ROLAND GARROS

June 4, 2024

Iga Swiatek

Press Conference

I. SWIATEK/M. Vondrousova

6-0, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Iga, congratulations. Into yet another Roland Garros semifinal. Can you give us your overall thoughts on your performance today.

IGA SWIATEK: Well, it was a really solid performance. Probably the best I have had here, so I'm happy that my game is getting better and better every day and I feel pretty confident today.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. Extremely well played. Congrats. Looking ahead to Coco, it's been just over three years since you first met her, 11 meetings since then. She's struggled to get matches against you and sometimes even sets, but she has made a lot of improvement over those years. Can you tell me what you think of her game now compared to where it was then? Do you think she's making improvements? Do you think she's a tougher opponent than she was three years ago?

IGA SWIATEK: Yeah, I think so. I think her mental game is a little bit better, and before it was, you know, kind of easier to "crack her," I would say, when you were leading.

But, I mean, it's normal that she's making progress. She's at that age that everything goes pretty nicely that if you're working hard, then you will get a progress.

She's probably doing that, and yeah, I mean, probably every aspect of her game is a little bit better, because, yeah, it's different being a teenager on the tour and then being more mature player.

Q. My first question is about your form compared to when you were at this sort of stage of the tournament the last three times that you won. How do you feel you're playing right now compared to those sort of stages?

IGA SWIATEK: Wow, that's a tough one. Well, I don't really remember how I felt, honestly, because these tournaments are long and, like, I don't remember, like, every day, I would say. But I remember last year was really stressful for me, so every match was, like, kind of like a relief, you know.

Now I'm enjoying it more, and I have more satisfaction from just playing my game. Two years ago I would say in my mind it felt pretty similar, because I just felt like I had already a great season, and now I can just go for it, you know.

And 2020, it doesn't really fit anyway, because it was just all, you know, hectic and it was all a surprise.

Q. I have heard people compare watching you and some of your scorelines to Steffi Graf, one of the great players. I know she was before your time in terms of age, but have you ever watched any footage of Steffi Graf and what your thoughts were, if you have?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, I did. She's a great champion, and, well, it's just nice that anybody would compare me to her (smiling), because I feel like -- I don't know her, but I feel like maybe she was kind of a similar person to me because she also likes to keep her privacy, and now you can see that she's just enjoying life and she knows that she worked hard to have a little bit of peace, you know, right now.

I also heard from some people on tour that she was also kind of like an introvert, really in the zone and just focusing on tennis and what she wants to do. That's what I heard tennis-wise. I mean, it's kind of hard to compare because these were totally different times. Probably I don't have such a good slice as her and volleys, but it's nice that anybody would compare me to her, because she's great.

Q. Tennis is a lot of ups and downs. From outside in what looks like an easy game, how do you succeed not to go out from the game, to stay focused at 100%? And it was the same last game.

IGA SWIATEK: I try not to really focus on the scores. Sometimes I even forget what the score is, honestly. Just, you know, focusing -- I mean, I'm keeping myself busy in terms of thinking about technique and tactics and what I would do with the next point. Because of that, I don't really get myself, allow myself to have time to, you know, drift off and think about other stuff.

Obviously it's not easy, and it's not like I'm always, you know, able to do that, but usually when I don't think about the score, I can reset after each point and start the second point from the beginning, like, with the clean sheet, it's the best kind of match for me, yeah.

Q. There have been 10 days so far now, and all 10 night-session matches have been men's matches, and all 10 of the first sessions, first match of the day on Chatrier when there is normally not that many people in yet, they all tend to be women's matches. Do you feel like the women's game has been let down by the French Open schedulers this week?

IGA SWIATEK: Honestly, sorry to say that, but I don't care, because I'm honestly just focusing on my matches, and I like playing during the day, so it's comfortable for me that I can be scheduled that way.

I think it's better to ask someone who is responsible for scheduling, at picking these matches. Probably there are many factors coming in, a lot of requests, you know. I mean, for me, I'm feeling comfortable playing during the day. If I would say that, you know, it's wrong for woman's tennis, I wouldn't really, you know, say anything that would make my tennis schedule more comfortable, but it would be nice obviously to play and pick hours. But honestly, there have been, like, I understand some decisions, like, for example, me and Naomi being in the day when Richard Gasquet played during the night, for me it's kind of obvious that French player might have priority in terms of night session.

So, yeah, I think it's better to ask somebody who is responsible for scheduling, but I'm fine with playing during the day (smiling).

Q. If you can think back to here in 2020, obviously very unusual circumstances, but I'm wondering, in what ways, if at all, did winning that first Grand Slam title, the thing all tennis players are striving for, might have changed you on the court, off the court, your perceptions of yourself, and/or because I have heard you talk about how different that year was here, was it the second one maybe that had more of that sort of a profound effect?

IGA SWIATEK: First one, I mean, I would kind of lie if I would say it gave me belief that I can win Grand Slams right now, because I was still, you know, not really sure if it happens by mistake or what really happened honestly during these two weeks.

I had to prove to myself that I was, you know, good enough to win it, and I think I proved that, you know, winning some titles after that and winning in 2022. So the win in 2022 was the most satisfying for me, and I proved everybody and I proved myself that it wasn't the one-time thing or maybe in the future I'm going to be able to win more tournaments like that.

So I would say after 2022 I was the most happy when I won.

Q. I know one of the reasons you don't like playing in the night is because you want to go to bed at a sensible time. How important is that for you to get kind of the right amount of sleep? How do you measure and kind of evaluate that as part of your kind of sports side to medicine, all of that?

IGA SWIATEK: Honestly, for me, it's kind of a priority. So I had years when, like, everything could, like, threw me off my rhythm and then I couldn't go to sleep. I worked pretty hard to be able to, you know, just chill down and, like, not get too stressed the day before, as well.

So for me, it's really important. I feel like, you know, the bodies of any of us are more ready to have, like, the peak of the activity during the day, because, like, most of you guys also work during the day like most of the population, obviously there are people working night shifts, but here I feel like, I don't know, I can adjust to anything. I played many night sessions that were good for me, but it's always comfortable going back to the hotel at 6:00 and being able to have a normal night, so yeah.

But now I wouldn't say that night sessions are throwing me off the same way as couple of years ago. I can adjust to anything.