Caroline Garcia breaks down in tears after crashing out of Italian Open

Caroline Garcia appeared teary-eyed after being defeated in the third round of the 2023 Italian Open on Saturday. In the aftermath of the loss, the Frenchwoman reflected on her tough season so far and mulled over what went wrong.

Caroline Garcia lost to World No. 100 Camilla Osorio 4-6, 4-6 in the third round in Rome. The World No. 4 then opened up about her patchy form in 2023 in a post-match interview with French publication L'Equipe.

Garcia lamented that she was "sinking" on her own and that the efforts she was taking to better her game were not proving fruitful. The 29-year-old went as far as to say that playing tennis has now become a "nightmare" for her.

"I sank on my own. I'm making the effort, but it doesn't work. I would like to know why, to be able to control it. But no, it's sinking me more and more. Instead to enjoy the moment on the pitch, it becomes a nightmare," she said.

At the same time, Caroline Garcia seems to have identified all of her problems this year. She admitted that bad timings, misreading situations and lack of game concentration were the main reasons why her progress has been hampered.

"For a few weeks, and even since the beginning of the year, I have had bad timings. I misread the trajectories. Surely a problem of concentration, of game reading. I find it difficult to explain it," Garcia said.

Caroline Garcia also analyzed the mistakes that led to her downfall against Osorio, highlighting that she wasn't positioned well enough to hit big shots. She also felt she made a lot of "silly mistakes," especially in terms of placement and clarity.

"I'm not well enough positioned to hit as hard as I would like or to advance as much. These are silly mistakes, errors of placement or lucidity because the legs, the placement and the commitment are not there," Garcia said.

Garcia has lost a lot of matches to lower-ranked players this year. In Madrid prior to the Italian Open, she was beaten by Mayar Sherif in the Round of 32. This came after the Frenchwoman lost to Anastasia Potapova (Stuttgart), Sorana Cristea (Indian Wells and Miami), and Magda Linette (Australian Open).

These results are even more surprising as Garcia had a real shot at becoming World No. 1 at the start of the year, seeing as she was not defending many points during the first half of the season.

Caroline Garcia just the latest seed to be toppled in Rome

Caroline Garcia

Caroline Garcia's loss to Camilla Osorio means that five of the top 10 seeds in the women's singles draw of the 2023 Italian Open have now crashed out. These results are all the more conspicuous in the bottom half of the draw, where sixth seed Coco Gauff is the only top 10 seed left now.

The upsets in the bottom half include losses for Aryna Sabalenka (second seed), Jessica Pegula (third seed), and Caroline Garcia (fifth seed). Jessica Pegula lost to Taylor Townsend, and Aryna Sabalenka was bettered by Sofia Kenin in the second round.

These results have opened an opportunity for Gauff to go deep into the tournament and gain some momentum ahead of Roland Garros, where she will be defending her runner-up points from last year.