Mikaela Shiffrin says lunch with Roger Federer key to relighting her career - and may even help prolong it

ByRob Hemingway

Published 25/01/2023 at 23:11 GMT

Mikaela Shiffrin is a star in her own right, but she admitted she was "awestruck the entire time" she was having lunch with Roger Federer and his family at their Swiss home, after receiving an invitation from the tennis legend. Shiffrin says Federer's words helped her to be "positive and excited" again, and seem to have fuelled her stunning winning run that has seen her make history.

Mikaela Shiffrin says a lunch with Roger Federer at his Swiss home was key to relighting her career - and may even help prolong it.

Having spoken together while Shiffrin was competing in Lenzerheide last year, Federer extended an invite to the American to join him at his family home.

It came during a season in which Shiffrin was struggling following a disappointing Beijing Olympics, in which she failed to perform to the levels that were expected of her.

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This season, however, it has been altogether different, with Shiffrin breaking Lindsey Vonn's World Cup wins record, and closing fast on Ingemar Stenmark's all-time mark of 86 with another win on Tuesday, this time in Kronplatz.

“I feel like that lunch happened at a time when I really needed a reason to be positive and excited," Shiffrin told the Wall Street Journal.

“He [Federer] was saying, 'in order to preserve the longevity of your career, you need to take the moments to look around, appreciate where you are, breathe it in'.

“As he got more into the depths of his career, when it gets harder to kind of look up and around you and appreciate everything right in that moment, is when it’s the most important to do it.

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Shiffrin added that Federer had counselled her to "enjoy the most incredible moments because what you do is incredible".

She continued: “And I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, Roger Federer’s talking to me about my career.’

"It was a little bit hard to really reel it all in and understand everything he was even saying, because I was sort of awestruck the entire time.

“For the first time since the Olympics I kind of got rid of that yucky feeling that I had there."

Shiffrin, still only 27, also revealed that Federer had suggested she could go on competing for another decade, and - given the idea came from the Swiss legend - admitted she "could definitely see quite a few more years.”

Shiffrin also told of the reaction among the competitors in Lenzerheide that day of Federer's presence.

Mikaela Shiffrin

Image credit: Getty Images

“All of the women were like, ‘Oh my gosh, they’re showing Roger - Roger Federer’s here! He’s in the finish!

“Everybody got so nervous - more nervous that he was there than for the race itself."

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