ROLAND GARROS

June 6, 2025

Anton Dubrov

Jason Stacy

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Anton and Jason, welcome. Congratulations on Aryna reaching her first Roland Garros final. Can you just talk about the tournament so far and her performance here in Paris?

ANTON DUBROV: I think so far it was good, because we're in the final (laughing). I mean, it's still not the end. Just have to wait. But for us I think it's all the same. It's kind of managing the energy, preparing for the next opponent, and just, as a team, to be ready to play.

Otherwise, as a performance, I think Aryna played pretty good, so I hope she's going to bring the same level to the final, the same energy. We just hope to see a good match.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. In terms of her game, to translate it on the clay, what was the biggest challenge? Was it the movement or was it the patience or both?

ANTON DUBROV: I would say it's both, because first it was kind of believe that she can do it, first of all, so we have to show her the way how she needs to do it. Then it was more about the patience to keep doing it and trust the process that she's actually able to, first of all, fight on this surface and then get some wins.

So I think it was both, yes. As a player, you usually develop from both sides. And the process is still there, so it's never going to end until the end of the career.

JASON STACY: I think you're right. I agree with you it's obviously both. I think, like he touched on, the biggest obstacle initially was just that her whole life previous, before we started helping her out, was just, Oh, clay is not going to be for you, you can't do it, you can't do it.

So she had this sort of belief about herself that, Okay, clay is not for me.

Then we're, like, But why not? Yeah.

ANTON DUBROV: It's for us (smiling).

Q. I read you talk about the way you had to teach her to breathe differently so that she can control her emotion. I'm just wondering, you know, if 70% of the work with Aryna to get her here was managing the tornado that can get in.

JASON STACY: Sorry, I didn't understand the question. Sorry?

Q. If that worked to help her controlling her emotion and the breathing, was it 70% of what it took to get her to World No. 1?

JASON STACY: The managing emotions a very big part of it, yes. The breathing is something that you have physical control over no matter how you're feeling, so if you learn how to breathe better, you know, if you can manage to breathe a certain way, it will put you in a certain state, so you're able to manage your emotions much better.

The nice part about the breathing is that besides that it directly influences how you're thinking and feeling or how you are responding to your environment, is that no matter your mood or what's going on around you, you have control of your body. You just have to have the discipline long enough to create the habit to do it, no matter how you're feeling.

That probably took a bit of time just to get her to practice those things and to physically be able to do those things as well. One of the key things that we always focus on is managing energy, and the other parts are managing environment and managing your emotions. They're all very connected.

The breathing is a simple, not easy, way to achieve that. So yeah.

Q. Anton, you mentioned managing that energy. How difficult is that coming off such an enormous win against Iga to then either pick her up or bring her down, adjust it accordingly for the final?

ANTON DUBROV: I think for us, yeah, it was a great match, big win, but as we discuss also after the match, the job is not done. This kind of success of the match, we just leave it for after the tournament, we gonna discuss and see what was great.

I think our focus was even today on the practice, so what we have to do next? What is about next opponent? How do you feel like what we can do and all this stuff, but about the previous match, about the last match, like last night's match, that was just kind of a short briefing. Okay, you did great this part, this part, this wasn't great, and that's it, and then move on.

After the tournament, we can see, okay, on a big picture, the clay season overall, how it was, and maybe we can talk more about the match against Iga. Because might be this was one of the best match she played on the clay from Aryna, so yes, but it doesn't mean that the job is done. We're still in the tournament. It's not finished.

So as I said, for me it's like half the way.

Q. In planning for that final, how much do you look back at the US Open Final where she lost to Coco? Or is it too long ago and a completely different surface so it's tough to factor that in?

ANTON DUBROV: I would say for me to see even if you play against any opponent, it's like one, two months can change everything.

I remember we played with Iga, like, two or three years ago in Doha, and the way she starts playing in Doha, I think it was 2022, and she start to play much more aggressive, and we didn't expect this one.

We looked at her match when we played against her in the Finals, Guadalajara. Was a completely different player. We didn't expect. So I think Aryna lost because as our preparation was terrible. She didn't expect this one.

