Tennis fans have been left stunned after Caroline Garcia's coach, Bertrand Perret, left her team just days before the WTA Finals despite their success together in 2022.
Garcia had not won a singles title since June 2019 before this season. The Frenchwoman possesses one of the most potent and hard-hitting games on the WTA Tour but struggled to string results together in 2020 and 2021.
This year's French Open doubles champion did not improve much in singles during the opening half of the season, but securing her first WTA Tour title in three years at the Bad Homburg Open on grass in June proved to be a turning point.
Garcia won another title on the clay courts in Warsaw the next month at the Poland Open. The 29-year-old's run at the tournament included stunning world No. 1 and home favorite Iga Swiatek in the quarterfinal.
That success was followed by Garcia playing some of the best tennis of her career during the North American hardcourt swing. She overcame Petra Kvitova in the Cincinnati Open final to win her third WTA 1000 title and first since 2017.
Garcia reached the first Grand Slam semifinal of her career a few months later at the US Open, falling to Ons Jabeur at that stage. Those excellent results since June allowed Garcia to qualify for the WTA Finals.
Perret had been an important part of Garcia's success, which is why his decision to leave shortly before the WTA Finals is a shock. Perret said there were problems that led to the move but did not elaborate specifically on what they were.
"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.I would have liked to go to the Masters, yes. But I'm not a man of pretence and when it's over, it's over. There was no point in artificially prolonging. I preferred to cut rather than tear."
"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."