Caroline Garcia made an emotional entrance for her last ever French Open appearance following the announcement of her retirement.
The 31-year-old revealed in a statement on Friday that she’s calling time on her proffesional tennis career, 14 years after turning pro.
Garcia has won 11 singles titles and eight doubles honours, and this year’s French Open is her 15th consecutive trip to Roland Garros.
Bernarda Pera awaited her in the first round on Monday and before stepping out onto the court, the emotions started to take hold.
France’s Garcia was spotted wiping away her tears when looking towards the arena in the Court Suzanne Lenglen tunnel.
Despite this being her final appearance at the iconic Grand Slam, Garcia still had smile on her face whilst embracing the occasion.
Her French Open send-off wasn’t meant to be though as Pera won 6-4 6-4 to reach the second round against fellow Croatian Donna Vekic.
Pera paid her respects to Garcia afterwards though, as she said via The Tennis Letter on X: “It was such an emotional match.
“Even back there when we were standing, I started crying. Caroline is one of the nicest people on tour.
“I’m honoured to get to know you and spend time with you and share the court with you. I wish you all the best in your next chapter with your fiancee. I hope to see you around still.”
Garcia made her French Open main draw debut in 2011 as a wildcard before a second round defeat against the legendary Maria Sharapova.
The former world no.4’s best finish in Paris came in the 2017 quarter-finals, only to be knocked out by Karolina Pliskova.
Although she never became a singles champion at Roland Garros, Garcia leaves as a two-time doubles winner with Kristina Mladenovic.
She also played mixed doubles at the 2016 and 2024 Olympics next to Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin respectively.
Garcia revealed in her retirement announcement that she will play ‘a few more tournaments’ before officially hanging up her racquet.
The French Open began on Sunday with both men’s and women’s singles matches taking place.
Defending women’s champion Iga Swiatek is through to the second round after a straight sets win over Rebecca Sramkova.
She will face Emma Raducanu, who beat Wang Xinyu in the third and final set despite needing a medical timeout.