For me to look what happened two years ago for me it's useless, because we play against Coco after this few times, and you still have to focus on yourself more. Then have a look at few matches that Coco played, like, this week, and that's it, because it's going to be a fresh, fresh start for you.

Q. We've seen Aryna add a lot to her game variety-wise: drop shots, top slice. She's talked about this. How much was that done with making her into an all-court player? How much was that in mind?

ANTON DUBROV: It was just part of the journey how we can develop her as a better player overall. It's more like you're hitting great, unbelievable. What else? We need to open angles more. What else? What else? If you push your opponent more back, you can use more drop shots. Great. If you see some short balls, you can finish more on the net.

So it's still like a process. Drop shots are just one of it. There's still so many things that I see we can improve. It's just like a journey of the player.

As I said to her, we always need to find what she can do better, and it should be, like, just the process the whole career.

JASON STACY: I would probably add a little layer to that is that the goal always has been, whether it's mental, physical, tactical, technical, is that we understand what her limiting factors might be for what we're trying to achieve, and we see where she's at now, and we want to make sure whatever level she's at, she owns that level.

As she's really fine-tuning and really owning that level, we're already looking at that two or three things that might be the next priority. As she's progressing through that level and really owning that position, we decide, okay, well, this is the next little layer we're going to add.

It's always just these little layers that we're constantly adding, but before adding too much, we're always making sure she owns it, and then we move on from there. That's why it's just her. It's always coming from her.

Our goal is to sustain the high performance, not just to be a one-hit-wonder-type thing.

Q. On the kind of mentality side, we see Aryna, she often is quite frustrated with herself, looks like she sets incredibly high standards. How much, with someone like her, is about accepting that there is going to be frustration and that that's okay as opposed to saying, you know, never get angry on court, stay calm kind of thing?

JASON STACY: I mean, on our team especially we have a very simple saying is "Don't fight it, don't feed it." We don't want to fight this, because the stress, anxiety, the pressure, the mistakes, all those things are going to be there, so you can't pretend it's not going to be a thing, but you don't want to feed it either and give it too much energy or power.

Like your point, accept the way it is, understand what you have control over, and just focus in on that, and that's where Anton really comes into play with the tactics and strategies for each day. It's very good, actually.

ANTON DUBROV: For me, I just want to add that as I remember, I think two years ago, a year ago, Novak spoke about it during Wimbledon that it's more about everyone get frustrated and get those things, like okay, you're just getting angry, that's it. But it's more about how fast you can focus back on your thing.

So this is the biggest one, because you cannot be perfect, and you don't have to be. You have to be yourself, accept this fact, and think that, okay, what I need to do, how I can change myself physically so I can be like mentally more calmed down. As soon as you realize what's going on with you and you know the answer what to do, it's just easier for you to move on.

JASON STACY: It's true.

Q. I want to follow that subject and ask about the dialogue on court. Do you focus on calming down or redirecting to her path, or there are tactical changes you do inside the match, do this, do that, maybe suggest stuff?

ANTON DUBROV: It's always different. It's usually more about, okay, she can tell you whatever she wants, and whatever you reply is going to be, it doesn't matter, the first, so it's always different.

It can be a joke from my side. It can be, I don't know how to say, like angry words back or some, like, simple stuff. Just do this, this, and she can say whatever, and then she's back to work, because she knows we understand that you experienced stress right now. That's okay. So, okay, what's next?

So she can see from us it's okay. We understand.

Q. (Off mic.)

ANTON DUBROV: Sometimes especially, as you can see, what she can't do something, let's say, for like few points or even the games, yes, you say what she has to focus in on right now.

Q. As you say, she's an emotional person and she's got big dreams both on the court and also off the court. How do you sort of, when you have a big event like tomorrow coming up, how do you sort of get her to sort of dial in on the small picture and sort of set aside the stuff that she's looking to accomplish elsewhere? Because it sort of goes hand in hand, and we all know as she's talked about it with us, she thinks about it hand in hand. It's always in her mind. How do you sort of get her to balance those things and then sort of just dial in?

ANTON DUBROV: For me, from my side, it's about address it like to her. Like I say, yeah, we all experience the same way as you, and it's actually pretty good. That's mean you have your goals, like your standards, pretty high.

