NATIONAL BANK OPEN

August 6, 2026

Iga Swiatek

Press Conference

I. SWIATEK/V. Golubic

6-2, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Iga, congratulations on the win. What do you think worked well for you on court today?

IGA SWIATEK: I felt good. For sure a rusty start. But then after the first game I felt like I'm playing better and better towards the end of the match.

So I think, you know, I played back her slice pretty well, so the change of rhythm didn't bother me that much. I tried to pick the right balls to attack because I was controlling the pace, it was just about the decision making.

THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. Curious, over the first two matches what have you been most impressed with about your game adjusting to the hard courts here?

IGA SWIATEK: I think I'm happy with everything. Just being solid, I guess, and starting the tournament with calm, I'm happy with that. And, yeah, that's it.

Q. Curious, these different hard court tournaments have, like, different hard courts that you have to adjust to the speed, the balls. What's the most difficult would you say for you? Is it adjusting to the court, adjusting to the different types of balls that are being used?

IGA SWIATEK: Actually, on these three tournaments they will be the same, it will be the same balls, so it's not a problem.

But I guess the surface in Cincinnati last year was quite bouncy, I think the most bouncy surface that we play at throughout the whole year, so you need to adjust to that. But I guess it was to my advantage.

So, yeah, on US Open it's quite fast also. It's always more tricky there.

Q. Second year in a row that we've had the expanded format here at the 1000 level in Canada. I'm just wondering, do you prefer this format, what are the positives and the potential negatives to it for you as a player?

IGA SWIATEK: I stopped analyzing that because that's the situation that we need to face, having these longer tournaments, so it doesn't really matter what we prefer or not.

I mean, it depends how you approach it. Like, if you play a tournament before, I think it's nice to have days off in between or something.

But if you're fresh, I guess it would be also nice to get some nice rhythm and just play a few matches in a row because that's what we've been doing, you know, previous years when the tournaments were shorter, and we were fine, you know.

We had events where you, where you could like win many points, but they just lasted a week. So they were just smaller, compact, and I liked it.

But yeah, I mean, with days off you have more time to, I don't know, to recover or do something.

On the other hand, with shorter tournaments you have that time after the tournament, so it was also nice.

Q. You faced Alex Eala recently at Wimbledon, and last night was a pretty electric atmosphere here on center court. Wondering if you could talk about her sort of sudden rise on the WTA, as well as, have you had matches like last night outside of Poland, with a really big Polish presence, where you have your home fans behind you even when you're away from home?

IGA SWIATEK: I haven't watched yesterday, so sorry about that. I'm not sure what happened.

But I guess, yeah, she has a big fan base, and many, you know, people from her country are everywhere kind of. So that's great because she gets that support.

Polish people are also kind of everywhere. Maybe they're not that loud, I would say, or something, but I feel that they're supporting me basically in every country that I go to, so there's not one particular.

Yeah, she's obviously a tricky player, with different game style. So, you know, she's a competitor, she's fighting for every game, every point. And, yeah, she's playing great, so good for her.

Q. I know how much you enjoy the literature and reading. Curious, throughout a long tournament like this how much is reading incorporated into your daily routine, like on a match day or days in between?

IGA SWIATEK: Yeah, I read quite a lot, just when I have some time off.

I'm not watching anything currently, so most of the time goes to reading. And, yeah, but it's not anything planned.