NATIONAL BANK OPEN

August 4, 2026

Iga Swiatek

Press Conference

I. SWIATEK/S. Bejlek

6-0, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Iga, well played today. Obviously very straightforward first set on paper, but she's a really good young, tricky opponent. What were your keys to victory today?

IGA SWIATEK: Yeah, for sure it was a good match, and a good start of the hard court season. I'm happy with the level.

The first set I was playing with a lot of confidence and very straightforward, so for sure a good one.

Then, in second, parts of that were kind of the same as first. But there were for sure a few tricky games, especially the long one. I haven't played a game like that in some time, so I'm happy that I won it and I was solid at the end, so for sure a good match.

THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. You mentioned that long game in the second set. Just curious how you were able to just escape out of that, stay mentally strong to hold serve eventually?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, honestly, I didn't know it was that long. When I was playing, I didn't really feel that. But for sure I knew that she missed some opportunities, I missed some opportunities.

I really wanted to be solid for just two points in a row to win it, because at the end that's what you need to win a game when it's like deuce/advantage, deuce/advantage, you know.

So, yeah, I knew that I can for sure use the opportunities, because two or three of them I just missed, it was my mistake. I knew that I can just come back to being solid, and she helped me a little bit to close it.

Then I felt that I can reset and just play the same game as I did to the beginning of the set.

Q. At the French Open you spoke about finishing points and how you hoped to end them. In a few matches, I've noticed that you've opened the court. You like to build points where you open the court a lot, and then you hit the ball back to your opponent instead of the open space. I'm curious why that's the case. Is it more attacking patterns, what the opponent's giving you, or execution in the moment of each point?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, obviously you need to play both, in the open space and behind them, because depends on the player. Like, there are many that are coming back, but there are many that are staying there. You kind of just need to feel that on the court.

Both options are good. Obviously when you're attacking and you do the attack well, it doesn't really matter. Like, the probability that you're going to win the point is pretty high if you're not going to miss, you know.

So it depends on situation, on the opponent, and how I feel about playing there or there, and what I feel my shot is going to, where it's going to do more damage, you know, so it depends on many things.

Q. Could you please talk about the playing conditions here in terms of court speed and bounce, and do you think they suit your game?

IGA SWIATEK: It's hard to say about the last part of the question because, yeah, I mean, it's not like I feel bad here, but I don't know if it fits my game.

I feel like we need to play on all of these different surfaces, and I stopped thinking already what fits or what doesn't fit my game. I just want to play good on every event that I attend.

So I think it's like medium. It's not too fast. You know, last year in Montreal was way faster. So the speed is like medium, I would say.

The bounce is high, the balls are light, so it kind of flies in the air. It is crazy sometimes because of the wind. So these are the conditions.

Q. Like you said, you had a very strong start to the match. Just wondering what's the balance between work and leisure in the lead-up and the preparation to this match. I saw you went to the museum the other day, so...

IGA SWIATEK: Well, that wasn't a preparation for the match (laughing).

Q. Yeah, but just the balance between, your balance between work and leisure and preparations to the match, and is it good to have that balance prior to the start of a match?

IGA SWIATEK: Yeah, of course. I mean, also during the tournament, the tournaments are getting longer, so you have many days between matches. If you're like, yeah, you have days off after every match basically almost. So you need to know how to stay focused, but on the other hand not be too bored, you know, not staying in the same place.

So I try to, yeah, discover these cities that I go to, or visit some nice places, and, yeah, but not do anything, like I wouldn't go party or something (laughing), so not do anything that would make me tired.

I think I'm good at having that balance and I'm, you know, enjoying most of the places I go to. So, yeah, I think it's important. Maybe it's not that important at the beginning of your career, but then you're coming back to the same places, so you need to have some good time in these cities, yeah.

Q. Sara would occasionally use the moon ball or lob shot, I guess, more of like a defensive tactic. I'm curious, how much do you think kind of that disrupted, like not necessarily your rhythm, but the rhythm of the point, and how do you kind of combat that?

IGA SWIATEK: Yeah, it kind of resets the point. It depends, you know, how she does it. Obviously if it's too short you can attack it. But if it's long, like, it's a tricky shot because if you're going to take it right after the bounce, it's going to bounce pretty quick, especially with these light balls here, so to control that is also not easy.

I guess sometimes you just need to come back with the same kind of shot. You can see sometimes players, like, trying to go in and attack this ball and they mis-hit quite big, you know.

So you need to be smart about it because also you don't want to play this game all the time. Like, you need to also handle these balls and be proactive if you're a player that likes to, you know, play quite aggressive, if you have a chance, you know.

So, yeah, it's all about decisions and all about judging the ball, and, yeah, for sure it's a good play, you know.