WESTERN & SOUTHERN OPEN

August 17, 2023

Iga Swiatek

Press Conference

I. SWIATEK/Z. Qinwen

3-6, 6-1, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Iga said she would like to say a few words.

IGA SWIATEK: Yes. Well, for sure today's match wasn't perfect. We all saw that. But the amount of hate and criticism that me and my team get after even losing a set is just ridiculous. I want to kind of encourage people to be more thoughtful when they comment on Internet.

It would be great if you guys would kind of help us, you know, make it happen as journalists, because we all sacrifice a lot, and we are all working really hard to be in that place. I mean, we are always giving 100% of what we can do every day.

It's kind of sad for me to see that people I work with and myself, we are really judged. I would like to, yeah, encourage people to be more thoughtful and to also focus on the positive side of what we are doing, because today, even though I didn't start the match well, I would love for people to see how I problem-solved and how I really got out of troubles.

Even though for sure I didn't feel, you know, my best game or that it's going to be a good performance in the first set, I was able actually to do that, and it's because I'm doing a lot of work physically and mentally also. Off court I'm trying to be the best kind of player and person as possible.

So, yeah, I wanted to just kind of encourage people on the Internet to be more positive and also see the positive side of what we are doing (smiling).

THE MODERATOR: On the subject of problem-solving, do you enjoy playing three setters?

IGA SWIATEK: Do I enjoy playing three-setters? Well, obviously I'd love to play two-setters, but for sure today wasn't easy. The conditions were tricky with the wind. I didn't play a lot of matches on that stadium, so I also needed to kind of get used to, like, get used to it visually.

But I'm happy that I, exactly, I problem-solved. In second set and third I played much better and much more solid game. But for sure, yeah, seeing everything that's going on on the Internet after some days when I don't play my best tennis and just have a moment of, you know, a little bit worse performance, I feel that world would be such a better place if we didn't judge each other so quickly and write that.

It's not only in the public area but also e-mails I get and messages, and my team, as well, actually, which is pretty crazy. That's why I wanted to kind of speak out about that.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. To follow up on that, you said you were getting e-mails. Are you seeing this a lot on social media? Did you see something today after the match that really bothered you, or something your team told you? How much has this been a buildup?

IGA SWIATEK: I did saw today. So, you know, yeah, sometimes I feel like it's just unnecessary, you know, and I'm always, you know, doing my best. It's not possible to perform, you know, your best game all the time.

I also saw that after Dubai and Doha when I won a tournament and then was in the final, I was pretty proud of my results, but people really kind of just saw the last match and that I lost in the final, and they shouldn't. So I wish they could see the positive side as well.

Q. Do people ever see the positive side?

IGA SWIATEK: I think they do, but on the Internet I feel like it's getting worse and worse, the hate and the amount of, like, comments that are really, like, straightforward and sometimes even a little bit mean.

So I wish it could change, because I feel like the Internet is not going to be a safe place anymore for us to go and to read stuff. So, yeah, I just kind of wanted me and my team to be a little bit more respected sometimes. But I also know that I'm not going to have 100% influence on what people are going to think or write. I just think the world and the Internet could be a better place if we all kind of work on that.

Q. How do you feel you have evolved as a problem-solver over your career? In a moment like this when you were down the double break to start off, how calm were you in finding a solution?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, for sure in the first set I was a little bit confused, and I couldn't really cope with the conditions and the wind. Also, you know, it was really loud from the stadium on this court. Hubi just finished. He won (smiling).

So I heard everything that was going on there, and I needed time to kind of just, you know, focus on what I have to do. I knew that I'm gonna have a second set to reset, and I just analyzed what I need to do in the changeover.

For sure I played, like, more safely and not too risky, because I knew that with that wind I can't control everything sometimes when I play my shots.

Q. How difficult is it to ignore what everyone says, especially when people are e-mailing your team?

IGA SWIATEK: I'm trying not to look, but I'm also posting a lot of stuff. So you're always kind of going to see that.

