ROLAND GARROS

September 28, 2020

Elina Svitolina

Press Conference

E. SVITOLINA/V. Gracheva

7-6, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You seem very busy right now. You are enjoying lots of success on the court and off the court. You have launched your own nutrition regime. You have your own tennis channel with Gael, and I know you're enjoying producing the new nutrition bar with SvitFit. Does it keep you happy and motivated in all aspects of tennis on the court and off the court?

ELINA SVITOLINA: Well, first of all, you have very good knowledge of what I have been up to (smiling).

Yeah, I think during the lockdown you have to do something different, and that's where I started my SvitFit protein bars. I have been doing my nutrition for a few years now and I finally finished one month ago.

So, yeah, there is few things that's been going on. I think it's important as well to do something different and not only focus on tennis 100% like when you are away from the tournament. Of course in the tournament you have to be 1000% focused, but when you finish your job on the court, you just go back and you try to change your head, try to regroup and mentally be refreshed for next one.

Q. In terms of the tennis channel that you will be broadcasting with Gael with Catch Up, that will be broadcast on a Sunday. So in two weeks' time, what do you think you'll be saying about the women's final? Who will have got to the final? How will they do? Could you be speaking about yourself?

ELINA SVITOLINA: Well, the Catch Up is probably going to be on only for WTA and ATP tournaments. Unfortunately or luckily we are playing right now in a Grand Slam, so I don't think we will be speaking about this particular tournament, but hopefully we will be talking and having this TV show as a Grand Slam champion, both of us (smiling).

This would be a little bit different experience, I would think. I think in few weeks' time we will be talking about the WTA tournament or ATP tournament or both of them. That's what is the idea.

For now we don't have the rights, you know, to speak about Roland Garros, so that was the main kind of issue, because we don't have the images. We could speak, for sure, but we don't have the images.

Q. When you have won a title so close to this, did you think that sends out a signal to the rest of the pack that you're a real threat here?

ELINA SVITOLINA: Well, it's the first time I would say in many years that I played a tournament before a Grand Slam. Normally I don't play that kind of events coming into the slam, and I don't know.

It's very tough for me to judge, to say, but I had good matches in Strasbourg, and I think they definitely gave me the confidence to play well, to move better, and gave me this little push after Rome because I played only few matches in Rome and I wanted to get better on the clay.

I think more match-wise than anything else because I have been training for one-and-a-half months, so I just needed to really be focused, to be in the zone of the matches. So that's what I have been looking in Strasbourg, and in the end I had few good players against me who I beat, and, yeah, it was a very positive week for me.

Hopefully I can transfer that to the matches here, as well.

Q. Players talk about finding your way. What's that mean to you in terms of mentally and physically on the court?

ELINA SVITOLINA: I think for everybody is different, but my meaning of 'finding the way', most of the time when the players are going out on the court, they know how to hit forehands, know how to hit backhands. Especially right now everyone is extremely fit and ready to compete on the high level.

Any player I think who is entered in the main draw or even quallies, they can play really good one set, one set and a half, so you have to find your way around it. You have to be really tough on yourself to bring your best game each time you step on the court.

I think for the past few years the level really raised of the players, and that's why you have to just try to find the way, try to find opportunities to beat the player and to compete at the high level each day, each match.