Laureus Awards 2023: Tennis legend Rafael Nadal has taken his admiration towards Lionel Messi to a whole new level. Nadal has been nominated for the Laureus Sports Man of the year award. However he feels that fellow nominee Messi truly deserves the honour following his World Cup triumph last year. Along with Nadal and Messi other big names like Kylian Mbappe, Max Verstappen, Stephen Curry, and Mondo Duplantis have all been nominated for the award following their outstanding performance in 2022. Follow Sports News and LIVE updates on InsideSport.IN
Laureus Awards 2023: Rafael Nadal becomes FANBOY for Lionel Messi, endorses Argentina’s World Cup HERO to win Laureus Sports Awards 2023, says ‘Messi deserves it’, Check OUT
Rafael Nadal:
“An honor to be nominated again for Sportsman of the Year by The Laureus…but…this year…
Come on Leo Messi, you deserve it.” pic.twitter.com/xg3g2JUK4H
— MC (@CrewsMat10) February 20, 2023
The Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award is a honor that is awarded every year to sportsmen for their performances throughout a particular year.
Soon after the nominations for the ward this year was announced, Nadal took to Instagram and wrote, “A honour to be nominated again to the Laureus Sports Man of the year. But this year..,” He then posted another video of Lionel Messi’s nomination. “Come on Leo Messi! You deserve it,” he added.
While Nadal has won the award twice so far in 2011 and 2021, Messi bagged the honour in 2020. Nadal has been nominated this year after a terrific season in 2022. He won the Australian Open and French Open titles. With the wins, he became the first man to win 22 Grand Slam titles and finished the year as the World No.2.
Meanwhile, Messi led Argentina to 2023 FIFA World Cup triumph. Argentina defeated France in the final at Qatar With the win, Messi has added one elusive trophy to his cabinet.
Earlier, Nadal has also said that he was moved to tears after seeing Messi lift the World Cup. “Without supporting Argentina, when Messi lifted the trophy I was moved to tears. For the emotion of seeing someone so great achieve what he missed after suffering so much for it.” he said.
While Nadal endorsed Messi to the award, he also congratulated his young compatriot Carlos Alcaraz. The youngster has been nominated for the breakthrough of the year award. 19-year old Alcaraz won his maiden Grand Slam title at the US Open last year and he also made it to the No.1 spot in the rankings.
Nadal is currently recovering from a hip injury. He last featured in the Australian Open 2023 in which he bowed out from the second round. Nadal is expected to return for the Indian Wells Masters that is scheduled to begin next month.
Laureus Awards 2023: Rafael Nadal becomes FANBOY for Lionel Messi, endorses Argentina’s World Cup HERO to win Laureus Sports Awards 2023, says ‘Messi deserves it’, Check OUT
