By Chris Oddo | Monday October 9, 2017
11 straight wins and back-to-back titles in Wuhan and Beijing has solidified Caroline Garcia’s spot in the Road to Singapore standings as well as the WTA’s Top 10. The Frenchwoman, considered a rising talent ever since Andy Murray infamously tabbed her as a future No.1 in 2011 when Garcia took Maria Sharapova to three sets in an exciting second-rounder at Roland Garros, is now finally coming into her own six years later at the age of 23.
More: Garcia Completes the Wuhan-Beijing Double
23 is young by most standards, but in the high-pressure world of professional tennis fans and pundits become impatient when a rising star doesn’t rise quickly enough.
But we must realize: each player develops at their own pace. And each player needs to experience the highs and lows of the tour, and process them, before he or she is able to make the most of her potential.
For Garcia that time appears to be now. By winning the two biggest titles of her career in succession she has set herself up for an even bigger test later this month in Singapore. If she qualifies she’ll have the chance to lock horns with the game’s elite at the WTA Finals, and that could be another formative experience for a player that is now clearly hitting her stride.
Garcia cleared Johanna Konta in the Road to Singapore standings with her Beijing title and now leads Konta for the eighth and final spot by 185 points. The only way that Konta can avoid by being passed in the Road to Singapore standings in the season’s last month for the second year in a row is by reaching at least the final at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow.
Meanwhile, Simona Halep begins her first week as the WTA’s 25th No.1 on the heels of her appearance in the final in Beijing. Halep, like Garcia, has had to build on her experience over the years. Even this year she was tested when she lost three matches while one victory from claiming the No1 ranking.
Both Halep and Garcia are living proof that good things come to those who wait. In tennis we tend to look at things through a very narrow lens, but if we step back sometimes, we see that it simply take some players longer than others to realize their vast potential.