Tennis - Roland-Garros 2024 - Iga Swiatek : "It's just nice that anybody would compare me to Steffi Graf (smiling)"

  • il y a 4 mois
Première joueuse depuis Serena Williams en 2013 à avoir réalisé le doublé Madrid-Rome, Iga Swiatek veut continuer à marcher dans les pas de la légende américaine en remportant également le Grand Chelem parisien pour réaliser un triplé historique. Après sa correction infligée en 40 minutes à la pauvre Anastasia Potapova avec seulement 10 points perdus durant la rencontre, la Polonaise n'a pas été plus embêtée face à la n°6 mondiale Marketa Vondrousova, 6-0, 6-2. Intouchable, Swiatek n'a eu besoin que de 62 minutes pour l'emporter. Une nouvelle démonstration pour décrocher une quatrième demi-finale à Roland-Garros, la troisième de suite. Ce sera sa sixième demie en Grand Chelem. Impressionnante, Swiatek n'a perdu que 2 matchs sur les 35 joués depuis le début de sa carrière Porte d'Auteuil. Seule Chris Evert a fait mieux en n'ayant qu'une seule défaite lors de ses 35 premiers matchs à Roland...

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Transcription
00:00 (MUSIC)
00:03 Well, it was a really solid performance, probably the best I've had here,
00:08 so I'm happy that my game is getting better and better every day,
00:11 and I felt pretty confident today.
00:13 Hey, Iga, extremely well played. Congrats.
00:21 I want to look ahead to Coco, if you don't mind.
00:23 It's been about just over three years since you first met her,
00:26 11 meetings since then, she's struggled to get matches against you,
00:31 and sometimes even sets, but she has made a lot of improvement over those three years,
00:34 so I wonder if you could just tell me what you think of her game now,
00:37 compared to where it was then, and do you think she's making improvements,
00:41 do you think she's a tougher opponent than she was three years ago?
00:44 Yeah, I think so. I think her mental game is a little bit better,
00:49 and before it was kind of easier to crack her, I would say, when you were leading,
00:57 but it's normal that she's making progress, she's at that age that everything goes pretty nicely,
01:05 if you're working hard then you will get a progress, so she's probably doing that,
01:10 and probably every aspect of her game is a little bit better,
01:14 because it's different being a teenager on a tour, and then being a more mature player.
01:22 Hi, there you go. Two questions if I could.
01:25 The first one is about your form, compared to when you were at this sort of stage of the tournament,
01:31 the last three times that you won.
01:33 How do you feel you're playing right now, compared to those sort of stages?
01:37 Oh, wow, that's a tough one.
01:43 I don't really remember how I felt, honestly, because these tournaments are long,
01:48 and I don't remember every day, I would say, but I remember last year was pretty stressful for me,
01:55 so every match was kind of like a relief, and now I'm enjoying it more,
02:02 and I have more satisfaction from just playing my game.
02:08 Two years ago I would say in my mind it felt pretty similar,
02:15 because I just felt like I had already a great season, and now I can just go for it,
02:22 and 2020 it doesn't really fit anywhere, because it was just all hectic, and it was all a surprise.
02:34 And the second question is, I've heard people compare watching you and some of your scorelines
02:40 to Steffi Graf, one of the great players.
02:42 I just wondered whether you, I know she was before your time in terms of age,
02:48 but have you ever watched any footage of Steffi Graf, and what your thoughts were if you had?
02:54 Well, I did, and she's a great champion, and it's just nice that anybody would compare me to her,
03:03 because I feel like, I mean I don't know her, but I feel like maybe she was kind of a similar person to me,
03:11 because she also likes to keep her privacy, and now you can see that she's just enjoying life,
03:17 and she knows that she works hard to have a little bit of peace right now.
03:22 And I also heard from some people on tour that she was also kind of an introvert,
03:28 and really in the zone and just focusing on tennis and what she wants to do.
03:33 So that's what I heard tennis-wise.
03:36 I mean, it's hard to compare, because these were totally different times.
03:39 Probably I don't have such a good slice of hers and Volley's,
03:43 but it's nice that anybody would compare me to her, because she's great.
03:48 Hi, Iga.
03:52 Tennis has a lot of ups and downs, and how do you succeed to stay from outside in what looks like an easy game?
