Après de belles performances en United Cup, Iga Swiatek n'a pas perdu le rythme à l'Open d'Australie. Elle avait d'abord dompté Katerina Siniakova. La numéro 2 mondiale, qui n'a jamais dépassé les demies à Melbourne, n'a pas freiné en écrasant ce jeudi la Slovaque Rebecca Sramkova, 6-0, 6-2. Swiatek n'a concédé aucune balle de break et n'a subi que trois coups gagnants. Une démonstration pour filer au troisième tour où elle affrontera Emma Raducanu. Son premier test en Australie.
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00:00How did you prepare for the game?
00:03Well, for sure, I felt, you know, pretty confident and I started the match well,
00:07so I just kept going and it was good to play in such an efficient way
00:12and just finish it quick.
00:14And also, you know, just feel the court and how it is in LA.
00:19If you'd like to get started, we've got here.
00:21Hi, congratulations.
00:23Emma Raducanu next up for you.
00:25You've met her three times before, beat her three times before,
00:28but she's in some real form at the minute.
00:30How much are you looking forward to that tie
00:33and preparing to face a player that you know quite well?
00:37Well, you know more than me because I thought we were played two times,
00:41but it doesn't matter.
00:43Well, for sure, it's going to be a tough one.
00:45You know, Emma can play great tennis and we all know that.
00:49So, yeah, just, you know, prepare us before any other match
00:52and for sure, we will watch these matches that we play
00:56because I don't know if he saw them before
00:59since we weren't working together yet.
01:02But, yeah, like I'll just, I don't know.
01:07I'll prepare tomorrow and I'll be ready.
01:10Okay, over there.
01:12When you play a match like that,
01:14when you're on and off the court in about an hour,
01:17do you have the need where you feel like you need to do extra practice
01:20later in the day or do you do more tomorrow to give yourself a,
01:23I guess, better preparation for longer matches throughout the tournament?
01:27Well, I don't think this will give me preparation to play longer matches.
01:30It's more like the more you practice for me,
01:33it's the more fatigue you're going to get at the end
01:36because, you know, I think like 15 minutes every day,
01:39you know, after two weeks, it's like many hours.
01:44So we try to kind of think long term.
01:48Yesterday I hit a little bit longer.
01:50Even though it rained, I was able to do that.
01:52So today I didn't feel like I need to practice more.
01:57But for sure, I mean, on grandstands,
01:59it's great that you can work on some stuff between matches.
02:02So tomorrow, I don't know how long we'll play,
02:05but because also it's tough to get like court for a longer period of time here
02:09at the beginning of tournaments.
02:11So, yeah, I'll just, I mean, I'm intense anyway.
02:14So even playing one hour practice, it's enough for me
02:17because I use every minute and I'm 100% there.
02:21Next one, yeah.
02:23You're curious about the decision to add a hitting partner this year.
02:27Why did you in the past not have one?
02:29Why did that seem to work for you and why has it changed?
02:32Well, honestly, it was like logistics a bit
02:35because my hitting partner that I always worked with,
02:39he had some injury, he didn't play for some time,
02:42and we were just, oh, okay, we'll go without.
02:45We'll use the tournament hitting partner.
02:47But this year we realized that this might be something to change
02:52because obviously I didn't go well the last two years here.
02:57So we thought we'll do everything to have as much comfort as possible
03:02during the tournament.
03:04And I think already it's paid off because with this rain
03:08and sometimes just having like 20 minutes to hit or something,
03:13having a hitting partner who you can tell like what do I want,
03:17you know, I don't know, more topspin, more flat ball,
03:20it really adds more quality to the practices.
03:23It's not like, you know, because when you play with other players,
03:27you basically just play down the middle, across court,
03:30and serve returns and that's it, you know.
03:32But with the hitting partner, you can work on some specific stuff.
03:35So I should have done that last year as well.
03:40So it's not like it's a big change since I'm having hitting partner
03:45on every tournament basically now.
03:47But last year, yeah, that was a mistake for sure.
03:50Something you suggested or you came to the conclusion yourself?
03:54No, like after last year I knew that I should have taken the hitting partner
03:58so we didn't do this mistake again.
04:01Okay, James, right in the middle there.
04:03Emma's ranked 61 in the world, I think.
04:06I wonder whether you even think about rankings
04:10when you're thinking about preparing for a player,
04:13whether you even look at them or are aware of them
04:15or whether you have in your head maybe an idea,
04:18oh, that's Emma Adekani, she's a sort of top 30 player or whatever.
04:21Yeah, I mean, honestly, there's no point to look at rankings,
04:24especially when you have these great players that already, you know,
04:28have been through like great tournaments and won some tournaments
04:32and you know that they can play well, you know.
04:35Maybe they're not, you know, consistent to have the ranking,
04:38but still like you need to be on your toes and ready
04:41because you don't know what they will show, you know, this week.
04:44So no, I don't look at rankings at all.
