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Two-time Olympic gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin recently reacted to Iga Swiatek's superb performance at the ongoing Madrid Open 2024. Shiffrin, one of the most decorated female alpine ski racers herself, has been a big fan of tennis, especially Swiatek.
The World No. 1 was up against the 20th-ranked Madison Keys at the Manolo Santana Tennis Club, with a place in the finals of the WTA 1000 tournament on the line. The Polish player turned up big time as she produced a sublime performance on the clay courts beating the American 6-1, 6-3.
It was a dominating display of swiftness and backhand smashes as Swiatek raced to her second consecutive Madrid Open final. She will face a familiar opponent in Aryna Sabalenka, the World No. 2, in the finals on Saturday.
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This superb performance by Swiatek caught the attention of Shiffrin, one of her biggest admirers. The 29-year-old alpine ski racer took to X (formerly Twitter) to comment on a video posted by the official handle of WTA dedicated to Swiatek. Shiffrin added a gold medal emoji in the comment to symbolize the top performance that Swiatek displayed in Madrid.
Mikaela Shiffrin has been a huge supporter of Iga Swiatek and also recently congratulated the WTA No. 1 on her second Indian Wells Masters win last month.
Mikaela Shiffrin opens up about her idols in tennis
Besides being one of the most prominent alpine ski racers of all time, Mikaela Shiffrin shares an avid love for tennis. She is frequently seen involved in conversations relating to tennis on her social media handles.
Even though in recent times, Shiffrin has been quite appreciative of the current WTA No. 1 Iga Swiatek, she had once called the Swiss maestro Roger Federer her idol in tennis. In an interview with Idnes News in 2019, the two-time Olympic gold medalist said:
"Roger Federer is my favorite. But I love Djokovic and Nadal too. I liked watching Andy Murray and I am excited by Dominic Thiem. Obviously on the women's side Serena Williams and it's so emotional now to see Naomi Osaka. She has a real style, she is strong. Hopefully, she continues like this."
Besides Federer, Shiffrin also opened up about her love for some of the other icons of the game such as Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray.
