PORSCHE TENNIS GRAND PRIX

April 20, 2023

Iga Swiatek

Press Conference

I. SWIATEK/Z. Qinwen

6-1, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Iga, somewhat of a tough match today, especially in the second set. What is it you felt got you through in straight sets today?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, I felt like I needed to play more intense game, the same way I played at the beginning of the match. I came back to that.

Yeah, I'm pretty happy with my result overall. I think that up-and-down kind of vibe that we had on court when I lost like two games or three in a row, it's because I had a break. I'm very happy I was able to come back, because that's like the most important thing for me.

Even though I may be a little bit rusty, I'm happy I can play good tennis.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. As mentioned, tricky second set. After the loss of your serve, there were a few close line calls. You slipped. Then a few errors. But you fought really for every point. Are you proud how you stayed in the moment? Was it a perfect first clay court match to shake off the rust after your injury break?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, you know, I wouldn't call anything perfect, because there is always something you can improve. But for sure, as I said, even though I had like up-and-down, I'm happy that, yeah, I was solid at the end and I really could be more composed and got my level up.

So I'm pretty happy with the result, and I think it was a pretty cool match. I was disciplined tactically and mentally as well. I feel like, you know, I really need matches right now, so each of these matches on center court with this nice atmosphere is giving me a lot of experience.

Q. I have a question regarding the decision of the IOC. The IOC wants to allow Russian athletes back into global sports events and justify this with human rights. What's your opinion on this?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, honestly, you know, human rights are important, but I always feel like there are values that you have to kind of like treat respectfully, and war is not something that we want in the world. I was pretty open about that since the beginning.

You know, right now the situation is pretty complicated, because at the beginning of the war there weren't many like decisions one way. Well, at first they were kind of banned in other sports, not in tennis. Then it changed a little bit, and they are starting to be allowed, the Russian and Belarusian players, which is pretty confusing, because I feel like nothing changed in Ukraine and the cities are still under attack and many Ukranian athletes are fighting in the war and actually like losing their lives.

It's heartbreaking. I just hope, you know, no matter what the decisions is gonna be, the sport will be able to kind of put people together and not separate them. But, you know, there are tensions, so it may be tricky and hard to do, but, well, you know me as just one athlete, I don't have like full influence on what's going on, so we kind of have to, you know, just compete our best no matter what the circumstances are.

Q. You play next against Karolina Pliskova. What do you expect from a match against her?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, as usual, I don't expect anything because tennis is pretty unpredictable. Karolina is such an experienced player and a heavy hitter. She can serve really great. It's not going to be easy, obviously, especially on a fast surface.

But I know how she plays. Hopefully I'm gonna be able to use my experience as well from previous matches and just play my game. Honestly, like this tournament, I really want to focus a little bit on myself and what I want to show, so it doesn't matter who I'm playing against, but there are no easy matches here, as you can see. I'm treating every match like the most important one.

Q. How would you rate yourself today? As you said, perfection, never satisfied with your performance maybe, but how would you rate yourself from 1 to 10?

IGA SWIATEK: Rate? I would say 8. Yeah.

Q. I was wondering, watching the match in your first service games, was maybe the first serve probably lacking a little bit in terms of percentage?

IGA SWIATEK: Lucky?

Q. Lacking.

IGA SWIATEK: Oh, lacking, okay.

Q. So if you change something, if you tried to like decrease the speed of the serve or maybe just found your rhythm on your serve?

IGA SWIATEK: So my serve at the beginning was bad?

Q. No, just the first-serve percentage was under 50%.

IGA SWIATEK: In the first set?

Q. Yeah, in the first three service games.

IGA SWIATEK: Really? Okay. Well, I felt like everything was going the right way. Honestly, like, I didn't serve for three weeks, so I'm not really paying much attention to that.

On clay court, second serve can do even more than first sometimes. So I don't really care. These games were pretty like solid, so I didn't even know that the percentage was like that. Sorry.

Q. I was just thinking maybe some rust, as you said, during the pretournament press conversation, maybe rusty, so I thought...

IGA SWIATEK: Well, as I said, I didn't serve for a couple of weeks because that was like the only movement that was kind of like really forbidden for me. So I think I will get back to it step by step.

Q. You switched your clothing sponsor, and you announced the special shoes for you. How has the work progressed?

IGA SWIATEK: They are working on it. It's pretty hard because they are like really this kind of company that really wants to make a perfect kind of shoe. They are really -- they always want my feedback and everything, and I'm trying to give a lot of feedback. That's the first time I'm involved in a process like that. So it's pretty exciting for me.

Yeah, we are working on it. It's sometimes hard to kind of test when you're switching surfaces, and we're gonna be on grass court soon. So we'll see how it's gonna go. But I'm pretty happy that they are paying so much attention to make the shoe perfect, and I feel like it's going to be really cool. I will keep you updated.

Q. The conditions on the clay court tournaments are pretty different. Some struggle here where it's faster and indoor, some struggle with the altitude in Madrid. Then there's you. You won last year everything on clay. Do you even have preferred clay court conditions, or is it just, Ah, it's clay, I'm fine anyway?

IGA SWIATEK: I feel like I have like more tools that maybe some of the players don't have, so this is an advantage. But honestly, like the top players can play on every surface usually. So we have to be ready anyway.

But for sure like the clay season I enjoy playing tennis on clay a little bit more than on hard courts, so it's just nicer. In Madrid I only played once, so we'll see how it's gonna go. And, yeah, what can I say?

Q. Just out of curiosity, I haven't seen the ribbon on your hat.

IGA SWIATEK: I forgot. That's just me being stupid. Nothing changed. Yeah, I forgot.