QATAR TOTAL ENERGIES OPEN

February 9, 2025

Iga Swiatek

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We'll go ahead and get started. Iga, welcome back to Doha. How does it feel to be back, obviously a three-time champion here.

IGA SWIATEK: For sure it's nice to come back to a place you have such good memories from. I'm happy that I'm here because Doha gives me really positive vibes. I'm already kind of focusing on the next one, you know, not really coming back to what happened last years, and, yeah, just preparing and adjusting to the conditions, because for sure they are much different than in Australia or where I practice at home.

THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. This is your fourth title in a row you're going for here. What is it about Doha, the Qatar Open, that brings the best out of you?

IGA SWIATEK: Honestly, hard to say. From what I remember it's not like I've been playing, you know, like flawlessly, so it's not like these tournaments were perfect, you know, but at some point always I found some solutions. I think the conditions here are pretty tricky, and I was patient enough to just keep focusing on my game and playing my tennis. But, yeah, every year it's different, every year there is a different story, so it's hard to compare and hard to find one thing that worked exactly. For sure I can, I don't know, use my top spin here, and, yeah, but we'll see how this year's going to look like.

Q. It's the first 1000 event of the year, the top 10 are here. Is there a bit more at stake where there's a situation like that, there's only ten 1000 events a year, is there a lot to play for?

IGA SWIATEK: Is it only 10?

Q. I think that's ten 1000 events.

IGA SWIATEK: Yeah, but it's not like it's a small amount (laughing). I feel like, no, I feel like it's just the beginning of the season, we'll get many chances during the year to show our best game. I would say ten 1000 events is a lot (laughing), so I guess the perspective depends on the person.

Yeah, I mean, we've been through, you know, a Grand Slam already, so I feel like we're all in the rhythm already. We've been through kind of the highest pressure you can have on a Grand Slam, so playing a 1000 wouldn't be a problem, I think, at this point.

Q. By your high standards, do you feel like you have a little bit of more pressure on yourself when you're looking for your first title in a little while?

IGA SWIATEK: No, I mean, I know how tennis works. It's not always, it doesn't always depend on you if you win titles or not, you know, you just have to put hundred percent effort and commitment and you'll get your chances if you play well and if you work hard.

For sure, you know, it will be nice to win some tournaments, but it's never helpful to think about it before, you have to focus on every match specifically and do it step by step, so I'm going to try to do that again.

Q. I like your hat, by the way.

IGA SWIATEK: Thank you.

Q. So maybe this is things that you talked about already, but what is the specific reason of hiring Wim Fissette, and what kind of things are you working on with him?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, you know, in tennis you don't have much time to really, I don't know, have like a three-month process where you're going to change your game. My pre-season was basically two weeks long because of playing Billie Jean King Cup, and starting the season early, so I guess we're doing as much as possible in these periods between the tournaments, which are not long if you go well in tournaments. So, yeah, we're kind of managing that, balancing that, with having proper time to adjust to the conditions on the tournament. These practices are always something that you just need to, where you just need to feel, you know, you're not going to change much in your game. For sure we're trying to be efficient and use every practice, you know, with, like, being dedicated and knowing our goals.

Wim, for sure, has good ideas on what to change in my game, and, yeah, it's just, I think, about the time, and about really, like, you know, doing it, which is hard when you have to change places every week, and adjust to the conditions in tournaments. But this is tennis, and this is how our sport looks like, so all you can do is adjust to it and just use this time as much as possible.

Q. Wim is well known as a kind of like a professor of tennis. He's good at, I don't know, he's good at analyzing.

IGA SWIATEK: He's not that old to be a professor (laughing). He's going to be sad after you said that (laughing).

Q. But he's famous for being good at analyzing stuff, you know, players, and good at using stats and those things, so is anything you learned from him, or you wanted him to change your tennis, or use his knowledge or something like that?

IGA SWIATEK: Well for sure his experience is unreal. He's been working with players that have so many different like characteristics and different personalities as well. I feel like he's been through everything in tennis, probably, so for sure I want to use that experience. Yeah, I like how he works, and also it's more like he's showing me some different ways to do stuff, but also he's really good at kind of adjusting on how the process looks like before, because obviously it has been working. I like how he got along with Moczek and Daria to work together, and to not do like a sudden revolution in my game or in my preparation, you know, because this is not something I was looking for. I think we're balancing that pretty well, and Wim is so experienced that for sure he's using his knowledge to make the process smooth.