Iga Swiatek – Pre-Tournament Press Conference – 2025 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships

THE MODERATOR: Iga, welcome to Dubai. How was your preparation for the tournament?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, my first practice was today and it was great. I’m happy to be back here because results were positive for me, I have good memories. I’m just focusing on adjusting.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What was the turnaround like for you from Doha? What was your reaction to your loss there? Ostapenko had an all-out attack game against you. I was wondering how you reacted to that match? Is it already behind you?

IGA SWIATEK: Most of my reactions, there wasn’t much. Afterwards I just kind of moved on because there are many chances during the year to, I don’t know, win tournaments. Even though people were expecting a lot, I know that every tournament has a different story.

Again, the tournament kind of finished. I lost. I moved on. It’s not like it’s something different because we lose most of weeks per year, so… It’s fine.

Q. A pretty big story dropped yesterday with the news that Jannik Sinner would be banned for three months. I’m curious what you thought of that, and how the case was resolved, by a settlement?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, honestly there’s no point to, like, overthink it. I didn’t think much. Every case is different. Every story is different, for sure.

Because of Jannik’s or my situation, we are like kind of even celebrities (smiling), besides playing tennis. Everybody thinks of it from a hundred different perspectives.

But I just try to stick to the facts and read the documents. I trust that the process at the end went fair. That’s the only thing I do because I try not to judge.

I know that for Jannik, like, I don’t know because I haven’t talked to him, but I assume that it must have been a tough time, tough process.

I’ve been through, like, something similar. But yeah, so I guess I don’t wish for any player for these kind of things to happen. I hope he’s going to be over it soon and he will just get back to tennis.

Q. With WADA announcing they would appeal that case with Jannik, were you concerned with your own situation that they might reopen it?

IGA SWIATEK: No. Because as I said, every case is different. There’s no reason to compare and put these two things beside each other. So yeah, it was totally different from the beginning.

Also we provided, like, all the documentation really precisely. We did all we needed and we followed the instructions, so there was no space and no point for WADA to appeal even, I would say.

So yeah, I was pretty sure that I’ll be done with it because my case was just a contamination. I found the source. That’s it.

Q. For lack of a better word, is it like a drag for you or annoying that because there are two high-profile cases, you said every case is different, your name keeps coming up a lot because of how things were handled, this or that? How stressful is that for you? Are you able to not think about that? It’s almost like people are putting you in a position where you have to defend a process which has nothing to do with you, the anti-doping process.

IGA SWIATEK: You mean my name comes up with Jannik?

Q. Yes.

IGA SWIATEK: I think this is just what people do. I think it’s also easier for media to describe these things when they put it next to each other.

I don’t think in reality there’s any influence and any connection because there are so many, like, different factors, different substance, different way of this thing getting into our bodies. Again, like different also ruling. Then different appeals and stuff, like legal things.

I think media is connecting it. You guys are connecting it because it’s just easier to describe it that way. I think this is how people’s minds work. Like fans, when they read this stuff, they automatically connect it to each other.

But this is not the same and, like, not similar. So in my head, I just focus on myself. And, again, I hope that soon it’s going, all these processes are going to be more smooth and more logical sometimes.

Mine was, like, super abstract. From the beginning I knew that this was a contamination. The whole period when I was suspended was just for me something pretty unreal and something I couldn’t understand. But this is how it works.

I just focus on myself and I’m kind of done with it. Obviously it was, what, not even a year ago, so I guess I will be asked by you. But I don’t mind. I hope in the future it will pass and we can focus on next things.

Q. I want to ask you about Dubai. Are you planing to visit any particular place during this visit?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, I’ve been in probably the most beautiful and most famous places in Dubai. I already have the experience because I’ve been here many times, even outside of tournament.

But for sure I’ll be going to the beach. But the tournament, you don’t have much time to do that, so… If it would be a longer event, for sure I would go more to the beach and to, I don’t know, even sightseeing a bit.

But this time only tomorrow I’ll have some time. I’ll just try to rest and kind of have some nice time to recover.

Q. The top ranking will not change whatever happens in Dubai. Is that less stress on you to focus on just winning the tournament without thinking of the calculation of the points?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, that’s the first time I’m thinking about it because you just asked me that. I didn’t know what the situation looked like.

No, I’ll focus only on adjusting and just playing tennis because honestly there’s a lot of things to think about, coming from Doha only having like one or two practices before the match.

I’m not going to think much about rankings and points.

Q. Your focus in 2025, how would you describe it as a success? What’s the benchmark for you? What tournaments, what ranking?

IGA SWIATEK: You know, in tennis it’s not like you can plan when you’re going to peak because we compete for 11 months. Sometimes even it’s about such stupid things as a draw, who are you going to face or not, if this tournament is going to be super intense or you’re going to win matches 6-2, 6-2. There are no specific, like, goals.

Obviously I always love playing on clay. Clay court season is going to be the one that I’m going to, I don’t know, probably hope that I’m going to play my game. But I feel like I can play my game more and more on every surface, even little bit more on grass every year.

There’s no specific goal. I’m just going to try to win every tournament I play.

Q. I wanted to ask you about the WTA’s ban of Vukov, the significance of it in women’s sport to draw boundaries. Your opinion on that?

IGA SWIATEK: Well, honestly there’s not much from the official statement, as well, that we know. I don’t want to, like, get into it because from what WTA wrote, it was just kind of like two sentences.

I guess everybody needs to respect the decision because, again, we need to trust that the whole process was made with right rules. Every PT, every coach, they need to kind of accept the Code of Conduct when they want to be on WTA.

So for sure I hope WTA is doing everything to make it a safe environment. For sure I know that I also care much about the environment around me. The only thing I can do is focus on how I choose my people to work with.

But yeah, from the official things, like we don’t know a lot, so…

Q. You spoke about how you’ve been to Dubai many times. This is the 25th anniversary of the tournament here. Obviously it’s now a 1000 status. First to offer equal prize money. Can you talk about the tournament and Dubai as a city.

IGA SWIATEK: I love it, especially now when the courts are a bit slower than they were when I started on tour (smiling).

No, I mean, every year I have a nicer experience because it feels more like home. I also really enjoy playing here in front of the fans. I feel like many people are coming also from different countries to see the tournament.

Yeah, I think it gets tennis, like, women’s tennis more popular. Playing in this city and this environment is something pretty exciting. So I’m happy to be here.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports