"Our rivalry pushes us both upwards," assures Swiatek before facing Sabalenka

Adrien Guyot

le 03/06/2025 à 18h32

2 min to read

Roland Garros Sabalenka Swiatek

Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka will face each other in the semi-finals of the French Open. After the Belarusian's victory over Zheng Qinwen earlier in the day, the Polish player dominated Elina Svitolina (6-1, 7-5) and maintained her rank as a three-time defending champion. In a press conference, Swiatek has already set the tone for the upcoming clash against her rival.

"With Aryna (Sabalenka), we trained together for an hour in the past few days, but it was just a warm-up, not a normal practice. The goal was mainly to hit some balls.

It's always nice to spend time with her on the court because she always sets a certain pace, and the training is always of high quality. These were the first balls I've hit since Rome (her third-round loss to Danielle Collins). Things have changed since that moment.

You need to be at 100% against this type of opponent, but I wouldn't say it's really different from facing Coco (Gauff) or other top 5 players, for instance. Against each player, you play differently, so it's complicated to compare.

What is certain is that our rivalry (with Sabalenka) pushes us both upwards, but not only in terms of tennis level. Generally, I don't watch her matches much. But, when I do, I watch them on my laptop because live, it's totally different.

I leave all that to Wim (Fissette, her coach). Honestly, I feel like both of us know how the other plays. That's why it's not very interesting for me to watch the matches live. I'll just focus on analyzing the tactics that Wim will implement," Swiatek explained to Punto De Break.