THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

June 30, 2022

Iga Swiatek

Press Conference

I. SWIATEK/L. Pattinama Kerkhove

6-4, 4-6, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What is it like to be on a streak such as yours where even when you're in a tough match you know you have this momentum going?

IGA SWIATEK: Honestly, during a match I don't even think about the previous matches and the streak because I don't think it's giving me anything at that point. I'm just trying to figure out what to do better and how to kind of come back.

So it doesn't really matter for me.

Q. How would you describe the level of your confidence at this point and how does that help you when you're in a tough situation?

IGA SWIATEK: For sure my confidence, I build it during this season. It's better. It's getting better and better on every tournament.

I would say the grass is pretty tricky for me. I'm not going to lie. I mean, I guess you can see that I'm not playing maybe as efficiently as on other surfaces.

Basically my confidence is getting better overall. But this tournament is tricky and I'm still feeling out how to play the best game here.

Q. How big was the splits backhand passing shot?

IGA SWIATEK: You mean did a slide?

Q. A full split, hit the backhand.

IGA SWIATEK: I mean, I'm pretty happy that I have some shots that I can really lean on sometimes. For sure backhand is one of them.

Q. Could you talk about Ash Barty. You were good friends, trained together. Has she contacted you at all during your spell? What are your reflections now?

IGA SWIATEK: She congratulated me a couple of times. That's pretty nice. It's not like we are in touch every day.

Ash is that kind of person that I feel like if I would have some kind of issue or problem, I can always ask her. That's pretty nice. She's, like, that kind of player who has been through every experience in her career. So it's nice.

Yeah, for sure she's a huge inspiration for me. I said that, like, from the beginning of the season that her game always motivated me to get better and kind of have the same amount of variety and options on court as she does.

Q. How do you think you would have got on against her on grass?

IGA SWIATEK: I think I'd lose (smiling). But on clay right now, I think I would win, yeah.

Q. What is trickiest for you about playing on grass? How do you overcome it?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, it's hard to describe 'cause, well, on grass I feel like everything changes. You have to adjust the movement. I mean, for sure I really like how I move on court, especially when I can slide, when I can recover quickly. Here I can't really slide. I have to slow down before hitting the ball, so it's tricky.

I would say, I mean, I think I would play well on grass if I would have kind of more time to just play on this surface. Yeah, I mean, every year it's only like four weeks, so I feel it's not enough to learn properly.

I guess I can see other players who learn how to do that, so I still have hope.

Q. What are your thoughts about the next match?

IGA SWIATEK: Oh, I don't even think about that yet. I'm just enjoying that I'm through to the third round.

Q. You announced yesterday this exhibition event in Poland. How exciting is it for you to have that?

IGA SWIATEK: Very. We were working very hard to make it happen, especially my PR manager, Paula Wolecka. Probably most of you have been in touch with her. She worked really hard to make this even happen because for me it would be hard to be, like, 100% involved. I was really focused on just playing well and doing tennis the best way possible.

But yeah, I mean, it was Daria, when we were in States we thought that maybe this would be a nice thing to do. It's really exciting because I feel like we don't have enough events like that in Poland. I really want to show people tennis from a, like, different perspective so... I hope it's going to be fun.

Q. How excited are you to play with Radwanska?

IGA SWIATEK: Oh, my God, very. It's pretty funny because when I started on WTA, that was her first year where she didn't play. I was pretty sad that we never got a chance to, like, even be around.

I guess her coach was free, so that was good. And, yeah, it's going to be fun.