QATAR TOTAL ENERGIES OPEN

February 20, 2022

Iga Swiatek

Flash Interview

Q. Welcome back to Doha, the first 1000 event of the year. A prestigious event too. How would you assess your game coming into Doha?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, for sure, my past numbers from Doha are pretty different because I had to play quallies. Right now I'm in a better place, so for sure I'm pretty excited because I had two days off between Dubai and here so I could train a little bit and also rest properly.

Yeah, even though we already played few tournaments, I feel pretty fresh. I feel like my game is on point, so it's good.

Q. You had a good run on the hard courts in Australia. Many said you were better than perhaps expected on the hard courts out there. What did you learn about yourself through that period that you can apply moving forward?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, for sure it gave me a lot of confidence, because as you said, actually, I was always a clay court player, so it was my goal to develop my game on hard courts.

Every year I could feel that it's getting better and better, but for sure this year this tournament in Australia was like a breakthrough for me. For sure confidence and, you know, that feeling that I can also dominate and go forward and attack, not only stay on the baseline like I would do on clay. Yeah, I kind of learned a lot about tactics as well.

Q. You of course appointed a new coach in Tomasz. How is that relationship going, and what positives has he brought to your game?

IGA SWIATEK: It's great. He's giving me such a different perspective because he's pretty experienced. I feel like he's been through a lot on tour, and he knows a lot, so basically I like to be in on that because before I didn't have a chance to do that.

I also feel off court that he understands, you know, what I'm going through sometimes, and he's really like empathic, so that's great. In terms of tennis, he's basically kind of helping me to change my attitude towards my game, because he wants me to be more aggressive and he wants me to dominate.

So actually in Australia these were like the first tournaments I could try that new tactics. It worked. So I'm pretty confident that I'm going to develop that way and I'm going to be more aggressive on court.

Q. Recently you have been very supportive of other sports people, sending social media updates of support. Is that something you feel is important for young professionals to support your peers in your industry?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, for sure. For sure I feel like it's important to also pass some experience that you had. I'm not saying that I'm the proper person to do that, because I have only been on tour for like two years or three, but there are many more experienced players than me.

But for sure when I texted few athletes that are basically the greatest of their time, I felt like they are really supportive and it really inspired me. Their words can mean a lot. I'm talking about Rafa Nadal and (indiscernible).

For sure if I'm going to be in their place hopefully in the future, I would want to use my voice also to maybe help somebody or make it easier for younger athletes.