Coach Bertrand Perret said it was a “blast” to work with Caroline Garcia but admitted that it took him some time before he was able to convince the Frenchwoman to lower her perfectionism and accept mistakes. With the help of coach Perret, Garcia was able to rediscover her best tennis and start playing great again after struggling with her game in the past few years.
Then just before the start of the WTA Finals, Garcia and Perret parted ways. Garcia parting ways with the coach who helped her rediscover her best game came as a shock to many.
Perret reflects on his time with Garcia, but doesn’t reveal why they split
“It was a long journey, she’s such a perfectionist girl.
She’s really professional, it was a blast to work with her, but she’s maybe even too perfectionist. She didn’t accept to make mistakes. With her risky game, if you don’t accept to make mistakes, you get frustrated.
You don’t have a type of game which is similar to (Sara) Sorribes Tormo or (Simona) Halep, you have a type of game where you take a lot of risks. If she wanted to get better in practice and to not get frustrated in matches, Caroline needed to accept making mistakes.
It was not easy at the beginning, I really had a hard time to make her understand that because she’s so perfectionist. I’m happy, now she sees things relatively a bit more. In a match, it’s okay even when there are some mistakes ,” Perret told L’Equipe.
Garcia splitting with Perret didn’t impact her at the WTA Finals since she ended up winning it all at the prestigious season-ending tournament. Reflecting on Garcia’s WTA Finals triumph, Perret said he wasn’t surprised because he feels the Frenchwoman “has no limits” when she is playing and feeling her game.