And right now, okay, in this kind of situation, what we can do right now? Let's do our simple steps even more smaller, so let's say you go on the court. What you can control? You can control breathing. We start with breathing, the first step.

The second, you can move. Just control your move, the way you move. Just focus on recovery step. Nothing else. Just do just this thing. As soon as you realize that you have some sort of control through breathing and the moving, you can add something else.

So you just try to get all this big picture. You're not saying, It's never happen.

No, it is always here, but try to use it as fuel for you so it motivates you to do better. But start with small steps: breathing, moving, acceleration, and then go like step by step. That's for me.

I think as soon as you have this control, it's just better for you to use this expectations and your dreams as motivation.

JASON STACY: I would just add a little layer to that, just the same thing as I said earlier: We don't fight it, we don't feed it. We understand it's there. We address it however it fits best in that moment.

Often, it is just finding whatever you have a sense of control over, because as soon as you have a sense of control of something, the negative side of stress doesn't have that big impact on you. So it's just looking for any little thing you can to have a sense of control.

But the other part really is that, I mean, have you guys seen us in a lot of finals now, right? Maybe you've seen the way we warm up or what we do. Does it look any different than Round 1 at some random tournament? It's the same thing. We're just doing what we do. We're who we are. We don't treat one thing too much more better or bigger or more important or less important.

We understand that there will be these things. Like I said, these big things will come up, and you'll start thinking about, oh, you're so close.

But on our day-to-day, our actions influence how we're feeling and what we're able to, how we can compete, so we just continue to be consistent the way we act and how we speak and our mannerisms.

The last little thing I'll say is probably the biggest thing is just the environment. The way we behave, the way we're responding to the stress, is the same. We have to be the stable one so that way the environment is stable so she has a strong foundation to support her.

Q. To follow up on that, how tricky is the mental preparation in these 24 hours coming after a win over Swiatek at the French Open, having beaten the four-time champion and going 48 hours later into a final with possibly the trophy for her to win?

ANTON DUBROV: I mean, for me honestly, as we have the previous questions about it, for me personally I don't see, like, yeah, it was a great match against Iga, but I don't see it as something like as a huge win right now. Maybe, I don't know, in few weeks, few months I will look back and say, Yeah, it's great, but for now I don't see that it was something, like, special.

That was great match, great battle, incredible opponent, but for us when we come on the tournament, the job is not done. So we don't experience this kind of high, like, emotions right now. It's like, okay, what's the next step? Great level, good quality, but we need to move on and to do something else.

So we don't have this kind of like, I would say, high and lows. So, okay, it could be like, let's say like yesterday, it could be maybe terrible quality, let's say, match, something like this, and she would still win. It doesn't mean that something is going to change in our emotions.

So it's like the same result is here, great, but what next? We have to do that. Next day we have to be ready.

JASON STACY: I mean, yeah. I agree, I agree. Again, just taking it one day at a time. I mean, we're still here. The job is far from over. It's a very big day tomorrow.

ANTON DUBROV: Yeah, might be more emotions about, I don't know, over the whole tournament, over the match against Iga we're going to experience later on, but nothing for now, to be honest.

JASON STACY: Our job is always, as he mentioned, is that while everyone is in that moment celebrating, we have to be a little bit ahead of ourselves and already planning ahead what's next, what's been working well, what needs work, what's our plans? So for us to sustain this level, first to get here and now to sustain it, we have to always be forward-thinking.

The team and everyone can have that enjoyment. Aryna can celebrate all that. We'll have a brief moment, but for us it's like, no, we need to make sure we're guiding the direction of what's happening.

We enjoy it, but I'm sure maybe once that last ball hits tomorrow night, we'll all go, Ah. We'll all feel it, so yeah.

Q. Question about Shane and his analytics team and your guys' use of analytics over the years. How important has it been for you guys to have that information to aid in the development of Aryna's game and also to aid in the development of you guys coaching her?

ANTON DUBROV: Yeah, we were lucky actually to find the guy I think while we were in Australia. Jason gave me the contact for Shane, yes.

I would say we using this information more about ourselves, like, because for me it's really important to focus on how you can develop, what you can do better, how we play. Like we can see insight, okay, the way we play, how we spin the ball, where our targets are, how they actually working against the opponents overall against someone, especially like one of the players or let's say one was lefty player.

