Garcia's 1-6 6-4 6-4 defeat by Russian qualifier Anna Blinkova ended the local women's presence in the singles draw before the third round for the first time since 1986.
The 24th seed was up a break in the third set before crumbling on Court Philippe Chatrier, bowing out with a double fault.
Only twice previously in the professional era, in 1981 and 1986, has no French woman reached the third round at Roland Garros.
Asked to comment on that failure, Garcia quipped: "It's this thing that journalists tend to say. You have your figures (on how the French women performed)... That's all I can say."
Former Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli, now a tennis analyst for Eurosport, believes the French tennis federation have been focusing too much on the elite.
"Most of all it's because of the French federation's policy. In order to produce top players it starts from the clubs and this base has been lost," she said before Garcia's match.
"You have to work from the ground. We're lacking players (at grassroots level)."
Asked to comment on Bartoli's analysis, Garcia said: "I don't know what you're talking about. What would you like me to say? I don't know."
While Bartoli and Amelie Mauresmo, who led the previous generation of French women, reached the quarter-finals of every major, winning a combined three titles, Garcia and Mladenovic have got to the last eight of a Grand Slam three times in total.
Asked if there was a generational gap after her second-round loss on Wednesday, Mladenovic was equally defiant.
“We’re in the final of the Fed Cup, so I think the question is a bit strange,” she said.
France face Australia in the Fed Cup final later this year, having reached the same stage with Mladenovic and Garcia in 2016 before losing to the Czech Republic in Strasbourg.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by David Goodman and Ken Ferris)
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