The thing is that I'm putting a lot of energy to not, for it not to kind of hit too deeply, but I just realized that, you know, sometimes people that, I don't know if they are my fans or not, but obviously they want me to play better. They cause me to really kind of waste a lot of energy to ignore them.

It's just unnecessary, because I know how much work we are putting and how much everybody sacrifices, me and my team. Yeah, as I said, I wish people could also, you know, see that and not judge straightforwardly.

Q. You hit over 20 unforced errors in the first set, but then you hit less than 10 for the rest of the match. In terms of that adjustment, just from a technical perspective, is that just bigger targets? Is it slowing down the racquet?

IGA SWIATEK: Kind of I started working with the wind, and I didn't really focus about the tactics that I had at the beginning, because it was hard for me to actually make it work. So I just played how I felt I should in that wind.

In the first set, I mainly focused on what my tactics was, and in these conditions, I kind of should just, yeah, play with the wind.

Q. Speaking of making adjustment during changeover, you were reading some notes during the changeover, and sometimes you are writing down something on the notes, which is quite unusual. What kind of things you are writing down?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, sometimes I have kind of too many ideas of what I want to change, and I'm just writing down what I should actually focus on, because having too many ideas on court is not a best option sometimes.

Sometimes I just choose the most important one, and I write them to kind of always look at them at the changeover. It helps me to keep my mind in the good path and not think about other stuff.

Q. Speaking of your next opponent, I believe you played her three years ago on clay. You have never played her on hard court. What are your expectations for tomorrow against Marketa?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, it seems like Marketa is really in a good place (smiling). Her results are getting better and better. Obviously she won Wimbledon, so for sure she gets a lot of confidence from that.

I still need to kind of analyze, and my coach will help me analyze her game and prepare the tactics, because as you said, we never played on hard court.

But, you know, I will also see what the conditions, if the conditions are going to be similar to today or not. I always feel like I just need to kind of focus on myself and what I want to do on court. The tactics obviously is important, but it's, like, second-most important thing, because the best thing I can do is just kind of play my game and focus on, yeah, adjusting my game so I can play the best in these conditions. That's what I'm gonna do.

Q. Novak said last night that the ball is hard to control here. Do you feel like you get used to the way the ball bounces and you feel you can control it more now?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, for sure today I wasn't controlling it a lot (smiling). When I slowed it down a little bit in second and third, I did a little bit more, but I wouldn't look at today's match and analyze that, because it was really, really windy.

For sure yesterday and on my first practice I felt that it bounces differently than in Montreal. It feels like it's flying in the air a little bit faster. So we changed tension of the strings, and yeah, I'm trying to just my game so I'm not going to make too many mistakes.

Yeah, it is a little bit tougher, but it's tennis, so I already got used to changing conditions every week.

Q. I saw the new sponsorship, and I was curious with all the sponsor pickups you have had over the course of the last 12 months how much of your kind of preparation and just actual focusing on the job that you have to do, how much of that has changed? How much of it gives you confidence versus pressure?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, it's nice that you ask about that, because people often, they don't know that we actually have to work on that as well.

I remember, you know, signing my first sponsorship deals in, like, 2019 and 2020 and how much pressure it put on my shoulders. Not everybody understood, honestly, because even people kind of close to me sometimes, my family, they thought that it's going to, I don't know, give me wings and, like, I'm gonna be just proud and play my best game, you know.

But sometimes you feel like you need to perform better because they believe in you and you're representing them. I really needed to work on that hard, and I did that and I'm over it. I'm just really happy that I work with such great companies and they want to be together with me on the journey.

It's pretty amazing. We did a lot of progress in terms of, you know, what my management team is doing, and also how I put that together with my tennis and what I do on court, and also, yeah, people that I work with every day also help with that a lot.

So I'm just really happy that I have these companies behind my back and they are believing in me. I would say it doesn't have a bad influence on me. It did before when I was younger and I just didn't understand a lot of stuff, but I really worked hard to change that and now it's just great.