US OPEN

September 3, 2022

Iga Swiatek

Press Conference

I. SWIATEK/L. Davis

6-3, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Straight sets, two hours on the court. Your thoughts on your performance today.

IGA SWIATEK: Well, for sure it wasn't as smooth as in first and second round. I'm pretty happy I made it through and could close it in second set and come back. Yeah, that was pretty important for me.

For sure she played totally differently than most of the players, which threw me a little bit off the rhythm. But I'm happy I was fighting till the end.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. On the adjustments that you had to make throughout the match, obviously with her game style, but also there were some adjustments on your side, if you could talk about that, especially in the second set.

IGA SWIATEK: For me, the biggest thing I wanted to do was just not play too aggressively. On the other hand I was the one that was playing faster so I had to find a proper balance.

I really wanted to take her off the footwork because sometimes she played in a slower rhythm, but she could also play some flat, hard balls. Sometimes I wasn't ready for it when she was changing that rhythm.

Yeah, I took care of that and I just tried to take it point by point when I was losing 0-3. I think my focus got a little bit better because at the end of the first set and beginning of the second I was looking a little bit too much to the box.

I think just being more focused, like, in your body to focus on the proper stuff, it gave me a lot. That's the biggest adjustment.

Tactically, yeah, I just needed to find the proper balance between being aggressive and making unforced errors.

Q. You've won three matches in a row here. That's actually the first time you've done that since the French Open, which is almost three months ago. May be a bit of a surprise because you've won so much this year. How much of a motivation was it for you to get that kind of consistency and the roll going again? If so, how have you done that?

IGA SWIATEK: Honestly I didn't even focus on that 'cause I still remember how it is to lose. Last year I remember when I was in Madrid I think, I just talk with Daria actually. I was like, I want to get to the quarterfinals of these 1000 tournaments. After the tournament in Cincinnati, I knew like it's not the end of the world that I'm losing in third round. It's not like the whole universe changed so right now I'm always going to be in quarterfinals or finals or whatever, win tournaments.

I tried just to remind myself that it's kind of normal, that it's impossible to play always on the same level. Yeah, here I just took it match by match. I wasn't expecting maybe too much because of the losses, so that's good.

It's not like I lost confidence or something. I still know anything can happen on these tournaments.

Q. What do you think about your next opponent, Jule Niemeier?

IGA SWIATEK: I don't know a lot honestly. I know she has a pretty nice serve. We never practiced, so I don't know, like, how it feels on a racquet, how she plays.

But it's not like first time when I'm going to be playing against a new opponent. Tactically I trust in my coach that he's going to prepare well.

I know she is really talented and she young. It's going to be a great battle. It's not like I can say a lot right now.

Q. Victoria Azarenka spoke today quite passionately. She mentioned Fiona Ferro's case against her coach and spoke about how young players on the tour can be exploited by coaches, manipulated by them. I wondered your thoughts on that. Is that a conversation you've ever had with your team, something you thought about? Do you agree with her?

IGA SWIATEK: One more time. What did she say exactly?

Q. She spoke a bit about Fiona Ferro's case, but more generally about how young players on tour are kind of vulnerable to being exploited by coaches, kind of inappropriate relationships or close relationships.

IGA SWIATEK: Honestly, I've never had a situation like that, so it's hard for me to even think about how it must feel, how to kind of push back that kind of behavior. I'm really sorry that it happened to Fiona.

Honestly it's not a lot -- I mean, I don't have -- my life experience isn't so big that I can really say a lot about that. I wouldn't know how it feels.

I hope that if something like that happens, we're going to kind of be safe and have trust in WTA that they're going to take care of this stuff properly. I'm sure they're doing that.

It's not something that it's always visible. Yeah, but honestly, I think Vika is the one that can say a little bit more because she has been on tour for so many years. I'm pretty happy that I always had good people around me, and I'm pretty sorry that it happened to Fiona, yeah.

Q. When the streak ended, how was the reaction from your fellow peers and players? Did they acknowledge it?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, I know that during all these tournaments, like, there were many players who congratulated me. I felt like it was really appreciated that I'm so consistent that I'm doing so much work. But honestly, I don't know how they feel about that, what they feel about that. Well, I got, like, positive feedback even from Alize Cornet when she won and ended that streak.

So I'm pretty happy they are supportive, but I'm sure that some of them are jealous a little bit (smiling). We all working to win basically, even though we should focus on the process and stuff. It's normal to want to win.

Yeah, I'm just happy that they not showing it so much that they kind of envy. I would envy, as well. I'm happy that I was the one that was winning for a while.