US OPEN

September 1, 2022

Iga Swiatek

Press Conference

I. SWIATEK/S. Stephens

6-3, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Straight sets, hour and 14 minutes. Pretty quick. Your thoughts.

IGA SWIATEK: Yeah, I'm pretty happy that I was solid from the beginning till the end, because in Cincinnati I had some ups and downs in terms of focus.

Right now I think I was more solid. So I'm pretty happy with the performance.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Is it almost easier to play without people talking about the run of wins that you had on the clay courts? Actually having had a couple of defeats, it makes it a little bit more normal and therefore easier to deal with everything?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, I think I had some moments during that streak where it was for sure tough. It was like harder for me to not think about it, you know. But I was really in the zone, and I was going with the flow with all these wins. So I used that pretty well.

I would say I really enjoyed that position (smiling). Right now, for sure I have less on my mind, but on the other hand there are also other things that you need to work on. It's always, in sports, you have always something that you need to adjust to or to get ready to... Just I have other challenges right now, different challenges.

So I wouldn't say it's easier. It's just different, yeah.

Q. You are the No. 1 player. There is another player getting a lot of attention here. What effect does it have on you? Any effect? Does it make it easier at all that you are sort of flying under the radar maybe a little bit?

IGA SWIATEK: Maybe a little bit, yeah, for sure. You can see the difference than on Roland Garros and on Wimbledon when I came back after winning Roland Garros. But I would say it doesn't really matter for me. If I'm going to play well and if I'm going to do my work on court, I know I will be fine in terms of everything that's going around, you know.

But, yeah, I mean, Serena totally deserves it and it's pretty obvious for me that she's going to be in the spotlight in this tournament. Yeah, that's kind of her time right now. I'm just, you know, playing and focusing on that, and that's the most important thing for me.

Q. Yesterday Fernandez lost and also Raducanu lost in the first round. Seems like the players who achieved some big things have been struggling after first titles. But in your case, of course it took like one-and-a-half year after you won Roland Garros, but seems like you have been very consistent after that. What do you think was the key for you to being consistent, being humble?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, that's probably the thing that I'm most proud of, so thanks for bringing it up. It's always nice to hear about that.

I don't know honestly, I mean, there are a lot of things I think we are doing a little bit differently as a team, and I'm pretty happy that I had really, you know, smart people in my team that could guide me after that first win.

Also, honestly, like talking about other players, it's hard for me to compare because everybody has different story, and also, like different preparation for success because you also have to prepare for success. I was pretty surprised about that, because we always think about what to do after we lose, you know (smiling).

But winning a Grand Slam is kind of life-changing moment. That was my goal, to be consistent after it, and kind of to prove myself and the others that I can play just in other tournaments on this kind of level. I think, yeah, I proved that. So I'm pretty proud of that.

But the key is, it's hard to describe it, because it's everything we do every day, and balancing the on-court stuff with the obligations that are new off-court, also, kind of balancing if you want to be in the spotlight and everywhere or if you want to just focus on work.

I remember having few months after Roland Garros where, you know, my main focus was also like not going the right way, because I was also thinking of how to use that success and how to, I don't know, business-wise grow. Then I just realized that the most important thing is just to play well and I should focus on training and the things that are on court.

So I tried to change that, and it took me I think not a lot of time, which is different than in other cases. But I think just, you know, looking at what's important for you and what your priorities are is the most important thing, and also having good people around you.

Q. What are your thoughts about your next match against an opponent you haven't played yet, but what familiarity do you have with her game and the challenge ahead?

IGA SWIATEK: I think we practiced couple of times, but it was few years ago. Well, I don't know honestly how she plays right now, for sure I have knowledge about how she played a few years ago but right now I haven't watched her in matches. There is not a lot I can say.

For sure I know that I'm going to try to be focused on myself and be proactive and try to play the game that is going to be intense. Yeah, tactically we are going to prepare, but it's going to be tomorrow. Right now I know just from my side what I'm going to do, yeah.

Q. Your reading preferences are always so interesting. If you wouldn't mind again just sharing maybe what you have been reading and your thoughts on that.

IGA SWIATEK: I just started -- oh, my God. How do you say in English?

VOICE IN AUDIENCE: "Atonement."

IGA SWIATEK: I just started reading that. I watched the movie couple years ago. I don't think I understood a lot, so it's good to, yeah, just read this book. It's a good one, but it's going pretty fast so I'm scared that I'm going to be done quick. Do you have any ideas for me?

Q. No.

IGA SWIATEK: Okay.

Q. I'm not sure you were filled in on this but there was some real tension between Azarenka and Kostyuk after their match today. No handshake, obviously a lot of...

IGA SWIATEK: I didn't see it.

Q. Both players talked about this. Curious what your sense is of what, you know, you tried to do and what the tour can try to do to, not remedy the situation, but involve itself in this situation. Are you aware of this sort of bitterness in the locker room between the players from the countries that have been invaded?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, basically I think it's already too late. I mean, it's never too late, you know. But I think the best time for ATP or WTA to do anything was when the war started, and where the tension was pretty big, I mean, in the locker rooms, you know.

I think right now it's already pretty messed up, and maybe next time it's gonna be easier for us to handle it if, yeah, somebody is going to guide us and somebody is going to, I don't know, even arrange some meetings between players and showing that we should be united. Even though there are countries who are invading other countries, we are tennis players. It's sad but it's not our fault that it's happening, you know.

Yeah, I think it would be much, much easier at the beginning to do that. Right now, yeah, right now it's kind of too late, I think, to fix that.

But I think it's just in between players and their personal relationships how you're going to handle it and how you're going to communicate to each other.

But from my case, like right now it's easy to say that maybe there was lack of leadership, but at that time I didn't know what to do either. But there are smarter people than me, so they should kind of have an idea. Does that make sense?

And also I think, yeah -- yeah, okay. Yeah, that's all.