QATAR TOTAL ENERGIES OPEN

February 13, 2023

Iga Swiatek

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Last year you proved you were the real No. 1, the boss of the tour. But even now you are facing one of a kind of challenge with all the titles you have to defend. How do you approach that?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, honestly I'm not really focused on defending the titles, because I feel like every year it's a different story and every tournament is a different story.

It just doesn't make sense for me to, like, think about last year's tournament and this year's tournament and think that it's the same story. It's not, because a lot can happen in one year.

I really just want to start this tournament as any other player, and we all actually do that and we all start from the same spot. There is like so many matches to win and so many obstacles to overcome that I really want to be focused just on the next step and on the next match.

I'm not really thinking about, you know, winning or even, you know, playing in next rounds. For me, only second round matters right now.

Q. What was the approach after Australia coming back to practice? What was the mindset? Was there any kind of reset or what was the work that you did?

IGA SWIATEK: Actually, exactly what I needed was to reset it a little bit, and I knew what I did wrong on Australian Open and over my whole stay in Australia. I really wanted to kind of focus on getting my expectations lower and not expect from myself that I'm gonna, you know, right now, I don't know, play perfectly all the time. Because, yeah, last season was so strange, actually, that it can actually mess up with your head a little bit (smiling).

So I really wanted to get my both feet on the ground, just focus on hard work and what I have to do on court. I was really happy, because we did, I would say it was like even last part of the preseason. Our practices were really intense and, like, the volume was also pretty big. So I feel like I could really focus on the technical stuff and just improve as a player.

Q. Welcome back. Were you surprised at how well you did last year in terms of the tournaments you won, the Grand Slams you had? Were you surprised yourself?

IGA SWIATEK: Yeah, I was. You know, things like that, they don't happen often. I thought that maybe, you know, in a few years I'm going to be that kind of player who is going to be so consistent to be World No. 1, and I wasn't expecting it to happen last year.

So for sure I was surprised, but honestly, I wasn't really thinking about that throughout the whole season. I was just doing my job and playing as best as possible, and it happened.

So, yeah, I didn't plan it, for sure. It wasn't, you know, my goal last season to be World No. 1, but I'm just happy that I was kind of disciplined and not really -- I didn't overanalyze anything. I just played.

Q. What's the difference between Iga of February 2022 and Iga of February 2023 in terms of your mental capacity?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, actually, it's not like everything changed. I would say actually after Australian Open when I had time to reset a little bit, I feel like I'm still on the same spot, because I tried to look at, you know, the race ranking and really focus on actually competing with other players. I feel like looking at race ranking is going to help me, you know, to look forward and not to what happened in the past.

Yeah, but last year at that time I was also, you know, my corroboration with my coach was pretty new, so we were also kind of learning how to work together properly. I had different challenges, but my mindset was similar because I still want to, you know, just fight for every ball. Yeah.

Also, the experience that I had last year here is helping, because I just know the conditions pretty well and the stadium and facilities. I feel like I'm just more experienced.

Q. I wanted to take you back to your first Grand Slam victory. What were the feelings immediately after? Was it a sense of the unbelievable happened? Did you think that you could? What was the kind of pressure you were dealing with after that first title?

IGA SWIATEK: After my first Roland Garros I would say I was in a little bit of shock. My main feelings were kind of I was happy, for sure, but also, like, I didn't know what's gonna happen next and what I'm gonna face.

So there was a bit of, like, being uncertain about the future. I would say it was also the end of the season, so I had time actually to kind of enjoy that, but then for sure I struggled a little bit with expectations. I felt like with that kind of tennis I should, you know, show it on every tournament right now.

But then I really worked hard on, yeah, getting my expectations lower, pretty similar to what I'm trying to do right now (smiling).

Yeah, throughout the whole 2021 season I felt like I found more, you know, I was in more stable place, you know, than in 2020.

Q. Players don't like to live in the past, but obviously with what you did last year, you're still going to have a lot of questions about last year, a lot of comparisons about how you feel compared to last year. How does that work for you? Do you block that out or...

IGA SWIATEK: Well, I don't want to block that out, because to block something out is like the hardest thing to do. So I'm accepting that, and I know that even myself I'm gonna come back sometimes to what happened last year, but I just want to kind of, I don't know, switch these thoughts and think about the future a little bit more, because I just feel like comparing all the time, it's not going to be helpful.

Yeah, so I'm okay with that. I know that it's like part of the job basically, and this is why it's so hard to be consistent, you know, throughout your whole career. I'm kind of like treating it as a challenge.

Q. Can you talk about being No. 1 and how important that is? Is it pressure?

IGA SWIATEK: It depends. I mean, sometimes for sure you can feel the pressure and you can feel that every player they want to play the best game against you.

But on the other hand, most of the time I feel the same and I want to work the same way. So it depends. There are moments where I feel like I'm, like, there is a little bit too much baggage on my shoulders, but most of the time I feel like I'm still the same player who wants to just improve. So it depends, yeah.