Lionel Messi pays tribute to Roger Federer with classy post

Roger Federer has announced the news that sporting fans worldwide were dreading, he is retiring from competitive tennis as of next week when he makes his final appearance in the Laver Cup.

With 20 Grand Slam trophies on his mantelpiece and a ridiculous amount of other trophies, the great man boasts a simply ludicrous CV as he hangs up his racket.

The likes of Rafael Nadal were quick to offer their tributes to the GOAT of tennis, with other high profile sporting stars doing the same, showing us what an impact Federer is leaving on the sporting landscape.

Lionel Messi is the footballing equivalent of Federer, with a large group of people believing that they are the true GOATs of their respective sports.

Despite coming from a completely different walk of life, the Argentinian added himself to the list of icons that have paid homage to Federer.

He took to his social media pages to offer his congratulations on an illustrious career, saying: “A genius, unique in the history of tennis and an example for any athlete. All the best in your new stage, we will miss seeing you on the court making us enjoy.”

A post shared by Leo Messi (@leomessi)

The fact that Federer has even Messi commenting on him retiring shows us just how big of an icon he is in the sporting world, not just in tennis where he plies his trade.

There won’t be many sporting stars out there that would command so much respect from Messi, arguably the biggest sporting star there is, it just signals the amount of adoration that’s there for the Swiss star.

But that’s the same for Federer, even when he is away from the court with injuries for large periods of time, his endorsements are that huge that he still tops the money made charts yearly, sometimes without hitting a