04:47And yeah, that's it.
04:51A couple more in English.
04:52Courtney?
04:55I'm curious if you feel at all a difference not being number one right now.
05:01No, I don't look at rankings.
05:04No, I'm kidding.
05:06But I'm saying just in terms of attention, pressure, expectation.
05:09Yeah, yeah, I know what you mean.
05:11You used to have to come into a tournament with, you know.
05:13Well, I remember for the past two years it was, I don't know,
05:16I started as number one,
05:18so I felt like I needed to show from the beginning of the season,
05:21like, you know, my tools and what I can play.
05:25And yeah, there was a lot of pressure starting a year as number one,
05:32but I think overall last year I didn't think about it this much anyway.
05:39And also, you know, I realized, you know,
05:43last year that I don't have like 100% influence
05:46on what happens with my ranking sometimes.
05:49So now I just focus on tennis.
05:52And if I play well, I know I'll be back at number one.
05:55If I don't and Arena plays better, she'll be number one.
05:58So I think it's just smarter to focus on tennis
06:01and the ranking will come after that.
06:03Okay, last one in English.
06:04Charlie, at the back.
06:06You and Emma both won Grand Slams as teenagers.
06:09Obviously, you then established yourself very quickly.
06:12She's had maybe a tougher time of it.
06:15Do you think that's just down to injuries?
06:17Has it surprised you?
06:19And do we maybe underestimate how hard it is after winning a Grand Slam
06:22to kind of kick on and then be consistent?
06:24Oh, yeah, for sure it's hard.
06:27I think, I don't know, even sometimes
06:30when I lose some matches,
06:32I realize that people just expect me to win
06:35because I won so much earlier, you know,
06:37that they got used to it, you know.
06:39But, you know, this is like constant work
06:42and taking care of like many things also off the court
06:45and having good people around you,
06:48managing your whole life basically
06:50so you can play good and consistently.
06:53So everybody's story is different
06:56and everybody struggles with different stuff.
06:58But it doesn't matter, you know.
07:00When we're going to be out there on the court,
07:02like whoever's going to play better will win and that's it, you know.
07:05So I'll just focus on tennis.
07:08For sure, like we have different stories.
07:10But before the match, like, you know,
07:13I'm not going to really think about that.
07:15I'll just prepare based on how she plays now and that's it.
07:18Before we switch to national language,
07:20we've got a question from the Tennis Australia Hotshot Kids.
07:23Do you want to ask a question?
07:26Hi. How many matches have you won?
07:29Oh, in my life?
07:32Yeah, in your whole entire life since you were this late.
07:35That's a super tough question.
07:37Well, being on tour as a pro, I think,
07:46like, I don't know, probably like 50, 60 times.
07:51No, not 60.
07:5360 is a lot.
07:55But last year, I think I won like 70 and previous year as well.
08:00Okay, so let's do like, okay, 70, 70 and the years before,
08:05let's do like 45.
08:08So, oh my God, math.
08:10You're at school, you should count.
08:12I'm done with school, so I'm not going to do that.
08:15I'll just embarrass myself.
08:16Okay, so, yeah, but when I was your age,
08:19I also played some matches, so let's make it 200?
08:26No, 300?
08:27Higher than that.
08:28400?
08:30But you mean WTA or?
08:33Okay, what?
08:34Okay.
08:35Oh my God, that's a lot.
08:37That's a lot of days.
08:38Okay, 346?
08:40Okay, plus like 150 when I was a junior or something.
08:45So let's do 500.
08:49But good question.
08:51What was the most embarrassing thing you did on court?
08:57Well, I cried plenty of times.
09:01So, I mean, I wouldn't say it was a bit embarrassing.
09:06That's why I cried a bit more and a bit more.
09:09But, yeah, I had a match when I cried like for 10 minutes.
09:12I think some people remember from here, from this room.
09:17And I couldn't, I wasn't able to just play tennis, you know.
09:21And also I went out on court once in Indian Wells
09:26with toilet paper sticking to my leg, so, like of my skirt.
09:31So, yeah, that was also embarrassing.
09:34Okay.
09:35Did you have any friends on the tennis court?
09:38On the court?
09:39Yeah, like any friends?
09:40Well, on the court, not really.
09:42Because you want to win against them, you know.
09:45So, but I played with my best friend like a year ago.
09:49And it was tough because I needed to kind of forget
09:53that she's my best friend, you know, to win against her.
09:56But off the court, I have some friends, yeah.
09:59Maybe not 100, but...
10:02Have you won any trophies before?
10:04Any trophies?
10:06Well, I can show you.
10:09I won some nice trophies, yeah.
10:12Okay.
10:13Not here, but other parts of the world.
10:18What was the most funniest thing that happened on court?
10:22Funniest?
10:23Yeah, the funniest.
10:24Probably the toilet paper thing.
10:27But it wasn't funny for me, though.
10:29Okay.