THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 4, 2026

Iga Swiatek

Press Conference

A. EALA/I. Swiatek

7-6, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Iga, tough match today. Give us your thoughts.

IGA SWIATEK: Yeah, for sure it was, as you said, a tough match. I felt like Alexandra was more brave in important moments. In the tiebreak we both had many chances to close the set earlier, and it didn't go my way.

But overall, I feel like I played better than I played in Bad Homburg anyway. So yeah, just got to move forward.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How tough is it mentally after losing such a close first-set tiebreaker to try to recover in the second set? Did that have a big bearing in the result?

IGA SWIATEK: I think it was tougher mentally for me to accept these missed returns from the slow serves. I got to say it's much tougher to return a serve like that than a normal serve.

I know it was slow. I know exactly how it's going to come to me. It's such a different rhythm than what I usually have a chance to return.

The first serve, I mean, it was a good fight and I know that it's hard, such a long set. I know that one ball here or there could change a lot.

But I wanted to be present in the second set. I made some unforced errors at the beginning. Then, yeah, I felt like she was serving slower and slower, and it became tougher and tougher for me to return these serves.

That, for me, was hard to accept, yeah.

Q. If you compare to the loss in Paris, do you feel you're dealing with the same issue? Do you feel you've made some progress? Mentally, do you feel you're finding the way to go through that or if, since Paris, it's the same?

IGA SWIATEK: No, I don't think it's the same as in Paris. In Paris for sure it was completely, you know, about me not handling the pressure well. I was firing shots.

Today I wanted to be more calm and play some balls in. I was miss-hitting half of these returns. I lost many points I feel like. Maybe if I watch, I'm going to see something else.

For me, today was more about tennis. I'm also happy how I came back in the tiebreaker, and also after being a break down in the first set 'cause I feel like in Paris I would just lose it straight.

I was there to fight. It wasn't enough. For sure I could play a little bit better, but she also played great and she used her chances and she went for it.

In the tiebreak, I remember when it was tight, I remember I slowed down a bit, but she was brave enough to play a bit faster. You need to be brave in Wimbledon to win these points.

But I got to say it was hard for me to, like, balance the speed that I have that's made me lose some matches this year because I was playing too fast with being solid. I didn't find that good balance today and I lost. She played better in important moments.

Q. Today Mertens caused an upset as well. Is this another example of how competitive the top 30 in the women's draw is at the moment?

IGA SWIATEK: I guess, yeah.

Q. You mentioned there about making errors maybe that you wouldn't have done normally. How much was that what she was doing on the other side or if you think that was just kind of one of those days?

IGA SWIATEK: I wouldn't say I wouldn't make them normally. I remember clearly the last two matches against her. Same mistakes happened. I guess it's something to work on. Even though maybe the top players play super fast and serve fast, you also need to be ready for this kind of rhythm.

Yeah, I don't know. Like, she served slow. You need to step in. The court becomes short suddenly. If I want to put my topspin, I feel like I need to really play short.

But then many balls also just stayed, like, after the bounce. I had them there and didn't really adjust to them well. I would really need to step in halfway to the court to play this return, like, more natural.

I don't know. Even though it's super slow and people might think it's easy to return that, it's quite the opposite.

I feel like, yeah, for sure something to work on.

Q. You may disagree. You set the points up really well, and it was like the last shot...

IGA SWIATEK: Yeah, sometimes it was like that. I can't really explain the frames on the drive volleys. Usually I play them well. So yeah... Shit happens.

Q. You talked in the last couple months about being happy with your process. How much does having results that maybe don't match what you want make you rethink anything or you just trust that the process is good and the results will come?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, yeah, you need to trust the process, for sure. Honestly, I don't care anymore about the results. I've been so focused on them that it's hard to continue like that. So I'm really trying to, like, let it go.

I don't have good results, so I'm not going to expect for myself good results because they're just not happening. I'm not on that level yet.

I need to work from the beginning and try to just get my tennis better.