UNITED CUP

January 8, 2024

Tomasz Wiktorowski

Iga Swiatek

Hubert Hurkacz

Team Poland

Press Conference

Team Poland - 1

Team Germany - 2

THE MODERATOR: I'll start with the captain. Tomasz, it was not the result you would have wanted tonight but you must be proud of the team this week and what they have achieved.

CAPTAIN TOMASZ WIKTOROWSKI: Of course, I'm super proud. I'm super proud of them. The whole team, actually, because everybody did a great job. It could have been the other way. It was probably, like, one centimeter away from the title.

But that's tennis. That's sport. We take it. They played, both of them, they played great tennis the whole week, more than whole week. A few fantastic matches. Germany had the epic battle yesterday, and the same actually I believe today. It was a great show.

We are proud, and I feel like we have a chance to come back stronger next year.

THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. What do you think was the difference in the mixed doubles tie tonight?

HUBERT HURKACZ: I mean, definitely Sascha, you know, he's serving really well. Iga was returning better than I did. So that was good (smiling).

But, no, I mean, definitely, yeah, I mean, definitely, I mean, we found the rhythm in the second set. I felt like we were gaining momentum, and they played a couple of good points at the beginning of the tiebreaker and just kind of, you know, the things weren't going our way then.

Q. Hubi, just talk about that singles match. It was an amazing match. What was it like to play? Obviously you'd be disappointed with the final result.

HUBERT HURKACZ: I mean, it was, you know, with Sascha it's always a battle. He's really great competitor. Yeah, I mean, today at the end he was better. So, you know, I wish I was returning a little bit better. But, yeah, I mean, it was just a tight match.

You know, I had some opportunities, and, you know, didn't close it out. But, you know, I tried my best, but I'll just, you know, learn from it and just, you know, get back to work.

Q. To both of you now, what do you take away from this week going into the Australian Open? What do you do over the next few days before the start of play in Melbourne?

HUBERT HURKACZ: Well, I think it was, you know, good to find out where your level is at and, you know, just to, you know, get the feedback what things you need to, you know, just a little bit improve, what to work on, like, during the week before the Australian Open.

So definitely, no, those matches were really valuable. Yeah, was fun to play in the team atmosphere, like, being with Iga, with Tomasz, with the rest of the team together, and definitely know that was really positive.

Yeah, I wanted to probably win even more than for the Team Poland, so, yeah, just a bit disappointing night (smiling).

Q. Iga?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, I for sure will take, yeah, feedback from my singles matches, but I'm happy that I, you know, played in a solid way. I'm not going to feel rusty in Melbourne when I start my first-round matches.

Yeah, I'm glad that, you know, all of the things that I worked on actually I improved, you know. Mixed doubles, it's always a great, you know, kind of lesson for me to play any kind of doubles. But for sure playing with Hubi, I think we're going to use it in next years of our careers. So any match is a great chance for us to learn. For sure, I did learn.

Yeah, I mean, I'm glad that we don't have super tiebreaks in singles (smiling).

Q. Iga, obviously it's been a very long week and a half, I guess, playing in competition mode. Does that change anything in terms of preparation for Melbourne in terms of days off? Do you get right back on the practice court? How do you manage that ahead of the slam?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, I don't manage that. Usually the coach makes the decision with my conditioning coach, and I'm going to have some days off. We always, you know, do that after such a long tournament.

But honestly, I feel like this tournament I had a great rhythm in terms of having a day off. It was, you know, literally like sometimes on a Grand Slam. You could get used to it and have right routines.

But yeah, I will have, I think, two days off and I will spend them here on Bondi Beach. Maybe I shouldn't tell that, because now I'm going to have some stalkers there. (Laughter.)

I'm not going to be on Bondi Beach (smiling).