Nadal, Federer, Djokovic and Serena Williams are the only tennis equivalents of Mikaela Shiffrin, says Iga Swiatek
Iga Swiatek recently congratulated Mikaela Shiffrin on becoming the alpine skier with the most World Cup wins. She even compared her to tennis legends such as Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Serena Williams.
Shiffrin claimed her 87th World Cup win on Saturday, winning the Slalom race in Åre, Sweden to overtake Ingemar Stenmark's long-standing record of 86 wins. That made her the most successful alpine skier - male or female - in the sport's World Cup history.
During a press conference after her 6-0, 6-1 demolition of Claire Liu in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open, Swiatek expressed her admiration for Shiffrin's dominance. She put the Alpine skier's achievements in the same league as the Big-3 (Federer, Nadal and Djokovic) and 23-time Slam champion Serena Williams.
"Any of the Big 3 guys and Serena, I think. Yeah, she just dominated the sport. But on the other hand, the Big 3 had each other to kind of compete against each other, and she's like dominating," Swiatek said.
"She's like better than anyone. Even like Daria, because she went to Czech Republic to see her ski, she tells me that live, when you watch her, the difference is even bigger, because she's just so smooth," she added.
The World No. 1 went on to state that Shiffrin's talent was evident even to her untrained eyes. She also claimed that the American was working much harder than anyone else in skiing at the moment.
Iga Swiatek then expressed hope that she could meet the 27-year-old soon, before adding that Shiffrin has always come across as a nice person during their interactions on social media.
"I don't know a lot about the technique but even I can see with my eyes that, yeah, she has this huge talent. I think she's working much better than -- she's, like, making everything too, like -- sorry," Iga Swiatek said.
"To like opt- -- she's making everything to optimize her potential and to just ski well mentally, physically, and technically. So 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," she added.
"Sometimes these comments impact me a little bit more than they should probably" - Iga Swiatek on dealing with expectations from fans
Iga Swiatek also touched on the pressure and expectations from fans. She admitted that negative comments on social media at times impacted her more than they should.
The Pole recalled how people were disappointed in her when she lost the final in Dubai after taking the title in Doha the previous week. She opined that merely reaching the final was a result that would have felt "amazing" last year.
"There are times where it hits me a little bit. Like after Doha and Dubai, you know, I won a tournament, I was in the final of another one, and like people were disappointed that I lost," Swiatek said.
"It's pretty crazy, because last year if I would have that result at that time, it would be amazing. But sometimes these comments impact me a little bit more than they should probably and also I'm not happy with the result at the end."
Now that fans are expecting more and more out of her, Swiatek does not want to feel caged. She hopes that she can always remember that her results are nothing to be ashamed of.
"I don't want to come to that point and I have like few choices. I can just not read it or I can remember and be logical and tell myself that, ;Hey, Iga, it's a great result.' They are saying because they don't know, you know, what it takes to be a tennis player, and how hard it is to be consistent," Iga Swiatek said.