MELBOURNE – Chilean Cristian Garin started 2026 troubled, distressed and confused.
“I’m very confused right now, disappointed. It’s hard to see the positive side,” said the 30-year-old tennis player to CLAY after his first-round loss at the Australian Open.
A heartfelt statement, just minutes after losing to the Italian Luciano Darderi 7-6(7-5), 7-5, 7-6(7-3) in Melbourne. Garin also failed to collect wins in the previous tournaments in Hong Kong and Auckland.
The world No. 82 talks about failed changes in his game, physical problems and wrong decision-making in key moments. A complex picture he hopes to turn around during the South American swing.
Interview with Cristian Garin
– How painful is this loss?
– I’m very disappointed with the whole month. Despite coming here with an injury for some time, I had good expectations because I started playing very well in practice, but once competing, I couldn’t find myself. I’m disappointed, I won’t lie to you. It’s hard to take any positives because I didn’t find myself at any point during this month. I think I’ve been training, putting in effort, working hard and things aren’t coming together. So that’s worrying.
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– Do you have an explanation for it?
– It could be something physical, maybe I’m lacking a bit of confidence when it comes to decision-making. I’m making mistakes in the choices I take. I had opportunities in the match, but I made too many errors, I’m not finding myself. I tried to change a few things, to be more aggressive, and it didn’t work out.
– You also changed racquet, now playing with a Babolat Aero. Is it hard to adapt?
– Maybe. I changed my game structure, tried to be more aggressive, but looking at the recent results, maybe that’s not the way. I’m leaving sad with my competitive level, because I’ve been working hard, recovering from an injury, and that hurts even more. It’s been 24/7 work and it’s not happening.
– What injury are you referring to?
– I’ve had plantar fasciitis for five months, playing a lot of tournaments with it, and then it turned into an inflammation in the Achilles tendon. That has passed, but I’m still dealing with the fasciitis. Today it wasn’t about the physical issue, it was about the game. I’m not playing badly, because I’m training well, but I’m not making good decisions — not the ones I should make. That bothers me.
– How do you turn this situation around?
– You just have to keep going, because tennis goes in streaks, but obviously it hurts to start the year like this. I was playing well, finished last season playing well, wanted to make some changes in my game and it didn’t work. It’s frustrating, I’m leaving very upset, disappointed.
– Will you give those changes another chance in South America?
– We’ll see, I haven’t had bad results on that swing, so we’ll analyze it. I’ve been playing well on clay. I don’t know, I’m really confused right now. It’s hard to see the positive side, I think many times people don’t see the effort we put into this, and when results don’t come, it’s sad. I have to find strength and keep going. I want to keep working, but it’s a tough moment.
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