THE MODERATOR: Welcome back to Tennis Paradise. How is your preparation going?

IGA SWIATEK: Yeah, it's for sure lovely to be here. I really like this place. And we always enjoy it as a team, as well. Happy to be back and preparing for the tournament

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. I was wondering if you could give us an assessment of the first two months of the year? Obviously, your first two months.

IGA SWIATEK: Well, for sure, you know, the results haven't been what I would wish for, because most of the tournaments I lost somewhere around quarterfinals, so it would be great to improve that, but obviously it's tennis, so there are many factors coming in and influencing that.

I think the last weeks I had in Warsaw when I withdrew from Dubai, I practiced, you know, really well and I improved some stuff, so I would say, yeah, the first month just, you know, Australian Open swing was kind of intense with United Cup and Australian Open.

We won United Cup, which is amazing, and then AO, you know, it's a slam, so it's a tough tournament with many things happening. Lost against Elena. She won the tournament.

So I kind of often had that situation in Melbourne. I don't know why. And then, yeah, Doha tournament was kind of weird in terms of my level. I played sometimes really great, but then couldn't hold that till the end of the match, so for sure, you know, I'm looking forward to next tournaments to improve some stuff, but also, like, it hasn't been perfect, so I'm not putting too much pressure on myself, and I feel like I can really lower the expectations and just focus on the work and see how it's going to go.

Q. The last seven to eight months or so you have won all these tournaments that you have never won before, and maybe in the past we were used to you being defending champion and winning multiple titles in single cities. Does that feel any different, winning Wimbledon, Cincy, United Cup, Korea?

IGA SWIATEK: Yeah, it's kind of strange, because who would have expected that actually this was going to be the case. I think, you know, I felt really, like, fresh in these places, Wimbledon and in Cincinnati, like without anything in the back of my mind that I should do, you know.

So that also helped me to sometimes maybe perform even better, but honestly, I think also it's a bit of a coincidence, maybe not Wimbledon, because I actually feel like I changed my approach on Wimbledon and before Wimbledon to practice a little bit differently, to use different skills on grass.

But yeah, the Cincinnati tournament, yeah, I haven't played there well, but this year, the conditions changed a little bit with the surface, it fit me a little bit better, and I immediately kind of used that to my advantage.

United Cup, kind of funny, because I was always winning most of my singles, and we couldn't do it, and this year actually my singles performance dropped a bit, but actually, we won, so tennis is kind of funny that way. But I'm really happy that we won it as a team, because it was kind of on my checklist, you know.

Q. You just mentioned about the intense schedule, and you have talked about the schedule in the past. The WTA has put up this new tour council. I'm curious about your thoughts on this council and if you think there is potential for them to make good changes.

IGA SWIATEK: Oh, I wasn't talking now about intense schedule. I just kind of described my months.

Q. But in the past, you have mentioned the schedule.

IGA SWIATEK: Yes, I know that there is new team of players that will be more focused on these topics, and also I spoke to some members at the players', the board, and also player representatives from WTA, and I know that it has been an issue, like, most of the players are talking about it already.

So we were said that there will be some steps towards changing that, so we feel more comfortable. But yeah, everything I said before, it's kind of it. I don't have anything to add.

Q. On one specific issue, what do you think of Craig Tiley's idea of expanding women's tennis format to best-of-five sets in the second week of a Grand Slam? Are you for or against?

IGA SWIATEK: I think honestly it's a weird approach in the world where everything is becoming faster, you know. So I don't know if the audience honestly would like that.

Also, like, I don't know if we would be able to keep the quality for five sets. Well, that's a fact, like, men are more physically strong and they can handle it for sure better.

Also, we have never practiced in a way to prepare for that, so we would need to change, I think, our whole calendar, because the Grand Slams would be so tough that I don't think we would have honestly time to prepare for any other tournaments.

So I think it would change a lot. I don't think it would change anything for good. I don't know what's the reason, honestly, for this. You know?

Q. I don't. I can speculate.

IGA SWIATEK: It's just an idea?

Q. Well, from the fourth round onwards at the Australian Open this year, there were only two matches that went three sets. All the rest were straight sets, which...

IGA SWIATEK: In women's?

Q. In the women's, yes. You look for television purposes, selling-tickets purposes, if you're charging an exorbitant amount of money for center-court seats, maybe it's a way to give the punters more value for money, because they're guaranteed more tennis?

IGA SWIATEK: There is already more tennis with extending with the Sunday, so I guess we can extend forever (smiling).

But we are the ones that will play, and the question is we're actually going to handle it or not, and I think this might be tricky, this five-court situation.

Q. When things are not going in the right way, some people are maybe inclined to panic and start changing things. I was wondering, when you are faced with adversities and your game is not what you want it to be, is there some way you go first in terms of looking for things to change? Strings or tension or shoes or somebody wants to -- anything, really. Is there somewhere that you actually look for to change, or you simply prefer to keep on doing what you're doing, because things...

IGA SWIATEK: No, for sure you can change something, but I don't think it's equipment. It depends what's your problem, you know, because you need to face it at some point. You need to know what is happening wrong.

For example, if you're, I don't know, having too many obligations off the court, if you're not fully committed, if your mentality is not there or, for example, if the process is kind of not set the right way, or I don't know, your practices are chaotic, whatever. You need to just see what the problem is and change them in you or talk to the team to solve that and to change it in your process, because, yeah.

But the shoes, the racquet, I mean, I'm playing with same racquet for years. My shoes are amazing. If I lose a match, I don't blame it on them.

Q. How much were you following the Olympics at all? If you were, I'm curious if there was anything that any athlete, like, said that resonated with you, you know, like quote-wise or message-wise.

IGA SWIATEK: Well, I was following the Olympics but more the performances. I wasn't really following like on the interviews and everything.

But I think overall what happened in figure skating was super interesting, and from the psychological point of view, and I saw Liu winning when actually she had some troubles, like before she was burned out and she had to stop, and now she seems like everything she does she does to have fun and to really show her amazing skills in a way that makes her happy. Like it looks like that. Like I haven't spoken to her, so I'm not sure. But it's really inspiring.

So I think this really will, I will remember it for a long time, and yeah. But I haven't heard many interviews, though. I was just watching and following more the news. I haven't seen the interviews.