'It was a great run': 11-time singles champ Garcia plays final match at US Open

Caroline Garcia, who won 11 WTA titles and reached a career high of No. 4, played the final match of her career after falling 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 to Kamilla Rakhimova in the first round of the US Open.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- France’s Caroline Garcia played the final match of her professional tennis career at the US Open on Monday. Having announced ahead of Roland Garros that 2025 would be her last season on the Hologic WTA Tour, the 31-year-old was defeated by Kamilla Rakhimova in the first round, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

"Yeah, obviously it's not really easy to step on the court when you don't know it's your last match, or if you win maybe you have another last match," Garcia told reporters. "It's kind of a tricky moment. But a lot of emotion before the match, even if I got a lot of emotion out in Roland Garros. But, yeah, it meant a lot for me to play one more time [at the] US Open."

Garcia made her professional debut in 2007, at the age of 13, on the ITF Circuit in France. She played her first WTA qualifying event at the Paris Indoors in 2010, and her WTA Tour-level main-draw debut came as a wild card at the Australian Open in 2011. That year, still playing as a junior, she was the runner-up to Grace Min in the US Open Girls' title.

Garcia went on to capture 11 WTA singles titles and reached 16 finals. She won her first in Bogotá, in 2014, defeating former World No.1 Jelena Jankovic in the final. In 2017 she made history as the first player to win the two biggest Chinese events, the Wuhan Open and China Open, in the same year, in back-to-back weeks. Those results propelled her into the Top 10 for the first time.

On September 10, 2018, she achieved her career-high singles ranking of No. 4, but her greatest victories were still ahead of her. In 2022, a banner year, she won the WTA 1000 Cincinnati Open before reaching the semifinals of the US Open, her best Grand Slam singles result. The biggest title of her career followed at the WTA Finals in Fort Worth, where she defeated Aryna Sabalenka in the title match.

Garcia’s 2022 season also included a defeat of World No. 1 Iga Swiatek in Warsaw, and she was the only player to win titles on all three surfaces that year. She closed out the season back at No. 4, her second career Top 10 finish.

Garcia also excelled at doubles, rising as high as No. 2 in the rankings in October of 2016. Her eight titles included rousing wins at her home Slam, Roland Garros, in 2016 and 2022, alongside fellow Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic. They were named WTA Doubles Team of the Year at the end of the season.

“Congratulations to Caroline for her outstanding career in both singles and doubles,” said Portia Archer, CEO of the WTA. “Alongside her dazzling game, which captivated fans worldwide, we are thankful for Caroline’s advocacy for her fellow athletes, including her contribution as a member of the WTA Players’ Council. On behalf of the WTA family, I wish her every happiness and success as she flies into the future.”

In 2019, Garcia was a member of the French team that captured the Billie Jean King Cup trophy, and she represented France at the Olympic Games in Rio and Paris. In 2023 she led the WTA Tour with 462 aces.

"It's kind of weird to say, but I'm very happy," she said. "It was a great run. ... Obviously you can always achieve more, and I was dreaming of achieving more. But I'm very happy and [at] peace with my decision to move forward with my life and close the chapter of being a tennis player."

She leaves the sport with a main draw win-loss record of 472-365 and career prize money of more than $18.7 million.

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