Messi touched by Nadal

"A great athlete like you says such things about me, leaving me speechless," Messi wrote on Instagram. "Thank you so much Nadal. You also deserve to win every trophy with the way you always give yourself up on the court. You're the winner, and we have a lot of opponents here, don't we? Really? All of them deserve this award.

Messi and Nadal are two of the six nominees for the best athlete of the year category of the 2023 Laureus Awards, along with Kylian Mbappe, F1 driver Max Verstappen, high jumper Mondo Duplantis and basketball player Stephen Curry. After the organizers announced the six nominations on February 20, Nadal wrote on Instagram: "I am honored to be nominated again for this award. But this year... come on Messi, you deserve it. this prize".

Nadal has won this award twice, in 2011 and 2021. Messi also congratulated the "King of Clay" on winning the 2021 award, and said: "Nadal is the role model for all because of the effort and perseverance at the top through the top. many years".

Messi was the first and only athlete in a team sport to win the "Sports Oscar", when he shared this award with F1 driver Lewis Hamilton in 2020. At that time, Messi and Hamilton surpassed Nadal, Eliud Kipchoge, Marc Marquez and Tiger Woods to be honored. In addition, almost every year a football player is nominated but no one wins.

The Laureus Awards began to award awards in 2000, which major newspapers such as CNN, BBC or Die Welt likened to "Sports Oscars". Swiss tennis player Roger Federer holds the record of winning the best male athlete of the year five times, through seven nominations. Woods leads the way with eight nominations, but has only won twice. The 2022 winner was Verstappen, as he beat Tom Brady, Novak Djokovic, Caeleb Dressel, Eliud Kipchoge and Robert Lewandowski. The award ceremony usually takes place in May, and this year has not been determined.