I. SWIATEK/M. Kostyuk
6-2, 6-1
THE MODERATOR: Iga, your thoughts on reaching another final here at Indian Wells.
IGA SWIATEK: Well, for sure I'm proud of myself and really excited. I think it was a great match for me today. I have all positive vibes.
THE MODERATOR: Questions.
Q. You and Marta go back pretty far. How does that affect your mindset coming onto the court with such a familiar opponent?
IGA SWIATEK: Well, honestly, I don't think we played in juniors. We played once? I didn't even remember.
Well, mostly, you know, she's one year younger, so it's not like we've always played the same tournaments, but mostly, yeah, we did. But honestly, I mean, I mostly know her from the locker room now rather than before.
So I wouldn't say we have, you know, a really strong relationship. It's more like with any other player, but I know her kind of, you know, struggles at the beginning of the war with everything.
So for sure, because I was the one also, you know, supporting Ukraine pretty strongly, we may have, you know, talked a little bit more about that.
But today was all about tennis, so it didn't have an impact.
Q. When you get to a tournament and you start playing, is there a point in the tournament where you get deep enough where you start thinking about, okay, this is one where I can actually win, or are you really able to sort of compartmentalize and go match by match? Or at some point does the trophy start...
IGA SWIATEK: Well, I wouldn't say those thoughts they don't come up, because they do. The main question is what are you going to do with that? If you're going to really focus on it or you're really going to take it step by step and remember that you still have work to do.
So I think I'm pretty good at, you know, doing this second thing.
So I don't like focusing on the results. It's better for me to focus on the process, so even when they are going to come up, I know what to do.
Q. Is there a certain time when they come up, fourth round, semis, quarters?
IGA SWIATEK: There is no -- well, no, it's different. Sometimes they don't come up even until the match point in the final, because you feel like it's still far away. So there's no scheme.
Q. When analyzing your own game, do you think you could give us, like, your two or three greatest attributes of your own game? Like your greatest strength and then what else?
IGA SWIATEK: I would say overall the intensity and the discipline and my topspin.
Q. Your intensity and your discipline, has that increased even more in your career? Could you talk about that, please.
IGA SWIATEK: Well, for sure, you know, I needed to learn how to balance this intensity. I remember, you know, when I was younger, on one point I was more of a defense player, and when I started working with Tomasz, he taught me, you know, how to be more aggressive, but then you need to balance it.
What was the question?
Q. How your intensity and discipline have increased and become better as...
IGA SWIATEK: Oh, I think I just had to learn how to use that. The discipline came when Daria came on the team and she taught me how to, you know, be more focused and focus on the proper things. Because I remember my mind would go away, in a different way when I was younger and I didn't have skills yet to be that disciplined.
Q. The slight technical adjustment you made to your serve, I'm curious how that came about and how you feel it's helping you on the court.
IGA SWIATEK: Well, I don't feel like the process has been done yet, honestly, because it's not easy to change your technique but we're trying to make the movement more smooth and shorter.
Q. Does it feel different? How aware are you of it on court, given the muscle memory with your other shot?
IGA SWIATEK: I don't have to think about it. That's why sometimes it's going to also, you know, come closer to the other movement or be a little bit different.
But still, you know, muscle memory works long term, so I need to, for sure, between tournaments still, you know, work on it. It's pretty normal, but during the match I don't think about it. I think it would be kind of wrong if I would have to think about it. You want to focus on other things, you know. Yeah.
Q. Do you align the schedule for your off-court things with how you manage your travel schedule in terms of, like, saving this Lego, I'm going to finish the Vespa before I travel or I'm going to leave myself a few episodes of "Good Wife" to keep the routine throughout the end of the tournament?
IGA SWIATEK: I do a little bit but sometimes there's no point because you never know how long you're going to go in the tournament. I do that, but on the other hand I have tried to be flexible and not really plan everything, because it just, you know, doesn't make sense to worry too much.
So I do that, but I want to be flexible.
Q. If you could go out to dinner and talk about life and tennis, what tennis player, present or in the past, would you enjoy doing that with?
IGA SWIATEK: Steffi Graf.
Q. What would you like to talk to her about?
IGA SWIATEK: Well, her mentality and how she handled, you know, suddenly being the best player out there and how she felt with it personally.
Q. How do you feel about the ball here? I think it's changed. Now the ball, it's same to men's ball here. Recently, many players are talking about how often the ball changes every single weeks, and for some players tough adjustment. What's your opinion of that?
IGA SWIATEK: For sure, adjusting to the balls, it's the most important thing, and to the surface, it's the most important thing in our sport. The one that is going to adapt quicker is going to play better.
We always had Penn balls here, the ones we couldn't really get to practice. I think this is the bigger issue, that we don't get the tournament ball. I mean, I think I got one box.
So I don't want to be mean, but usually, overall, when we look at the calendar, usually the balls that you're going to get, there's going to be a limited amount. The pros use, you know, for two-hour practice, I don't know, like six cans at least. You're not going to use these balls again, because you need to play with the new ones.
Sometimes we struggle with having not enough balls, you know, to do, I don't know, the whole preseason with AO balls. I think this is the thing that should be changed first, because it's pretty easy, I think. We can buy it, you know, there's just not enough balls for us to have, the tournament balls (smiling). So not many people are aware that we don't play with the balls that you can see in store.
Here it was always pretty tricky. The balls were always much different than in other tournaments. But I got used to them. I'm not sure exactly if we play right now with men's ball, because Taylor Fritz at the beginning of the tournament told me that he thinks that they play with women's. So I'm confused. But I don't care. I like the ball.
I would say here it's more about the air and the conditions anyway. So I'm doing fine, and there is no point for me to overanalyze that.
Q. You've mentioned before that you're someone who really thrives in nature and outdoor environments. Is that part of why you feel comfortable and success here? Are there things that you've done on your off-days here, places you've gone to that you could tell us about that put you in the right frame of mind?
IGA SWIATEK: Here I wouldn't say I'm going somewhere. It's mostly just me being in the house. There's this one viewing point that you can go to, which is pretty nice in the mountains.
But overall, yeah, I feel much better in this kind of environment rather than big cities. I mean, except maybe Paris because I know it pretty well, and I always stay in places, like, closer to parks and everything.
But yeah, for sure it helps. I implement that in my rest schedule.
