Iga Swiatek shocked the tennis world in the 2020 season when he won the French Open title by beating Sofia Kenin.
Although the Polish national’s streak at the 2021 Australian Open has not been very successful after losing to Simona Halep in the fourth round, she revealed how she overcame the setback and referred to the two-time Olympic gold medalist and world champion Mikaela Shiffrin as her role model. .
The 19-year-old tennis player stated that meeting her role model, Shiffrin would be like a dream come true.
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The Polish national says he has great respect for Shiffrin’s mental tenacity and believes others should follow the example set by the four-time world champion.
“It will be like a dream come true if I meet him,” Iga Swiatek exclaimed to the Tennis Channel.
“I really respect him. I feel like he’s doing something different in sports. I’m not a big fan of skiing, I just watched its final season.”
“My psychologist, when he talks about psychology, he uses Mika as an example of behavior and attitude.”
“He’s really an amazing role model, because he appeared at the Olympics as a teenager and hopefully this year I can also appear in the Olympics. I also want to achieve amazing things. She is truly a very positive role model. I really respect him.”
Shiffrin responded to the interview via Twitter by writing, “@iga_swiatek thank you for the extraordinary compliment. Also, congratulations on winning the French Open for the 2020 season.”
“What an amazing match to watch and a stark statement of physical and mental strength in two weeks. I learned a lot by watching the points you played and staying calm during the game.”
“From my point of view, mental play is always a work that goes on and on with its ups and downs, but don’t forget that it’s also part of life. We are all human, on good and bad days, and sometimes you feel like the world expects you to have good days and win all things, not understanding how much effort it takes just to win one competition, let alone every one.”
“Since you are not a machine, there will be painful defeats, but we learn a lot from that defeat than from one’s victories and losses, it can become someone else’s victory.”
