NATIONAL BANK OPEN

August 11, 2022

Iga Swiatek

Press Conference

B. HADDAD MAIA/I. Swiatek

6-4, 3-6, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: Iga, tough match out there today. Can you talk us through the match a little.

IGA SWIATEK: Well I think at the beginning I struggled to find my rhythm on the court. Probably because, you know, she's lefty and I had a hard time adjusting to her serve.

And plus the wind. I think without the wind I would manage. But it was pretty crazy out there.

But, you know, in the third set which was pretty tight I knew what mistakes I've made. So I know what I want to work on and what I want to improve before next tournament, for sure.

THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. You mentioned the wind. But how tough were the conditions? And as you got to the end of the third set what were you trying to do to manage both the condition side of things and your game itself?

IGA SWIATEK: Well I tried to use the different racquet with more tension on my strings so it's not going to, you know, go so far when I play with the wind.

But, well, the thing is that at the beginning when you don't like feel hundred percent like you're hitting the ball in the right place it can mess up your rhythm until the end of the match.

And I really tried to find the rhythm again. And I think I did in some moments of the match. But sometimes she just didn't give me much chance on her service games. She was serving pretty well and really strong.

So yeah, just one break and it was enough to lose. So, yeah, but I think I did everything I could to kind of find my rhythm, yeah.

Q. You already mentioned that Beatriz is left handed and that was a challenge. But what else about her game made her a difficult opponent?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, for me right now it's hard to say if it was more her game or the wind that really, you know, messed up my first set.

But I think she just used the conditions better than me. And when she was playing with the wind she was playing really strong balls. And sometimes I was late for them. And on the other hand she was able to, you know, put it in.

But I just think I made more mistakes than her. She was a little bit more solid. Yeah, but for sure she's playing really great. And she has a really solid base on her serve. So, yeah.

Q. Just in terms of just your takeaways from the match. I mean with the conditions sometimes, I mean I talked to other players who played today and they all were quite adamant that these were really some of the toughest conditions they have played in. So do you, is it easier to discount kind of the way the match went and the result and things like that or are there things that you take out of this going forward?

IGA SWIATEK: Well for sure I know I would feel much better if we had like normal conditions. Especially, you know, this was the first day that it was so windy. So I didn't even know that it's going to be like that. And it was hard to even prepare, you know?

But, yeah, I'm pretty sure I would play better. But we have both the same conditions. And I also don't want to be the player that is going to blame it on the wind, you know?

But, so next time maybe I'm going to be able to find, even though the conditions are going to be bad, more solutions and just play more solid. Because I did a lot of mistakes that I kind of don't accept, you know.

Q. You mentioned obviously the wind. Is there anything you can take from like playing in these conditions to help you in the future days when it's similar conditions that you took from the match right away? Like that you can think of right away to help you maybe on another windy day in Cincinnati or US Open?

IGA SWIATEK: I don't know yet. But I will find out.