AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 28, 2026

Iga Swiatek

Press Conference

E. RYBAKINA/I. Swiatek

7-5, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Iga, tough one out there today. Can you just give us your overview on the match and Elena's performance today as well?

IGA SWIATEK: Yeah, for sure. You know, I'm not happy with the results. It was a high-intensity match. First set was tight. Like, few points made the difference. In second set, for sure, like, she improved the serve. She was going for the shots, and it got much tougher.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. I was going to ask you a technical question this time. Tell us what's the biggest lesson you learned from this Australian Open.

IGA SWIATEK: Well, honestly, I know what I need to improve, and it's kind of the same stuff that I had in my mind before the tournament as well. So there's no, like, breakthrough lesson.

I'm just going to keep doing my job, and hopefully the next tournament I'll get some stuff, you know, settled in terms of what I wanted to do with my game.

Q. Do you think is it more strategy issue, more technical? Is it your serve that kind of -- because you started well. I'm just wondering if you get out of this match thinking, okay, I need to play completely differently or just on your own game technically things that you want to change?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, for sure I didn't serve as well as, I don't know, in Cincinnati, for example, against Elena. My serve was kind of normal, and sometimes it could have gave me a bit more.

As I said, like in first set I think it was a difference of a couple points. She also, I thought, gave me some chances on her serve, and sometimes I used them. Sometimes it was, like, 30-All and, for example, I missed one return. You know, I wanted to be aggressive on the second serve, so sometimes, yeah, will make mistakes. But if you want to break, you need to make it in in the moment like that.

Then in the second set I thought, I don't know, that the pace from her got a little bit even higher, and she was more precise, and maybe I dropped the intensity at the beginning especially.

But it's, like, I have some stuff I want to work on. It's never been so, like, flawless for me playing on these courts, as they are fast, you know? I guess I'll try next time, anyway.

Q. Iga, you mentioned how Elena stepped up her serve in the second set. How tricky was that? It felt like you were in a couple of games, and then she'd just blast down an ace or a big serve at a key moment. How hard is that to kind of keep believing when a player is doing that?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, it's her game, you know? I wasn't surprised, and I already had that kind of feeling against her, you know, so you got to just focus on yourself and on your service games.

But, yeah, my serve wasn't, like, the best, so it was hard to do that to keep the score even in the second set.

Q. Also, you said a couple of times here you know what you need to work on. Are you able to kind of share what you think those things are?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, some technical stuff, like, that have been pretty tough for me to have a smooth, you know, process in terms of changing them. I see Carlos, for example, changing his serve every year (laughter). For me, it's one little thing takes much longer time.

There are some stuff on the serve that I want to change, and I already changed that in the pre-season, but then, you know, matches come, and you don't have that much time to, like, think about this. You don't want to think about these kind of details when you play.

So then it comes back to the old patterns, you know. So basically, yeah, I'll focus on that. I'll see from there, because for sure, there are some stuff that I can change to play better, and I'll try to do that in next weeks and months.

Q. Aryna said in the past that she would not hesitate to skip some of the 1000 tournaments if she feels that she has a need for rest or work. I was wondering what you think of it, and since you are considering working on technical stuff, if you think that it may be beneficial to you to actually take some time off, despite the calendar, to just work on technical stuff?

IGA SWIATEK: Yeah, I don't feel it's possible to do that, you know, in the short period of time that we have between tournaments. So last year I had trouble with making this kind of decision, but this year I'm trying to change my approach. So I think, for sure, we'll skip some 1000 tournaments.

I was never in this position, so I don't know what the result will be, but I think it's necessary, because if you want to improve your game, unless I want to stay, like, the same and just prepare for every tournament, then I can do that as well. I'll play well, but if I want to improve something, it will be nice to have some time.

Unfortunately, calendar doesn't give that.

Q. Iga, I wanted to ask about something that Coco was actually talking about last night, about the cameras back stage at the tournament, filming people. I know you got filmed recently for getting your credential and stuff, and they just sort of are always on camera in a lot of different tournament areas. I'm wondering if you think there should be more privacy for players and their teams as they're back there? How do you see the balance of that versus them trying to have entertainment and constant content coming out?

IGA SWIATEK: Yeah, the question is, are we tennis players, or are we, like, animals in the zoo where they are observed even when they poop, you know?

Okay, that was exaggerating obviously, but it would be nice to have some privacy. It would be nice also to, I don't know, have your own process and not always be, like, observed.

Like, for example, I don't know, in other sports you have some maybe technical things that you want to do, and you have -- I don't know, honestly. I don't follow other sports that much, but I guess it would be nice to have some space where you can do that without the whole world watching.

You know, like, I don't know, on Wimbledon there are courts like Aorangi, like people with accreditation can get there, but it's without the fans. On Roland Garros there's Jean-Bouin. There are some spaces that you can at least go when you need to, but there are some tournaments where it's impossible and you are constantly observed, if not by the fans who can just buy some ground passes and go to your practice, then by the cameras.

For sure it's not simple. I don't think it should be like that, because we're tennis players. We're meant to be watched on the court, you know, and in the press. That's our job. It's not our job, like, be a meme when you forget your accreditation.

Oh, it's funny, yeah, for sure. People have something to talk about, but for us I don't think it's necessary. Yeah.

Q. Have you ever talked to the tournament about it here?

IGA SWIATEK: What's the point?

Q. Iga, you've been playing at night, and then today you were first up. I just wonder, how difficult was that? Were the conditions very different and just in terms of kind of adjusting your day?

IGA SWIATEK: I mean, I like the day conditions, so I felt like it's a positive thing for me, but the day rhythm for sure was much different, because, honestly, since Sydney where I played, like, four night sessions and one day session at the beginning of the tournament, I've been, like, going to sleep at 1:00 a.m. and waking up at 10:30.

So, for sure, today I had to adjust, but it's not a problem. I have my ways to do that. I was, like, completely ready today, so it didn't really matter.

Q. I'm curious, compared to last year when you lost here in the semis to Madison, how do you feel about the state of your game, and do you have more regrets about this tournament or that one?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, I felt last year I was playing a bit better, but on the other hand, before Madison, I haven't played with any flat, heavy hitters. The first chance that I got, like, to win a match like that was against Maddie, and I lost it. I was close, but I lost it still.

I felt like, I don't know, last year it was a new relationship with Wim. Also, we changed some stuff that was, for me, a bit of a "eureka" moment.

This year we didn't manage to, like, completely close the stuff that I wanted to change -- that we wanted to change in the pre-season. It just got a bit longer for me to change some stuff, you know.

So this year I felt like I also needed to work on it during the tournament, and that's why maybe, I don't know, I felt like I played, like, tiny bit worse.

But I don't think, honestly, that mattered. Both tournaments are still good. Like if you want to win, for sure it would be nice to play even better, but yeah, like, as I always said, winning and playing on a slam is tough.

I'll just try another time, and hopefully with the experience and with another year of me playing and practicing, I'll be able to start next tournament, next Australian Open with some more skills or more variety or with the stuff that I wasn't able to completely work on. Maybe I will have it next year.