ROLAND GARROS

June 5, 2025

Iga Swiatek

Press Conference

A. SABALENKA/I. Swiatek

7-6, 4-6, 6-0

THE MODERATOR: Iga, of course, not the result you wanted today, but just looking back at the last two weeks, how do you rate your performance overall?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, I played some quality matches. Well, now it's probably not the best time to look at the wider perspective. Yeah, so probably it wasn't a bad tournament, but obviously, yeah, as you said, not the result I wanted.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. Can you analyze what happened in the last set? Because you came back so strong in the second, and then at some point at the start of the third set, something maybe changed for you. Can you analyze what was that?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, for sure, you know, I remember missing, like, two backhands when she broke me first time. And she still served really well. I feel like I served the same, and she read my serve much better. So I probably won less points on the return.

And I don't really know. You know, I think I lost my intensity a bit, and she just played, you know, like pretty strong as in first set, but I didn't react to that well and just couldn't push back, you know.

Q. It was a great match. What you could say that Aryna made it so difficult to you today?

IGA SWIATEK: I think the pace was from her super fast. For sure, especially at the beginning of the match, she played, you know, just kind of as hard as possible and pretty risky. So it was just hard to get into any rally, you know.

And then, you know, I was able to do that, so the game was kind of, like more things happened because it wasn't just like serve and one shot or return and one shot, and I could build a rally a little bit.

Yeah, but in third set I feel like we kind of came back to what happened in first, and she for sure used her chances, and I didn't really keep up what I was doing in second set.

Q. I just wondered where you kind of want to go from here. Do you feel like you want to keep going and come straight back? Do you want to have a little bit of time off before the grass? What are your kind of thoughts the next few weeks?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, for sure I'm going to have few days off, but the coaches will plan that. Hopefully we're going to have some decent kind of little preseason on grass, because it's always been pretty hard to have that, especially when I want to be a little bit home.

But I don't feel like I need to be home right now, so maybe I'll go somewhere in Europe, practice.

Q. This has obviously been a difficult 12 months for you with the ban, and I think you've talked before about the pressure of having to defend so many points off such an amazing spell kind of this time last year. Do you think now that that's all over, that you don't have any titles to defend now for the next 12 months, are you in some way looking forward to kind of a change of mindset and more being maybe the one that's chasing, the one that's pushing the others, rather than having to defend? Will that help you change your mindset, do you think?

IGA SWIATEK: I think I already changed my mindset before this tournament. Like losing early in Rome gave me some time and perspective, so I wasn't really thinking about points here on this tournament.

Obviously looking at the math, I lost many points right now, but I know that it doesn't really matter. Like, any of us can win these tournaments. We kind of start every tournament from the beginning. So I'm just going to try to do my job and focus on, like, just getting progress and learning new stuff on grass right now.

Q. When you talk about the loss of intensity in the third set, is that physical intensity or kind of mental, emotional intensity? Is it something you're aware of in the moment?

IGA SWIATEK: I think it's more physical, but I mean, it's not like I didn't have energy, but really sometimes it's about if you are going to play your shots, like, really tense and it matters longer or shorter, you know. It's not like it's just me playing maybe, like, really 5% faster or with more spin.

So it's not like a huge difference, but at this level when you play against the top players, you're going to feel the difference. She came on pretty strongly in third set and, like, just went for it, and then the set went pretty quickly.

I think I didn't have much time to reset that again like I did at the beginning of the second set, you know. I came back from, what, 4-1 or 3-1 or 3-0 in first. Doing that second time for sure would be hard, but she played, like she didn't doubt. She just went for it, and that's what I mean about intensity.

Q. The adjustments you made in the first set, when she started doing well, as you said, in the third set, it was kind of starting the same way the first set started, was she making a different adjustment that you had to find a new solution for? Had you stopped making the same adjustments that were able to stop her momentum in the first set?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, I think in first set, you know, it was enough for me to, like, start serving better, and also, she missed some balls. We also played some longer rallies where I could, you know, just play rather than react to the first ball, and that's it, that's the end of the rally, you know.

In third, I feel like my serve was still working. Maybe I just did it -- maybe I served with, like -- maybe I should have served with more creativity rather than the same stuff that has been working in second set. Maybe I should have surprised with something, but I don't know now. I would need to watch.

Q. You've had such a long winning streak here, 26 matches, which is very rare for anyone to do at any major event. I'm wondering now that the run has ended, how proud you are looking back at what you were able to do here for a lot of years?

IGA SWIATEK: Yeah, I love playing here, so for sure I'm happy that I was fortunate enough to play so many great tournaments here. Even this one, you know, I feel like I played better than weeks before.

So for sure, I'm just happy that I have this place to come back to every year and just try to push myself.

Q. From the beginning of the season you didn't made it to a final. Do you think it's a question of confidence, or is it your opponent are getting better and better maybe? I don't know.

IGA SWIATEK: Honestly, we play for, like, six months now, so I can't answer that question because every tournament is different.

Q. Can you talk about the discussion with the umpire. Was that a distraction for you? Were you upset by something the umpire said during that exchange?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, he was coming down to check every mark when Aryna wanted to, even when the outs were like that. When I had a mark that was out, he was convincing me that I only came there because I saw that my return was out, and I framed the return, I knew from the beginning that it's going to be out, you know.

I didn't really look at the ball. I just went to check the mark, and I saw the mark was out. I want him to come down, but he didn't. So I don't think that was fair, especially when he came down, like, every time Aryna asked him to.

I don't get it, but I don't really care.