MUTUA MADRID OPEN

April 29, 2025

Iga Swiatek

Press Conference

I. SWIATEK/D. Shnaider

6-0, 6-7, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: We'll start with questions in English. Iga, a strange 24 hours, but focusing on the tennis, what made Diana a quite difficult opponent in these last two sets?

IGA SWIATEK: For sure she got her level up in the second set, but I think I also, you know, focused on different stuff than in the first. So I wanted to come back to how I played in the first set when I started the third, and happy that I did that at the end.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. To follow-up on that, what do you think you've done well in the first and the third, and what do you think was the problem with the second?

IGA SWIATEK: I think I moved better, and I spin the ball a little bit more. Yeah, like in second set it got pretty windy, and I didn't move my legs properly. I played some shots like not being ready, you know, so for sure that kind of kept my rhythm off.

And then Diana also used her chances, and she was more proactive than in the first set. So I think it was a mix of different things.

Q. What time were you able to get to the hotel yesterday, and were you able to have any sort of decent dinner? Some of the players were like, I had Pringles for dinner. Yeah, just wondering how that went for you. And what floor were you on, did you have to go up a lot?

IGA SWIATEK: Oh, well, no, the elevators were working. I was surprised, actually. But, yeah, in the hotel it wasn't so bad as here. But yeah, like, I was ready before. We took some takeaway food from here, and like going back wasn't that bad because WTA helped us a little bit, you know. But we were pretty quick to react because, honestly, like five minutes later, like there was already like 200 players waiting for the car back, so I was lucky enough to react earlier with my team.

Q. I would like to know if this is, what happened yesterday is going to be an issue in deciding if you're coming back here next year?

IGA SWIATEK: What?

Q. If what happened yesterday is going to be an issue when you decide whether if you're coming back here next year or not.

IGA SWIATEK: No. I think, no. I think no, it had no influence on that. It's usually the problem with tournaments where tournaments have influence or something, but they're not, you know, like focusing on what player wants.

But like, honestly, this had, like, who would have predicted that, you know? I'm sure no one.

Q. How do you spend the day yesterday with this problem?

IGA SWIATEK: Honestly, the same way I would even if the electricity would be on, it's not like my day changed. I was just, I didn't have to play a match, so that's the only difference. I enjoyed the time off, and I tried to just recover, because we need to savor these free days, for sure.

Q. How shocked, impressed, I don't know, you were about the change in the second set after 6-0 in the first?

IGA SWIATEK: I wouldn't say I was like shocked, because, you know, it's easy to get your level up when you have nothing to lose, you know. For sure, you know, she's a top-20 player, and she's playing great, so I knew that she can get her level up.

But I wasn't happy with how I handled it, you know, because I should stay like consistently at the same level, but I kind of didn't, so that's for sure something that I want to improve.

Q. Do you think having a rather tough draw here is going to be a good thing to help you maybe fix things that you wanted to fix in your game, or would you have preferred to have an easier draw?

IGA SWIATEK: Honestly, I don't think in these categories, because, honestly, like every time I lost this year, I think except like one tournament, the person won the tournament. So I think, yeah, the draws weren't easy. Like every time I felt like I'm getting into the rhythm of a tournament I lost, you know.

I don't think it matters. I don't know if this draw that I have right now is good or bad, it's how like kind of hard to compare, you know. So I'll just go for it, like doesn't matter, you know, and I'm ready for the next match anyways.

Q. Speaking of players who went on to win the tournament, Madison Keys next for you, first time since Australia I guess for you to face her. How do you see that matchup, and in these conditions, I guess, how do you see that?

IGA SWIATEK: I feel like these conditions can fit us both, because Madi has also a great kick serve that can jump like super high here.

So, for sure I need to watch. We played last year here, but I think it was a night session or something. I don't know, I think it was like colder or a little bit different, so for sure we'll watch that match. We'll also analyze how she's been playing this year, and I don't have anything more to say now (laughing).