04:02 How do you succeed now to go out from the game, to stay focused at 100%, and it was the same last game?
04:09 I try not to really focus on the score.
04:12 Sometimes I even forget what the score is, honestly.
04:15 And just focusing. I mean, I'm keeping myself busy in terms of thinking about technique and tactics
04:24 and what I would do with the next point, and because of that,
04:28 I don't really allow myself to have time to drift off and think about other stuff.
04:34 Obviously, it's not easy, and it's not like I'm always able to do that,
04:39 but usually when I don't think about the score, I can reset after each point
04:45 and start the second point from the beginning with a clean sheet.
04:49 It's the best kind of match for me.
04:52 Hi, Iga.
04:56 There have been ten days so far now, and all ten night session matches have been men's matches,
05:03 and all ten of the first sessions of the day, the first match of the day on Châtier,
05:07 when there's normally not that many people in yet, all ten have been women's matches.
05:11 Do you feel like the women's game has been let down by the French Open schedulers this week?
05:17 Honestly, sorry to say that, but I don't care because I'm honestly just focusing on my matches,
05:24 and I like playing during the day, so it's comfortable for me that I can be scheduled that way.
05:31 I think it's better to ask someone who's responsible for scheduling and picking these matches.
05:40 Probably there are many factors coming in, a lot of requests,
05:44 but I mean, for me, I'm feeling comfortable playing during the day,
05:53 so if I would say that it's wrong for women's tennis, I wouldn't really say anything
06:03 that would make my tennis schedule more comfortable.
06:07 But it would be nice, obviously, to play in peak hours, but honestly,
06:14 I understand some decisions, like for example, me and Naomi being in a day
06:20 when Richard Gasquet played during the night, for me, it's kind of obvious that French players
06:26 might have priority in terms of night session.
06:29 So, yeah, I think it's better to ask somebody who's responsible for scheduling,
06:34 but I'm fine with playing during the day.
06:37 If you can think back to here in 2020, obviously, very unusual circumstances,
06:49 but I'm wondering in what ways, if at all, did winning that first Grand Slam title,
06:56 the thing all tennis players are striving for, might have changed you on the court, off the court,
07:05 your perceptions of yourself, and/or because I've heard you talk about how different that year was here,
07:15 was it the second one, maybe, that had more of that sort of profound effect?
07:22 First one, I would say, kind of live, I would say that it gave me belief that I can win Grand Slams right now
07:30 because I was still not really sure if it happened by mistake or what really happened,
07:36 honestly, during these two weeks.
07:38 I had to prove to myself that I was good enough to win it,
07:42 and I think I proved that winning some titles after that and winning in 2022.
07:49 The win in 2022 was the most satisfying for me, and I proved everybody, and I proved myself,
07:58 that it wasn't a one-time thing, and maybe in the future I'm going to be able to win more tournaments like that.
08:04 So, I would say after 2022 I was the most happy when I won.
08:10 Congratulations. I just wanted to ask you, I know one of the reasons you don't like playing in the night
08:16 is because you want to go to bed at a sensible time,
08:19 and how important is that for you to get the right amount of sleep,
08:23 and how much do you measure and evaluate that as part of your sports science and medicine and all of that?
08:30 Well, honestly, for me it's kind of a priority.
08:34 I had years when everything threw me off my rhythm and then I couldn't go to sleep,
08:42 and I worked pretty hard to be able to just chill down and not get too stressed the day before as well.
08:53 So, for me it's really important, and I feel like the bodies of any of us
09:01 are more ready to have the peak of the activity during the day,
09:05 because most of you guys also work during the day,
09:09 like most of the population, obviously there are people working night shifts,
09:14 but here I feel like, I don't know, I can adjust to anything.
09:19 I played many night sessions that were good for me,
09:22 but it's always comfortable going back to the hotel at 6 and being able to have a normal night.
09:29 But now I wouldn't say that night sessions are throwing me off the same way as a couple of years ago.
09:37 I can adjust to anything.
09:39 I think.
09:39 (upbeat music)

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