Kristina Mladenovic details falling out with former doubles partner Caroline Garcia

Kristina Mladenovic explains the falling out with her former doubles partner and French Open quarterfinalist, Caroline Garcia.

Jon Wertheim | Jun 5, 2017

Kristina Mladenovic details falling out with former doubles partner Caroline Garcia /

Kristina Mladenovic caused a bit of a kerfuffle with this first person column she wrote for the website Sport 360. She had some particularly choice words for her former doubles partner, Caroline Garcia. To wit:

“It’s very sad that it turned out like this, from her side, because what really happened is that she just decided that she wanted to stop playing doubles and she just sent me a poor message over the phone.

I would have understood any reason she would have given me to stop playing together—anything she would’ve told me I would’ve totally agreed and respected. But she didn’t have the courage or human values to come and talk to me face-to-face and say ‘Listen Kiki, I have these goals, I see it like this, I want to stop for that reason,’ but that didn’t happen.

Kristina Mladenovic upsets defending champion Garbine Muguruza at French Open

So I was extremely disappointed about that. We met in Indian Wells in the ice bath and she was surprised I was actually cold with her. She wanted to know why I was cold and I was like, ‘You’re asking me? I know we weren’t necessarily friends outside of the court but at least what we shared and lived through, our beautiful tennis results, you could have at least thought to see me face-to-face and tell me after all we’ve been through. You didn’t do that so I was very disappointed with you and I’m disappointed.’”

You seldom mind athletes who traffic in candor, though there is undoubtedly another side to this story. Regardless, doubles’ loss is singles’ gain. Here we are down to the elite eight and both are still in the draw. Mladenovic took out defending champ Garbine Muguruza on Sunday. A day later, Garcia had her way with countrywoman Alize Cornet, winning 6-2, 6-4.

The reaction says it all...@CaroGarcia is moving on at #RG17 pic.twitter.com/t7gVH5Ntqs
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 5, 2017

And little trivia to close out the day. KarolinaPliskova, the second seed, closed out Veronica CepedeRoyg 6-4 in the third set. Had Royg won, she would have become the first Paraguayan woman to reach the round of 16 since Rossana de los Rios in 2000. Who was de los Rios’ first round opponent that year? Scroll down for the answer below.

Snapshots from Day 9

French Open 2017 Day 9

Simona Halep

Carla Suarez Navarro

Andy Murray

Karen Khachanov

Petra Martic

Petra Martic

Kei Nishikori

Fernando Verdasco

Andy Murray

Andy Murray

Gael Monfils

Stan Wawrinka

Kei Nishikori

Answer: Mirka Federer (née Vavrinec.)

Published Jun 5, 2017

JON WERTHEIM

Jon Wertheim is a senior writer for Sports Illustrated and has been part of the full-time SI writing staff since 1997, largely focusing on the tennis beat , sports business and social issues, and enterprise journalism. In addition to his work at SI, he is a correspondent for "60 Minutes" and a commentator for The Tennis Channel. He has authored 11 books and has been honored with two Emmys, numerous writing and investigative journalism awards, and the Eugene Scott Award from the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Wertheim is a longtime member of the New York Bar Association (retired), the International Tennis Writers Association and the Writers Guild of America. He has a bachelor's in history from Yale University and received a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He resides in New York City with his wife, who is a divorce mediator and adjunct law professor. They have two children.