THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

June 27, 2026

Iga Swiatek

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We will go straight into questions.

Q. Wimbledon had 10 different winners over the last 10 years. How do you intend to break the curse and what makes it so difficult to win?

IGA SWIATEK: That's a tough question. I have no idea. Everybody's story is different.

Why? It's hard to say. For sure it's a tournament that creates maybe a different challenges when you come back as the defending champion because of the whole thing that is happening around it.

I think there were players that won this tournament that already have won many tournaments and Grand Slams. Why particularly it's hard to repeat that, I have no idea. I can't answer that question. Sorry.

Q. When you reflect on last year or watch videos of the match, study videos of your matches here in preparation, what is it that you see to answer the question of how you won it, how you did it? Are there certain things that are different that you now see that you were doing here last year compared with years before?

IGA SWIATEK: I remember the feeling was completely different. Preparation before also. So that gave me a lot. Technically for sure many things were working well.

I think, honestly, I had a lot of calm and confidence in my shots. That was the key because, like, many players have great game to win a Grand Slam. When I watch myself from last year, I remember that I was just so focused on the goal, didn't have many doubts.

This is what will get you the win at the end because, yeah, everybody can play good tennis. It's more about the mental side. I think that, at the end, made the difference.

At the beginning of the tournament, obviously you don't know, like, what you're level is. You need to figure it out on the first matches. I could progress match by match. So that helped me a lot last year.

Q. Did you say you were focused on the goal or the ball?

IGA SWIATEK: The goal. Yeah, no doubts I meant.

Q. What does it feel like coming back as a Wimbledon champion?

IGA SWIATEK: Exciting. I feel proud of what happened last year. My dream came true kind of. Not even a dream because I didn't dream that because I thought it was impossible. It feels great.

On the other hand, I'm here because of the next tournament. I need to also stay present.

Q. You're Wimbledon defending champion. Last year you got the nickname of the Wimbledon towel thief. Are you living up to that nickname this year or do you have a new towel strategy?

IGA SWIATEK: Let's start with the fact that I don't have any towels left from last year. My friends want it, my family want it. I gave it to some charity because the thing became viral obviously. So I guess I should steal even more.

Yeah, I will continue that because that's the best kind of souvenir you can get from a tournament.

Q. There's a red strawberry towel this year.

IGA SWIATEK: Really? It's not an on-court towel, right?

Q. It's a limited edition.

IGA SWIATEK: I'll ask for it anyway (smiling).

Q. Sorry to go back to being the defending champion here. I got the impression from your first answer that you've been defending champion at other slams, but here it feels a bit different. I know you haven't had the experience of Tuesday yet, knowing when and where you're going to play in advance. Does it feel really different here?

IGA SWIATEK: I feel like people talk about it more. I think the whole vibe of becoming a member is something that you are not going to experience on other tournaments. Maybe that's why it feels a bit different.

Honestly, I'm going to look at it in a realistic way. Obviously, yeah, last year's grass season was great. But it's not like I always felt amazing on grass, so...

Even though I won, I still feel like I have stuff to figure out. Like this year even, the Bad Homburg tournament didn't really get me that nice rhythm that I had last year. I feel like I'm starting from a totally different position and I'm really in a place that I'm keeping my expectations low. Even though everybody is talking about this, I feel like I need to play matches and I need to just -- it's not going to be smooth because of last year.

That's why I try to kind of not think about that too much, but more like be grateful about the experience and enjoy it because, as I said, my dream came true. It's also good to take some happiness from that and be proud of it.

Q. You were one of the first players to include a psychologist full-time time from a very young age. Do you think that gave you an edge at the very beginning? Do you feel like you were sort of a trailblazer with all of the players now following and placing more importance on the mental side of the game?

IGA SWIATEK: Honestly, I also feel like many athletes did it before, but no one really was just talking about it. I always felt like I can be honest because I'm not a robot. I also wasn't, like, born with all these skills to cope with expectations and stress and everything. You need to really work on it to have it. Even if you do, it's not going to stay with you forever.

Yeah, I feel like now I also hear from other athletes and maybe coaches that many people used this kind of help, but not on tour probably.

For me it was quite different because I was working with psychologist, like meeting online once per week or something. I was still kind of like closed and not really able, maybe stupid sometimes, because wasn't able to really describe what I felt or what I experienced. I realized that I need someone next to me to observe and to help me come to some conclusions, to help me figure stuff out.

When I was younger, I decided that this is the way to go. For me it's as important or even more important than physical preparation or even tennis-wise working.

Honestly, if your head is not going to work the right way, you can have the best game on tour, but you're not going to perform as you want.

So yeah, for me it's crucial.

Q. On the grass element, so much of succeeding on grass is sliding. Are you a player who tries to avoid falling completely or do you factor it in and think about how you can fall in a way that won't injure yourself?

IGA SWIATEK: I have no idea. I'm not an alpine skier to practice that or to know how to fall. Of course, we don't want to slip because the point is over, you're not going to be back from it probably. Sliding is not the best because you have no control when you're going to stop on grass. So yeah, it's better to avoid it.

When you're in a situation that you need to slide because there's no other way to get the ball back, of course slide, play it back, and see what happens. You're not always going to fall.

Also depends on the stage of the tournament. Like, behind the baseline it gets quite like there's more sand. It gives you more chances to not slip when you slide.

Thank you. Thanks.