THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 1, 2023

Iga Swiatek

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Welcome to the press conference for Iga Swiatek.

How are you feeling going into The Championships?

IGA SWIATEK: For sure I really feel like I used my time in Bad Homburg to practice and get used to the grass court. I feel every year that I'm kind of getting into the rhythm a little bit faster.

So I feel like I'm ready and I'm pretty excited for the tournament.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Physically it's a quick turnaround. Have you recovered? Are you worried or not for the first match?

IGA SWIATEK: I'm okay. I had a really bad night. We did with my conditioning coach like measurements in the morning. They didn't really look good because I barely slept. I had a stomachache, but I don't know if there was something wrong or not.

Later in the day I felt okay, so I'm pretty sure it's going to be fine.

Q. What do you consider to be the biggest challenges for you personally and your game on grass?

IGA SWIATEK: Hmmm... That's a tough question because I still feel like, some years I felt really good on grass, like when I was a junior basically, then I had some tournaments that I was hoping to play a little bit better.

But I don't know, 2019 I played against Viktorija Golubic. She played a lot of slices. I didn't really get into the tournament. Also mentally I remember I wasn't really focused on that tournament. A year later we didn't play at all because of COVID.

Next years, well, it was all pretty tricky because I always had to face some obstacles that weren't only because of the surface or the tournament.

Last year I felt a lot of pressure here because I was No. 1. I don't know. I feel like this time -- actually, that was the first year where I could just focus on practicing, actually learning a lot. So hopefully I'm going to be able to use that on my matches.

For sure getting used to the grass was always a tricky part because when you play well on Roland Garros, then you have less time to prepare for Wimbledon.

As I said, yeah, this year I feel like I've done a little bit more than for the past years.

Q. Yesterday the WTA celebrated its 50th year anniversary. I was talking to Billie Jean King there. She is telling me that she is certain that the ATP and WTA will both go to Saudi Arabia and have tournaments there. There are concerns about issues there. She said that engagement is always important. She was keen to see that happen. As world No. 1, do you have any opinions on the possibility of the WTA Tour going to Saudi Arabia?

IGA SWIATEK: I didn't know that it's certain.

Q. She thinks it's certain.

IGA SWIATEK: So basically I'm kind of still waiting for some official information that is going to come out because it's hard to know what is the rumor and what not.

I'll be ready to play wherever the WTA decides we're going to play. Yeah, I'm still kind of waiting for all the information.

Q. Do you see the tour's role in going to different places, trying to help change or effect change, or do you not think about that side of the sport?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, I haven't thought about it in connection to, like, Saudi Arabia. I was more thinking what I can do as an individual player. For sure we as a community, I feel like we have some power, we could use that.

But it all depends how we're going to kind of do it in the future because, yeah... Sorry (smiling).

Q. You've been very outspoken in your support for Ukraine. I wonder if you can talk a bit about Wimbledon's approach to Ukraine. They've shown a fair bit of support. What they've done, what they haven't done, and what you expect to see from the crowd vis-à-vis the players from Russia and Belarus here?

IGA SWIATEK: It's hard for me to predict what the crowd is going to do obviously.

For sure I think it's good that Wimbledon is asking players to speak out and tell what they think about the war and who are they kind of supporting. I think we should show good values. That's what I'm focusing on.

I think everybody should be against the war. It's logical for me. Looking at what happened last year, I think it's pretty fair that they ask for that.

Q. How much of a priority is it for you to eventually become a great grass court player and be as good here as you have been in other places?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, the thing is that grass court season is so short, it always becomes a priority kind of before the grass court season. Throughout the whole year I'm not really thinking about that.

For sure, like deeply I believe the best players, they can play on all surfaces. I want to kind of become that kind of player who can play well on grass, as well, and feel comfortable there.

For sure I'm doing my best to just work on my skills. Last year I feel like we've done a pretty good job with my coach in terms of my touch and getting back slices and also playing slice sometimes.

This year I feel like we had more time to kind of focus on, like, the basics, more time to also play matches. Yeah, I'm using that time as much as possible.

As I said, like throughout the whole season, it's hard for me to think about grass. I was actually thinking last year that maybe it would be good, like, doing part of the preseason on grass. Only the idea is pretty crazy because still we have, like, four or five weeks of preseason usually right now when you play the Finals.

It may be tough, but I heard that Roger once did the preseason on Roland Garros, I think - I'm not sure - because he wanted to win Roland Garros obviously later in the season.

If I would have more time to play on grass, I'm pretty sure that I would be able to play better and better.

But as I said, if you play well in Roland Garros, you have only like one week of practice and one week of tournament, then you go on Wimbledon.

Q. Moving from clay to grass, what are the specific adjustments you're making to do better on grass in terms of court positioning, serve strategy, that kind of stuff?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, I think mainly I'm focused on footwork because that's I think where my strength is on other surfaces. For sure sliding is tricky here, so you have to slow down and stop before the shot in a different way.

Yeah, you kind of have to just -- I feel like if you have time to adjust to the surface and then use your intuition on matches, I was able to do that a little bit in Bad Homburg. I think it's going to be fine.

But the thing is, last year when I didn't play any matches before Wimbledon, it was hard to use my intuition because there was pressure. I felt like I'm playing a Grand Slam, and I played so well in Roland Garros that I should play well here as well. But it's different.

Your brain kind of has to kind of feel the ball is bouncing lower. You can't think about things like that during the match. So I think this year, it's going to be a little bit easier for me to use my intuition a little bit more.