Rafael Nadal backs Lionel Messi to win Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award over him

Rafael Nadal has given his backing to Lionel Messi to win the 2023 Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award – despite being nominated for the prize himself. Nadal and Messi were among six male athletes announced as nominees, along with Kylian Mbappe, Max Verstappen, Armand Duplantis and Steph Curry. Ad Nadal’s 2022 season saw him win the Australian Open and French Open to move to 22 Grand Slam titles.

He also finished the season as world No. 2. WTA Indian WellsRaducanu handed wild card for Indian Wells, Murray and Norrie in singles draw09/02/2023 AT 22:36 Messi’s standout moment was leading Argentina to victory at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, scoring seven goals in the tournament, including two in the final.

Nadal thinks Messi’s World Cup heroics should see him win the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award. “An honour to be nominated again to the Laureus Sportsman of the Year…but…this year…vamos @leomessi te lo mereces tu [Come on Lionel Messi you deserve it],” wrote Nadal on Instagram. Nadal has previously spoken about how happy he was to see Messi win the World Cup.

“That someone so great reaches the culmination with a title that was missing, of this calibre, with all that it means for Argentina, it seemed fair to me, I enjoyed it and I was moved,” he told AS in December. Murray has more 'belief' in his body than ever Alcaraz says he felt 'guilty' over injury lay-off “Without supporting Argentina, when Messi scored the third goal, tears came to my eyes, because of the emotion of seeing someone so great achieve what they were missing and someone who had suffered so much to achieve it.” Nadal is currently recovering from injury and is a doubt to play Indian Wells or the Miami Open next month. He has pulled out of a