ROLAND GARROS

June 6, 2026

Maja Chwalinska

Press Conference

M. ANDREEVA/M. Chwalinska

6-3, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Maja, bad luck today, but congratulations for such an amazing run and a historic one. What are you most proud of from this week, and what are the things you take from this tournament?

MAJA CHWALINSKA: Yeah, definitely unforgettable three weeks for me. Yeah, such a great time. I'll never forget these three weeks, for sure.

Definitely very challenging one today. Mirra was much better player today, and she deserved to win.

But definitely I'm proud of my effort. I obviously gave my all. Yeah, I think I can be proud of myself.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Your world has changed a little bit in the last few weeks, I would imagine. I also imagine you haven't had much time to think about that, but now that you're finished with the tournament, what differences do you think you'll have ahead of you in life given the ranking you now have, the money that you have that you didn't have before?

MAJA CHWALINSKA: Well, I guess I'll see, you know? It will be different, for sure, but I think and I hope I'll adapt. I definitely will work hard, as I am working hard.

Yeah, I'll give my all to be better each and every day, and I'll see what the results will be. But, yeah, definitely very grateful for this time, but yeah, it's in the past now. So I just need to continue to stay present, you know, and yeah, give my all to be a better player every day.

Q. How different do you think the level of tennis you played during this tournament is to what you played previous to this tournament? How do you think you'll be able to sustain this level of tennis going forward?

MAJA CHWALINSKA: Yeah, I mean, honestly, I didn't feel like I'm playing my best tennis, which is kind of weird.

Yeah, I mean, I feel like I gained a lot of confidence, because I've never really played against the high-ranked players before. It was the very first time that I face them. Yeah, definitely gained a lot of confidence.

Yeah, don't remember exactly what was your question. I'm sorry.

Q. How are you going to continue going forward?

MAJA CHWALINSKA: Yeah, I mean, I will keep on working hard, as I am now. Yeah, I mean, I will give my all to continue, you know, and to be a better player really.

Q. How do you feel about grass? The surface, of course. How do you think your tennis suits that surface?

MAJA CHWALINSKA: Well, last years it's been a struggle for me on grass, honestly, but before I loved playing on grass. I feel like I can use a lot of touch and slices. I move pretty well on the court, and I anticipate pretty well.

Yeah, I mean, it's always exciting because it's such a short period of time, you know, that we have on grass. Yeah, I guess I'll see, but I'm ready for the challenge.

Q. I'm interested about that, how you're going to handle all media and not only media attention, on the one side to save your safe place, and on the contrary, to show people who you are, to tell something more about you. Is it difficult or not so much?

MAJA CHWALINSKA: I mean, how I handle it, you ask?

Q. How are you going to handle, yeah.

MAJA CHWALINSKA: I mean, I'll see. It will be different, as I said before, but I feel like I'm pretty grounded. I have good people around me.

I know my priorities, you know, so I'll focus on them. Yeah, we'll see.

Q. Maja, congratulations on your run. On the grass, are you hopeful that Wimbledon potentially might give you a wild card, and how would you feel about going back into qualifying from having now played a final?

MAJA CHWALINSKA: Well, I mean, that would be news of a century, you know. Honestly, yeah, I don't expect it, but yeah, I mean, I'll see. I will treat it as a challenge.

It's a new surface. I don't have much time, but yeah, I'll give my all, you know, and we'll see.

But I'm excited. Grass is always a nice kind of change.

Q. Congratulations, Maja. Great run here. I wanted to ask you about how you were feeling physically in this final? How tired were you? How tricky an opponent, and what makes Mirra so difficult to play against?

MAJA CHWALINSKA: Well, obviously I was tired, but it's normal. You know, I feel like everyone would be, and everyone is. We are playing so many matches.

But, I mean, all credits to Mirra, because she's such an incredible player, so solid. She handled the conditions much, much better than me, so she 100% deserved to win today, for sure.

Q. How nervous were you this morning, and how did you try to manage your nerves? What was your morning like? What did you do?

MAJA CHWALINSKA: Well, I did everything that I have been doing for the last three weeks, but definitely nerves were there. I was definitely stressed, but I was stressed before every single match, to be honest.

