WTA FINALS

October 28, 2023

Iga Swiatek

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Is there a particular tournament you won this year that you thought this is going to get me my third qualification for the Finals?

IGA SWIATEK: It happened early. Honestly, it's not like I needed to be in the race till the end, because I think I qualified halfway through the season. But I'm not sure honestly.

So I'm really happy to be here. For sure it shows that I'm a consistent player. Playing WTA Finals for the thirst time, it's for sure great feeling. I can also use my experience from previous years.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. All week the stadium was the topic. How do you feel today?

IGA SWIATEK: I feel, well, for sure it's a great place to be in terms of all the surroundings, beautiful views and everything. I'm enjoying Cancun.

On the court, it's a little bit tricky because it's a little bit windy. Today I had the chance to practice on the center court for like 45 minutes for the first time. It's a little bit different than the practice courts.

I guess to perform well here, you just have to kind of not care of everything that is going on around, just really focus on playing the best tennis possible.

Q. The next Monday your first match is Marketa. You have never lost against her. Could be an advantage for you?

IGA SWIATEK: Honestly, hmm, we played all these matches in different conditions and different surfaces. The first time we played, I think it was 2020, so long time ago. Yeah, we played during the US Open swing.

It's not easy playing against her. She's a lefty. Her game style is a little bit different than most of players. She's changing the rhythm a lot. You really need to be ready and focused all the time. Well, she's a Grand Slam champion now, so she for sure knows how to handle pressure.

There are not going to be easy matches here. I'm just hoping to be 100% ready and also kind of, like, focused on myself and just playing the best way in these conditions.

Q. Do you consider the favorite player to win the tournament because...

IGA SWIATEK: One more time. Do I think?

Q. You are the favorite of the champion this tournament?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, I don't think in that categories because on the other hand you can always say first two seeds are going to be the favorites, or the first seed.

But honestly, so many things can happen this week. Overall in any tennis tournament, I stop thinking that way. I think any one of us can win this tournament.

I mean, Cara Garcia last year, I don't know if she was fourth. She wasn't in the top three I think, and she still won. Same with Muguruza in Guadalajara. History shows that it's not about who's the favorite.

Q. Talking about the court conditions, the wind is one thing, but how do you feel the speed of the court is? You're smirking at me right now. How do you feel the court is as far as speed is? How is the bounce? Your kick serve was going quite high today, so...

IGA SWIATEK: Well, I only played 45 minutes, so I'm not sure. 'Cause also it's windy, so you never if it's your bounce or the wind.

For sure the center court is very different from the practice courts. I think this is going to be the toughest thing to, like, kind of work on because we already kind of got used to what's there. Now I think here the surface is a little bit different.

But I'm not sure, honestly. Ask other players because I only played 45 minutes there. Because of the wind, I think it's going to kind of even out every match because sometimes we're just going to make more mistakes or not control the ball as we could in different conditions. It's also up to us how we're going to handle that.

I think it's going to be more about that mental attitude toward these matches and how you accept some mistakes and also use opportunities that you have.

We'll see. I can't really tell everything about the surface yet 'cause I only played 45 minutes.

Q. For you, in terms of coming into the season, you've talked about how different you felt with everything you had accomplished last year, the expectations that that can obviously create from the outside. Maybe from the inside, too, but definitely from the outside, how people interpreted your level throughout the year. How difficult was that? Did you find that the expectations at some point from the outside looking at you were, I don't know, unfair in a lot of ways? You talked about dropping a set, and people would panic.

IGA SWIATEK: Yeah, for sure sometimes I felt like it's just kind of ridiculous because people got used to me winning. It's not like it's going to happen all the time. So I think this season was kind of more normal, I would say, like most of the seasons we play, for even the top players.

I think the main thing that I want to avoid is forgetting that this was also a good season and I still won some great tournaments. I won a Grand Slam, so...

For sure, comparing everything to 2020, I can kind of tell you pretty confidently that I may not have a season like that again, but I'm going to do my best.

For sure the expectations from the outside, it was the thing that really sometimes stopped me this season. I'm going to work on not letting it stop me this time.

Q. Have you ever dressed up for Halloween? If you have, what did you dress up as? If you could dress up on Tuesday, what would you dress up as?

IGA SWIATEK: We don't have such a huge tradition of Halloween in Europe like in U.S. I would love to dress Shania Twain, that panther look. That would be my dream.

But I don't know if I'm going to have an opportunity because here, yeah, people dress up as well. I'm not prepared. I was more focused on yesterday's gala than Halloween. I'm going to change that for sure in future years.

Did I say right, panther? Right, sorry. I don't know about these big jungle cats (laughter).