ROLAND GARROS

May 22, 2026

Iga Swiatek

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Iga, welcome back to Roland Garros. How have your preparations been for this year's tournament?

IGA SWIATEK: Yeah, you know, I'm really happy to be back here. The preparations, honestly, as before any other tournament, we're just practicing in a solid way, and getting time for recovery, as well.

But for sure the conditions changed today, so from now on, I feel like the practices will be more different than two days ago. It's important to get the feeling of the court right now with the heat.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. I know you love coming to Paris any time. Does it feel different in your mind, in your head, coming back not as the defending champion for the first time in a while?

IGA SWIATEK: Honestly, no. I feel like, you know, I remember all these tournaments that I played here normally if I won or not, so it all kind of comes up as one memory, I would say.

But, no, I don't particularly think on last year. Doesn't really matter.

Q. We know about players will do 15 minutes of media today. Are you taking part in that? Are you on the clock now, and how are you policing it?

IGA SWIATEK: Yeah, I'm also doing 15 minutes. I'm following the structure. Yeah, sorry, so do you want to waste time on this question or do you want to... Yeah, I am.

Q. From your perspective, what's the kind of main objective of this initiative? Is it an issue about respect, is it prize money? What's the No. 1 thing for you?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, first of all, I feel like all of us, we have nothing against media, obviously, and we totally respect you guys. We know how our relationship is important.

But with the tournament, you know, I feel like we will do more when the tournament will do more for us. Not only us, the top players, because obviously we are the ones that have the most contact with you guys, but, you know, for also the lower-ranked players and the whole structure, you know.

So it's personally, like, nothing against you guys, but for sure, this is the decision that we made, and we will follow it.

Q. A question that's a few months old. Curious of your thoughts about the comments by the tournament director in Dubai when you pulled out of that tournament, who said both you and Sabalenka, you both pulled out close to the start of the tournament, should get very harsh penalties, losing 500 ranking points. Just what were your thoughts on those comments?

IGA SWIATEK: Wait, Aryna got a penalty?

Q. No, no. The tournament director was suggesting there should be very harsh penalties and fines and ranking-point losses. Maybe you didn't hear about this?

IGA SWIATEK: I didn't. I heard about the complaints, but I didn't hear about the penalty probably because it's a bit ridiculous (smiling).

Well, we have a right to withdraw any time we want, so I don't see the problem, honestly. If we are not fit or we don't feel like this is the right time for us to play a tournament, like, are we slaves? Like, we are allowed to decide. I don't see the problem.

We get zero in the ranking. That's a punishment.

Q. I know you were asked in Rome about boycotts, but in general, do you think players would be willing to take a stand that potentially hurts them in order to make their point? For example, I guess an option here could have been to not do media at all and get fined. Do you think players would be willing to take that step forward?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, that's an interesting question. I guess for me it's hard to know what's gonna happen in next weeks. I think we will kind of follow, yeah, what we decide on. But there are many factors coming in, and also depends on how the tournaments will react, so I can't really say that it will do this or that now, because we also need to see what the reaction will be.

I don't think, you know, doing something that is not constructive will make sense, but we want to push a bit more to get what we need and to get the tournaments being more open for the conversations, you know, that we need to have.

Q. Setting aside the title defense question of last year versus this year and stuff like that, just how differently, if you think about how you felt maybe on this day last year coming as the tournament is about to start compared to now? Do you feel markedly different in terms of confidence, game style, all these sorts of things? Or is the mindset the same?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, last year, my tournament in Rome was like a really cold, cold shower, you know, and I wake up cold. I felt terrible on the court in Rome, so for sure, this year, after a couple of good matches, there is more positive vibe. It's good to just have some really solid matches on your shoulders and start the tournament with that.

It's a bit different, but, you know, every year I say that every tournament is a different story, no matter if I won Rome, no matter if I lost second round. We still have time to kind of refresh, reset, and start the tournament from a totally different perspective.

So, yeah, I think I will take good experience from this year's Rome and, like, positive feedback also after the matches. And, you know, I also had the chance to play under pressure, I also had the chance to play short matches. I get the vibe of the matches. I'm in, like, the match rhythm, which is great, comparing to last year.

But still, this is a totally different tournament with different conditions right now, especially with the heat. So you need to, like, be humble and start knowing that you're willing to fight for every match.

Q. As someone who really values working on the mental work and the mental side of sport, can you try and explain the difference of the work you're doing mentally in a period when you were super dominant on this surface? Because dominance also comes with pressure, because everyone expects you to win every match. And now, perhaps, you're not as dominant, you're still really good on the surface but it's a bit different. What work do you do mentally in these different types of phases?

IGA SWIATEK: Obviously, I wouldn't split this, like, these situations to when I was dominating or not dominating, because even when I was dominating, I felt sometimes good, sometimes really anxious, sometimes I didn't care and I just went for it.

For example, '23, I played final in Madrid, I withdrew in Rome, but I had a good tournament, and here I won, but honestly, I never felt that anxious than in 2023.

So every year is different. Last year I felt like I needed to really work more in a tennis way than mental on these tournaments, but I felt a lot of pressure, a lot. Everybody was just looking at my clay court results and judging, you know.

But, for example, in 2024, I don't know, every day I just enjoyed. I really didn't feel any kind of pressure from the outside. Maybe I was, like, really focused just on myself, and it just, I was really in the zone, in my own bubble, and went for it.

Honestly, every year is different, no matter if you're dominating the court or not, there are different obstacles to face. So it's more I need to adjust to that and not really the results or tennis itself.