I couldn't eat for the last three weeks. Like, my coaches were eating pizza, and I was, like, No (smiling). So, yeah, I'm just actually excited to kind of, you know, finish the tournament, and maybe the joy of eating will come back (laughing).

Q. You mentioned that you don't even think you're necessarily playing at your best level. Do you think we then sometimes overestimate the gap from players around 100 in the world to the top? Do you think your run here will act as an inspiration to players at that kind of ranking?

MAJA CHWALINSKA: Well, I think so. I know many, many great players that are ranked outside top 100. You know, it's such a thin line now. I feel like a lot of things need to click.

But yeah, for sure there are so many great players. Yeah, I wish them all the best. I hope that my story these last days were inspiring for them. Yeah, I'll see them in the, let's say, top 50 now, yeah, so...

Q. Just to follow up on that, you said that sometimes things just need to click. Well, especially if you haven't maybe played your best level this week, what is it that has clicked with you these three weeks?

MAJA CHWALINSKA: Well, I mean, it's such a huge jump all of a sudden, but really it's been, I mean, 18 years of hard work and patience and, you know, perseverance. I had to go through so much to be in this place, in this position.

So, you know, life's weird sometimes, and you just gotta kind of do your thing and believe that it will click someday, and I'm happy that it did.

Q. You got a lead midway through the first set, and then she won, I think, ten games in a row. What was the challenge when momentum went away from you, and how did you try to bring it back?

MAJA CHWALINSKA: Well, I felt like I have no weapon against her today. She definitely handled wind much better than me, and she played so smart.

So, yeah, I feel like then, you know, the nerves. She wanted to kind of finish. She played with the wind, so she was a bit, like, not hiding, but running away from the ball a bit.

Yeah, the wind was crazy. I mean, I was very, like, not surprised. I would say I admire how she handled it, you know? I know that I need to, like, work on it, and I have a lot of work to do with that, so yeah.

Q. Mirra talked about the demons in her head and the mental aspect of the game and how her psychologist helped her. I know you've also had some issues with the mental aspect of the game. Is this something that all the top tennis players deal with? Why is it such a mental game?

MAJA CHWALINSKA: Well, I guess you need to ask them. I can't speak on their behalf. But I mean, I feel like tennis is such a tough sport. It's so individual. We start so early. We are basically kids when we start, and we are teenagers.

People are expecting that we are going to behave like adults already, and we are just kids really. So the pressure is huge, because every match we are kind of exposed. People can judge us, like, whatever they want, you know. In this day and age it's, like, you can write anything on the internet.

Yeah, I feel like it's very challenging, and you just gotta protect yourself as well as you can, yeah.

Q. You just mentioned the thin line between the top 100 and the top 10. Do you think the mental strength is really the thing that makes difference?

MAJA CHWALINSKA: I'm sorry. What?

Q. The mental strength of players makes a difference between top 10 and top 100?

MAJA CHWALINSKA: Well, it's a tough question. I mean, I feel like, I mean, for example, Mirra today, she was so strong. She was so smart on the court. She's only 19 years old, but she looks like she's so experienced.

I honestly don't know. If I want to raise in the rankings, I will need to kind of figure out what's needed to be there. Then I'll give you the answer (laughing).

Q. On your ranking, you're going to be, I think, 21 tomorrow or Monday. That will get you into pretty much every tournament, but I'm wondering before that, there's this Wimbledon wild card, which you mentioned was a possibility, and tournaments like Berlin or something like that. Would you like to play these main draws? Would you like for these tournaments to give you these wild cards before your ranking catches up on the entry lists?

MAJA CHWALINSKA: Yeah, I'm not going to play anything before grass, that's -- before Wimbledon, that's for sure. I definitely need some time to recharge.

Even before Roland Garros, I said that I need vacation after the tournament. So now it's, like, three weeks that I'm kind of, like, not waiting, because I wanted to be here, but I just knew back in my head that I'm going for the vacation after French Open.

Yeah, definitely need some time to recharge, and I'm going to play only Wimbledon this year.