Swiatek: "I see myself more solid, that gives me confidence to hit one more ball"

The days pass at Roland Garros, and there is a player who is starting to look like the top candidate. It's Iga Swiatek, who with three victories is already beginning to think about very special things here in Paris. Three games conceded in the first round, five games conceded in the second round, and eight games conceded in the third round. The numbers indicate that the Roland Garros draw is getting a bit more complicated for Iga Swiatek with each advancing round, although in reality, we still have to wait to see a rival who truly challenges the four-time champions of the French Internationals. After defeating Linette this morning, the Pole shared a dinner chat with the accredited press, where she analyzed her form and had very kind words for Francis Roig and Rafa Nadal.

Evaluation of her victory against Linette

"I am happy to be in the fourth round; it was a good match. I played much better than in Miami, so I could use my topspin forehand and my second serve. I am pleased with the match."

Monitoring the weather for Sunday

"We will see the temperature and the racket strings' tension, but surely the game will look a bit different. I think tomorrow will also be hot, so we will have to adapt to the day, which is not a perfect situation, but both players will be under the same conditions. We will do our best; undoubtedly, Marta is having a great season. She has always had the level to play well; she had reached semifinals in major tournaments before, now she won Madrid, so I am happy for her. I will focus on myself, prepare tactically, like before any other match; we will see what happens."

Iga Swiatek analyzes the improvement in her tennis since working with Francis Roig

"Undoubtedly, it was something I wanted to improve because I was not in a good moment tennis-wise. It was challenging to play with that intuition during the hardcourt season this year. I feel that we worked a lot on that with Francisco at the beginning. Also, not rushing in making decisions because I feel I will fail or something like that. Now I feel much more solid, which gives me confidence to return one more ball and another one without needing to end the point immediately. Now I feel that most of the time, I make good and quite rational decisions. There are moments when I risk too much, especially with this maybe a bit extreme weather. But we will see how it changes also with the conditions and slightly cooler weather; I think we will have to put more energy into the ball to make it come out faster, so that will be interesting. Overall, I feel that my decision-making has improved, and that's progress. After how I played in the United States, honestly, any improvement is positive."

 

Happy with her work with Francis Roig

"It's important to be able to coexist throughout the year because we spend a lot of time on the circuit. I think it is important to have good vibes; he is a very positive person, and I feel he can talk to everyone. He is very laid-back but can also easily change and become someone determined within the team, someone who needs to tell me what to do. It's a very good mix; I think there is great balance. Also, he brings some Latin humor and good vibes, so it's great."

Accustomed to the heat on the circuit

"Sometimes in Australia, there can be two days of 42 degrees and then suddenly normal weather of twenty-something degrees. The truth is I'm not sure; I can't name a specific tournament, but yes, surely it happened before. Although maybe this case is a bit extreme because going from 30 degrees to 19 the next day is quite strange."

Iga Swiatek reveals what it was like to train at the Rafa Nadal Academy

"It was great. It gave me a lot of motivation and energy I needed before the clay-court season; it was a really good week. Probably the most intense and solid training week I've had lately. Rafa was present in two training sessions, which I really appreciated. It was a great honor for him... I mean, for me (laughs). It was an honor for me to have him on the court, a privilege. He gave me some technical advice but mostly, we talked about some of his experiences. It was lovely to see how open he is to giving advice. He is a great person."

This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Swiatek: “Me veo más sólida, eso me da confianza para pasar una bola más”