Rafael Nadal, the “legend” of tennis, talks about Lionel Messi, and the Argentine player responds to him. What did he say?
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Nadal has nominated FIFA World Cup champion Messi to win the 2023 Laureus World Sports Award
Argentine Lionel Messi responded to the praise of the tennis “legend”, Spain’s Rafael Nadal, after the two were nominated to win the 2023 Laureus World Sports Awards.
Nadal and Messi are competing for the award, along with Frenchman Kylian Mbappe, Paris Saint-Germain striker, Dutch Formula 1 driver Max Verstappen, Swedish pole vault world champion Mondo Duplantis and American basketball star Stephen Curry.
Nadal previously wrote: “It is an honor to be nominated again for the Laureus Sportsman of the Year award, but this year let’s go with Lionel Messi, he deserves it.”
Champions on and off the field. Nadal & Messi pic.twitter.com/dY72RGpeNd
— Angel Eating (@angelomangiante) February 22, 2023
And Messi replied to him on “Instagram”: “For an athlete of your size to say this about me, it leaves me unable to speak.”
Messi added, “Thank you very much, you also deserve everything given your competition every time you enter the field.”
And he continued, “You are a champion and we have a lot of competition here? Really, all the candidates deserve the award this year.”
It is noteworthy that Nadal won the award twice, in 2011 and 2021, while Messi won it in 2020 equally with Lewis Hamilton.