So you can see all those insights. It's much easier for you to practice because for me the most important part, the actual, like, match you have to do like on the practice side. So whatever you're doing, you cannot go on the court and, Okay, I'm going to do something else. You have to be ready for this. We have to practice this. You have to see it before, and those numbers actually help you.

Yes, you see lots of videos. You can see some matches from yourself, but these numbers can actually confirm or maybe not. It's just much easier for you to practice and be ready.

All the other preparation for the match is just, like, just helping you, but it's not the most important part. The most important part for us is to see what is Aryna doing, and it's for us how we should practice and what we should do. This is the biggest one.

JASON STACY: I think something Anton has done really well is filtering that information because sometimes people get overly sort of stuck on the data or on the stats and the numbers and what percentages. He's very good at just taking the information and figuring out what we need right now, what's going to be most relevant for Aryna right now.

Then we add that human side. So we have the numbers. We know what would be the best percentage-wise, but how is she feeling? Maybe there's a shot that this is what she needs to do, but she's just not feeling it right now. So then he has to come up with a way. Maybe what's the other opportunity there?

ANTON DUBROV: I just want to add that it's usually also people see the numbers, and they can picture just one player, but you also have to understand that it's going to be different practice for Iga and for Aryna. So the numbers will be the same kind of, but the practice is going to be different. So you also have to understand the person who you are working with and what you have to use for this.

Q. Just a quick follow-up with yesterday, Aryna's forehand, I believe, TD reported that it was 25% less spin. She was hitting a lot flatter ball. Would that be an example of use of analytics where you could look and get information on how Iga handles the flat ball and then incorporate it?

ANTON DUBROV: All together, yes. We can see that Aryna should play with much more aggressive, especially on the clay against Iga, because she will have more time here. Aryna should have stepping in more to play on the rise all the time, not to give Iga lots of time, because otherwise, as you said, 25%, if she would play, like, less spin, so most likely Iga would have more time to move Aryna around. So, yes, this was one of this.

Q. You were talking before about how you want it to feel look any other tournament in some ways, to an extent. What about the fact that here the last two years have been really tough losses, for very different reasons? Aryna talked at the start of the tournament about coming in and being even more determined as a result. How have you managed the fact that coming back here might bring back some disappointments? Do you embrace that? Do you accept that? Or do you try and reset and refresh?

JASON STACY: A little bit of everything. Some of it's trying to figure out if there is something that you know is going to be bothering her and it's there, how can she use that to fuel a fire inside of her rather than making it a challenge?

Sometimes if there's an obstacle and she really wants something, she's very stubborn that way, which is sometimes not good for us, but I think it's more about just trying to help her, again, not really fighting or feeding it. Just accept what it is and figure out how to use that as either fuel or how -- I mean, depending on what the specific thing might be, do we want to feed that a little bit extra, use that to help give her a little bit extra, an added layer of motivation or something when she needs that extra little bit, or do we kind of just, Oh, yeah, you're right, and we blow it off and then it fizzles away because we don't react to it or we don't respond to it.

I think it might vary. I don't know if you have any detail from that? Not really from me, though.

ANTON DUBROV: No, I would say that wherever it was, any match she lost here, for example, we can have a look. Okay, it was disappointment, but why it was? Like, why I lost? We can have a look what's actually happened.

Let's say, Okay, let's do better. Let's develop this part what was missing, everything.

Then we will see the results. Is it actually what going to work right now or not? Because only the result is going to show. So use it as motivation to be better player, and at the same time, as she knows on the practice why we're doing this stuff, because she remember, okay, some disappointment results.

Then she's on the court, she will have more belief in herself because she knows she develop better. She knows it's going to motivate her, to push herself to do better. Then only result is going to show us did we do a good job or not, and that's it.

JASON STACY: That's true. Also, don't forget, she doesn't like to lose (laughing). There's a time for an opportunity for her to redeem herself, she'll give that extra little bit at any cost often. We always have that little extra layer there.

Q. How is Aryna off the court? Is she always smiling, wanting to dance like when she comes off the court? Does she still have this positive energy?

