While their two sports couldn’t be more different, Iga Swiatek and Mikaela Shiffrin are continuing to push one another to new heights.
Swiatek, the world No. 1 tennis player, has praised the alpine skier after the American set a new all-time record for World Cup titles won, capturing a mindblowing 87th World Cup win on Saturday (11 March) in Are, Sweden.
Shiffrin broke Ingemar Stenmark’s all-time record, which had stood since 1989.
Swiatek, playing at the WTA 1000 stop in Indian Wells, California – where she is the defending champion – called Shiffrin’s performance dominant: “She has this huge talent,” Swiatek told reporters after her second round win. “She’s making everything to optimise her potential and to just ski well mentally, physically, and technically.”
“I really respect that. She deserves this. And she’s a nice person. We haven’t met still, but like the Instagram messages tell me she’s a nice person. Huge congrats to her.”
Swiatek and Shiffrin have traded countless messages on social media, but are yet to meet in person.
In January, the two-time Olympic champion Shiffrin had her own words of praise for Swiatek, who is a three-time major champion and won eight titles in 2022 as she ascended to the world No. 1 ranking.
“I love how she plays tennis; her style is so beautiful,” Shiffrin told Eurosport. “It’s methodical and beautiful at the same time. It reminds me of [Rafael] Nadal or [Roger] Federer.”
She continued: “She has an incredible mentality about tennis and competition. Being young and having so much success already in her career, she’s staying focused – in my opinion – on the right things, which is actually something I can learn from.”