ROLAND GARROS

May 30, 2022

Iga Swiatek

Press Conference

I. SWIATEK/Q. Zheng

6-7, 6-0, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: A tough battle out there. What was the difference between the first set and to come roaring back in the next two?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, for sure I tried to loosen up my hand a little bit. She played really good tennis with heavy topspins. The key in the second set was kind of not letting her do that again. I'm pretty happy that I could play a little bit faster and put pressure on her.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. You're always very emotional during the games. Today we noticed that probably the most emotional person in your box was Daria Abramowicz. Do you work with her in terms of like keeping emotions during the games, or, yeah, how it is?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, I wouldn't say she was emotional, because it sounds like -- I mean, of course you could see the energy from the box, and that was the main reason why she was loud, and the other people there, as well.

Yeah, but I would call it like energetic and with more -- with the purpose of giving like motivation and showing me, as well, that I should be more energetic. Yeah, I wouldn't call it emotional.

But for sure, these matches are emotional for everybody because they are tight and not easy.

Q. How do you feel about your sort of level of your game and how you are playing after the match compared to how you felt before the match?

IGA SWIATEK: I don't know honestly, because I feel like I have to watch the match to analyze it properly. Because I see some things that are not that obvious for my box, and also, they have some tips that I want to really focus on. But I need to watch the match first to see exactly what they mean.

So I feel actually a little bit better because I felt like I was a little bit in trouble, and I was able to come back and really refocus and find other solutions, so that's great. And kind of I didn't have a chance to do that in previous matches, because, you know, I was leading in the first rounds and then I finished it right.

I tried to take, you know, some positives from the first set. Obviously it wasn't like the best that I lost from, I don't know, 5-2 or 5-3? But still, I was able to come back in second set and lead the game again. So I take that from the match, yeah.

Q. You've more Ws than the worldwide web right now. I would like to ask you, what's it like growing up in the Internet age? How does the Internet affect your life? Can you imagine a world without the Internet?

IGA SWIATEK: I can. I think it would be pretty cool (smiling). But I can't really, you know, give my opinion because I have never lived in another world.

Well, for sure in tournaments I'm kind of living in a world without Internet. I'm just using it for really not a lot of minutes during the day. So I really like that I have Internet when I want to watch the TV shows, but I don't really need it for social media.

Some tournaments I'm avoiding that. I feel, yeah, I mean, I don't know how to answer it differently. Yeah. Sorry.

Q. Can you tell us about what your thought process was after that first set today.

IGA SWIATEK: It wasn't easy to find solutions and to find other tactics and to do something differently, because I wasn't sure what I was doing wrong.

Yeah, basically I just -- because in first set I get like many technical stuff that I wanted to change, like staying lower in my legs and sometimes not pushing the ball but swinging it like I was doing, like I would do normally. She was playing really fast balls, and it wasn't easy to loosen up, because I felt like I needed to be -- I felt a little bit tense.

So, yeah, in second set I just kind of wanted to focus more and not really talk to the box maybe that much.

And honestly, I speeded up a little bit my forehand. Maybe that was the solution. But I felt like my mind is a little bit more clear. I was sometimes just -- I was kind of singing songs, and I realized in first set when I was really focusing on that technical stuff it didn't really work because I got more and more tense when I couldn't do that and why I couldn't really prepare to the shot the best way.

I was singing in my mind, basically.

Q. You said the most interesting thing anybody has said the entire tournament, which is that you were singing in your mind.

IGA SWIATEK: That's not the first time. I'm always singing something, but I changed the song.

Q. Can we know what song?

IGA SWIATEK: It was Dua Lipa, so kind of guilty pleasure. Yeah.

Q. With the No. 1 ranking that you have had now for a couple of months and you seemed to settle into it pretty well, what have you enjoyed the most about being No. 1, and what have you found being the toughest aspect of being No. 1?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, I really enjoy when I have a request about what hour I want to play and they are actually listening. That's nice (smiling).

I really enjoy -- I don't know. Maybe the gifts sometimes. Maybe that I can put more pressure on my opponents.

I feel more pressure, so that is not enjoyable. But I have been doing well with that, I think. So I don't know what to not enjoy. I really like requesting matches.

Q. In a Grand Slam journey, how important is having a big game like today in three sets before big battle quarterfinals and semifinals?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, for sure, for me, I'm taking a lot of confidence in my comeback in second set. So I think it's important that I had this kind of match which is kind of like a cold shower, and it reminded me how to find these solutions after losing a first set.

Yeah, I feel when I'm gonna take some positives from it, I think it's going to give me a lot before next matches.

Q. I think that was your seventh like comeback win from a set down this year. Before this year, you had eight in your entire career. I'm curious what do you make of that stat? It's not June yet, and you've already got seven. What made this comeback maybe different than the other ones where you have dropped a first set?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, for sure I don't want to make it eight because I want to win the first set. Yeah, I mean, in Australia I was pretty still surprising for me that I can come back and that I can restart and that I can, you know, really find solutions.

Right now I still have believed that I can do that. It's something new, because before it wasn't that obvious for me. Yeah, I don't really think about that stat, because, yeah, because it's -- I don't know. It's not easy.

It's just, I mean, we still have chances in second and third, so I try to really focus on that. It's really great for me that physically and mentally I'm ready to win those second sets, even though it wasn't easy, yeah, in the first one.

Q. Qinwen, your opponent today, do you have any sense she's coming on the scene, looks to have a lot of tools and weapons? Do you have a sense she's the kind of player if she does things right could be a factor for a while?

IGA SWIATEK: For sure. But it's hard for me to say how she plays on hard court because I didn't really watch her matches. I felt on my racquet today that she can play some really heavy topspin, and I feel like if she's going to use it the right way she can really be a great player.

Honestly, it's like staying in WTA on a top level, it's a mix of, you know, many things. So it's hard to say really, but I hope she's gonna stay here, because she can really play great tennis, and that, I know.

Q. You have just told us that as World No. 1, one of the advantages that you sometimes get, asked what time you would like to play. In terms of Roland Garros, they have just introduced nighttime sessions for the first time this year. What is your opinion on the nighttime sessions? Do you think they are a good idea or a bad idea? What do you also think about the fact that so far this year most of the matches have been men on the ATP Tour in the night matches?

IGA SWIATEK: Oh, I didn't realize, actually. Oh, my God. I can't even pick any thoughts today. Sorry.

Well, honestly I think it's great for fans. For us, for sure, it's tough, I'm not gonna lie, because next day when we are going to sleep at 4:00 a.m. or 3:00 a.m. are pretty tough.

But on Grand Slams we have time to recover usually, and they are scheduling us pretty smart way usually. So I didn't really know that they are scheduling ATP matches at that hour. But, yeah, I would be okay with playing a night session like that, but it's never comfortable, you know, because you have to change the routine, yeah.