WTA - Indian Wells 2024 - Iga Swiatek est en finale et a un secret : "Intensité et discipline..."
Titrée à Indian Wells en 2022, Iga Swiatek est à la recherche d'un second sacre en WTA 1000 cette saison après Doha. Pour rallier la finale, elle a terrassé vendredi soir l'Ukrainienne Marta Kostyuk, 6-2, 6-1. Cette dernière, qui réalise pour l'instant la meilleure saison de sa carrière, quart de finaliste à l'Open d'Australie et récente finaliste malheureuse à San Diego, n'a pas pu exister contre la Polonaise. Comme un symbole, Swiatek a conclu sa rencontre sur un coup de fusil gagnant. Dimanche, la numéro 1 mondiale essaiera de capturer un 19e titre, un 8e WTA 1000. A 22 ans, elle jouera sa 10e finale en WTA 1000 et n'a lâché que 17 jeux en route...
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00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03 Well, I wouldn't say these thoughts, they don't come up,
00:05 because they do.
00:06 But the main question is, what are you going to do with that?
00:10 If you're going to really focus on it,
00:12 or you're going to really take it step by step
00:14 and remember that you still have work to do?
00:17 So I think I'm pretty good at doing this second thing.
00:23 So I don't like focusing on the results.
00:27 It's better for me to focus on the process.
00:30 Even when they are going to come up, I know what to do.
00:34 And is there a certain time when they come up,
00:36 fourth round, semis, quarters?
00:38 There's no-- well, no, it's different.
00:45 Sometimes they don't come up even until the match point
00:48 in the final, because you feel like it's still far away.
00:51 So there's no scheme.
00:55 You know?
00:55 Hi.
01:01 Hey.
01:02 When analyzing your own game, do you
01:04 think you could give us your two or three greatest
01:08 attributes in your own game?
01:09 Like your greatest strength, and then what else?
01:12 I would say, overall, the intensity and the discipline.
01:20 And my top spin.
01:23 And your intensity and your discipline,
01:29 has that increased even more as you-- in your career?
01:33 Could you talk about that, please?
01:36 Well, for sure.
01:37 You know, I needed to learn how to balance this intensity.
01:43 I remember when I was younger, on one point,
01:48 I was more of a defense player.
01:50 And when I started working with Thomas,
01:53 he taught me how to be more aggressive.
01:56 But then you need to balance it.
01:58 So what was the question?
02:01 Well, how your intensity and discipline
02:03 have increased and become better as you've become older.
02:06 So I think I just had to learn how to use that.
02:09 And the discipline came when Daria came on the team.
02:14 And she taught me how to be more focused and focus
02:18 on the proper things, because I remember my mind would go away
02:24 and went a different way when I was younger.
02:27 And I didn't have skills yet to be that disciplined.
02:31 I think I apologize if you've been asked about this.
02:36 Already with the slight technical adjustment
02:38 you made to your serve, I'm just curious how that came about
02:41 and how you feel it's helping you on the court.
02:43 Well, I don't feel like the process has been done yet,
02:46 honestly, because it's not easy to change your technique.
02:49 But we're trying to make the movement more smooth and shorter.
02:54 How aware are you of it on court,
03:00 given the muscle memory of the other shot?
03:03 I don't have to think about it.
03:06 That's why sometimes it's going to also come closer
03:10 to the older movement or be a little bit different.
03:12 But still, muscle memory works long term.
03:17 So I need to, for sure, between tournaments, still work on it.
03:21 And it's pretty normal.
03:22 But during the match, I don't think about it.
03:25 I think it would be kind of wrong
03:27 if I would have to think about it.
03:30 You want to focus on other things.
03:32 So yeah.
03:36 Do you align the schedule for your off-court things
03:40 with how you imagine your travel schedule in terms of saving
03:44 this LEGO for, OK, I'm going to finish the Vespa
03:46 before I travel, or I'm going to leave myself
03:48 a few episodes of Good Wife to keep the racine out
03:51 through the end of the tournament?
03:52 I do a little bit.
03:53 But sometimes there's no point, because you never
03:55 know how long you're going to go in the tournament.
03:59 I do that.
04:00 But on the other hand, I try to be flexible and not really
04:04 plan everything, because it just doesn't make sense.
04:07 You worry too much.
04:09 So I do that.
04:12 But I want to be flexible.
04:14 If you could go out to dinner and talk about life in tennis,
04:24 what tennis player, present or in the past,
04:27 would you enjoy doing that with?
04:29 Steffi Graf.
04:31 What would you like to talk to her about?
04:34 Well, her mentality and how she handled suddenly
04:38 being the best player out there and how she felt with it
04:43 personally.
04:45 Congratulations.
04:50 How do you feel about the ball here?
04:53 I think it's changed to--
04:55 now the ball is the same as the men's ball here.
04:57 And recently, many players are talking
05:01 about how often the ball changes every single week.
05:05 And it requires players to make a tough adjustment.
05:10 So what is your opinion on that?
05:12 Well, yeah, for sure.
05:13 Adjusting to the balls, it's the most important thing.
05:16 And to the surface, it's the most important thing
05:18 in our sport to--
05:19 the one that is going to adapt quicker
05:21 is going to play better.
05:22 So we always had pen balls here, the ones
05:26 that we couldn't really get to practice.
05:28 And I think this is the bigger issue, that we
05:31 don't get the tournament balls.
05:33 I think I got one box, so I don't want to be mean.
05:37 But usually, overall, when we look at the calendar,
05:40 usually the balls that you're going to get,
05:44 there's going to be a limited amount.
05:45 And the pros use for two-hour practice,
05:51 I don't know, like six cans at least.
05:53 And you're not going to use these balls again because you
05:56 need to play with the new ones.
05:58 So sometimes we struggle with having not enough balls
06:01 to do, I don't know, the whole preseason with AO balls.
06:04 Or I think this is the thing that should be changed first
06:08 because it's pretty easy, I think, to--
06:11 we can buy it.
06:12 There's just not enough balls for us to have.
06:14 So the tournament balls.
06:16 So not many people are aware that we
06:19 don't play with the balls that you can see in store.
06:22 And here, it was always pretty tricky.
06:25 The balls were always much different
06:27 than in other tournaments.
06:29 But I got used to them.
06:31 I'm not sure exactly if we play right now with men's ball
06:35 or because Taylor Fritz at the beginning of the tournament
06:38 told me that he thinks that they play with women's.
06:42 So I'm confused.
06:43 But I don't care.
06:44 I like the ball.
06:46 I would say here, it's more about the air
06:48 and the conditions anyway.
06:52 So I'm doing fine.
06:53 And there's no point for me to overanalyze that.
06:57 You mentioned before that you--
07:00 someone who really thrives in nature and outdoor
07:04 environments.
07:05 Is that part of why you feel comfortable in success here?
07:08 And are there things you've done on your off days here,
07:12 places you've gone to that you could tell us about that put
07:16 you in the right frame of mind?
07:18 Here, I wouldn't say I'm going somewhere.
07:20 It's mostly just me being in a house.
07:22 And there's this one viewing point
07:25 that you can go to, which is pretty nice,
07:27 in the mountains.
07:29 But overall, yeah, I feel much better
07:31 in this kind of environment rather than big cities.
07:35 I mean, except maybe Paris, because I know it pretty well.
07:37 And I always stay in places closer to parks and everything.
07:44 But yeah, for sure, it helps.
07:46 And I implement that in my rest schedule.
07:53 [MUSIC PLAYING]