US OPEN

September 7, 2026

Iga Swiatek

Press Conference

Z. QINWEN/I. Swiatek

7-5, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. When it got to 5-Love in the first set, did you feel like you got a little bit more tense or a little bit ahead of yourself? What do you think led to that comeback?

IGA SWIATEK: Honestly, no. For sure, I felt like I started missing too many shots, she started playing, and I let her back into the match.

No, but honestly, my focus was the same as always. I wanted to play the same as always. Just started to miss too much, wanted to adjust it, but nothing kind of worked at that point. I knew I'm going to have, you know, another chance, and I wanted to use it, but I missed them all.

Q. Tough luck today. When you're up 5-Love and you do have that cushion, what kind of mental adjustment do you have to make of, like, it feels like you have a lot of time to get things back, and then all of a sudden....

IGA SWIATEK: I never judge that I'm going to have a lot of time. That's why I usually am able to close the set with a pretty straightforward score, because I'm good at, like, I don't know, like, even imagining that the scoreline is not like that and just pushing and being intense all the time.

But, like, today, I wouldn't say it had anything to do with mentality. It was more that I started making mistakes, you know, from easy balls and Qinwen stopped doing mistakes. She played the balls better. Yeah.

Q. I know New York doesn't necessarily fit with you. You can find it chaotic and noisy and things like that. How was your comfort level here during the past ten days or so, or two weeks, really?

IGA SWIATEK: I think it's chaotic for everyone. You just need to deal with it. I have been fine.

Q. I remember you saying at Roland Garros that you felt very tense on court and it had been a bit stressful being on the tennis tour in recent months. Had you felt that here at all, or do you feel you've moved on from that?

IGA SWIATEK: Yeah, I feel like I moved on. For sure, it's not so easy for me to play here as on a bit slower surface where the ball is bouncing a bit higher.

But, you know, still I feel like I could have played a bit better, so that's unfortunate. But I feel like, for sure, this part of the season has been better in terms of managing that, so yeah.

Q. What experiences in your career, if any, have been comparable to this, and how did you go about bouncing back from those?

IGA SWIATEK: Honestly, every US Open except 2022 has been like that. So, like, we face many losses, so obviously it's not the best thing to say, but, like, in tennis, you're more used to losing than winning.

So I don't feel like I need to, like, bounce back from anything. Just need to focus on the work before next tournaments, and there are going to be other chances to play good tennis, and I will focus on growing and developing my game. That's it.

Q. I was speaking more specifically about the first set, having been up 5-Love and bouncing back from that. How do you think you'll go about internalizing that and growing from it?

IGA SWIATEK: It's just one match. Like, I'll try to play the same way as usual.

What do you mean, like, do you think it's something crazy, you know? You can lose a set from any score, so nothing special about that. Just that's what happened and that's it.

Q. You took a medical timeout. How are you feeling physically?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, I've been fresher, but just, you know, my quad is quite tired, but it had no influence on the game. Just wanted to give it a little boost.

Yeah, it didn't influence anything.

Q. It seemed like you've been problem-solving very well on court and, you know, finding solutions. Did it feel kind of different today that you weren't able to find a solution?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, I was just mishitting the balls, you know. So didn't feel like I had space to feel it better. I don't know.

Well, I framed a lot. I didn't hit the ball in the right place. It's not so easy to adjust, like, the basic things in the game if they're not working, you know. Just tried to focus on having, like, smooth rhythm and everything, but also, you know, I didn't have good timing. I wasn't hitting the ball right.

It's tough to get over that when it happens. And maybe I could have played more safe or something, but I also didn't feel like I had space with Qinwen to do that. If I would be more solid than her, I would win this game, but I wasn't solid and I was missing too much.

Yeah, I had, like, some ideas of what to do with it, like some worked on the previous match, but it's not going to work every time. Yeah.