ANTON DUBROV: I will say mostly all of the time. Like, she like to dance. She's like TikTok dancing a lot.

JASON STACY: Nonstop. Nonstop.

ANTON DUBROV: Lots of jokes. I think as we start working with her, like me and Jason, is about we more focused on her like as a person first, and then we can see how we can use her personality in the work.

So if she likes to dance, for example, and we need to do a break, let's do like a break and dance a TikTok, and then continue working. Why not?

JASON STACY: We don't give up too easily. We try to fight, but we know we're going to lose. She'll just keep going and going and going until we say, Fine, let's do the TikTok.

It's a bit of a game, yeah.

ANTON DUBROV: Yes, as a person, I remember she was 14, 15 the first time I met her. She was the same person. So the same energy all the time. I think that was what most of the people mention about her, how she's open and smiling in a positive way all the time.

JASON STACY: This has been a purposeful thing. Not only do you want to perform your best at whatever you do, but you want to sustain it and even afterwards to have a good life and have some great memories and experiences, it has to come from you. It has to be part of who you are.

We're not trying to make her something she's not. Everything, like Anton said, everything we've done, the people we bring in, how we work, it's all based on, like, her personality. How she feels alive and connected and supported. So it's very important that we have to be ourselves the whole time.

So, again, that's why it doesn't matter the environment. We're, like, our environment is our environment. We're always going to be who you are. Yeah, she doesn't -- she is relentless with the dancing and the jokes.

ANTON DUBROV: Some of them are dangerous.

JASON STACY: Lately especially.

Q. Did you see any recurring factor into when she lost compared to when she won?

ANTON DUBROV: You mean the finals, overall finals?

Q. This season she played many finals. Was there a common reason in the one she lost that you can correct ahead of Saturday?

ANTON DUBROV: To be honest I think they're a bit different, so it's all coming up with -- from I would say from the stress factor overall. But anyway, it's different why. We always trying to approach not just finals, but even any other match is like, okay, why?

If she lost, let's say, in Dubai or Doha, we see, like, the reason why. So yes there are some things you can see can be the same, but in the bigger picture I would say there's some different -- for me it's just different -- I don't know how to say --

JASON STACY: Specifics.

ANTON DUBROV: Details are a bit different from my side, and it's like a journey. You have to say, okay, is it happening the same one or is different, because if it's different, it's not that bad. It means that if you kind of work on what didn't work before, and it's something new come up, it's just kind of as a challenge for you. Okay, so what's the next one? What's the next one? Because you always as a player, you develop, you are improving, but it's always something that can trigger you, so you have to be ready.

As I say, like a journey of development is neverending, so you have to be ready to do the next step.

Q. Just about coming back here and she talks about -- I wondered how you felt coming back here because obviously you would have felt the disappointment the last couple of years as well?

ANTON DUBROV: I don't have any disappointments.

JASON STACY: Yeah, I wasn't either. We knew what happened. It was out of our control. We've been working well since, and we've developed further since.

ANTON DUBROV: What we're trying to message to Aryna is we cannot control the result, but we can control how we can do it, and only result can show us was this work actually what we need or it was something else.

I don't have any disappointment. It maybe like kind of you can be not sad, but okay, you always want more, but for example, you have some success before, and you have to be also appreciate this moment. Like, okay, you did well.

It could ended up like you had nothing, but you have, like, right now lots of success. So there is a journey. There's going to be disappointments. It's so hard to be like Rafa here, who has 14 titles. It's pretty rare.

JASON STACY: Yeah, I feel the same. There's nothing really, you know...

ANTON DUBROV: I think, as a tennis player, as your journey goes, you know that almost every week you're going to lose. This is like reality in tennis. You have this tournament every week.

JASON STACY: Every practice and match and moment, we have a basic thing we do naturally now that we look at, Well, what's worked well? What needs work? What's our plan?

We do that every practice, every match. Like I said, the things that happened last year that we can't control, we can't control. Since all the things we could, we've been working on, and we see what the results have been even since last year.

ANTON DUBROV: I can just again add for me it's the same as what Novak said. It's like, Okay, even like you lost, for example, it's more about how you bounce back, how is it going to be your recovery kind of.

This is more important.

JASON STACY: I think we did pretty well (laughing).