’m not the only one to have that goal and we’ll be fighting very hard for it. It’s something I want to achieve this year, next year.