You Deserve It: Rafael Nadal Backs Fellow Nominee Lionel Messi To Win 2023 Laureus Sportsman Award

2023 Laureus World Sports Awards: Argentina Men’s Football Team and England Women’s Football Team have been nominated for the Team Of The Year category.

Despite himself being a nominee, the 22-time Grand slam winner said that Messi deserves to clinch the award this year.

Source : AFP

Tennis superstar Rafael Nadal has backed Lionel Messi to win the 2023 Laureus Sportsman Of The Year Award. He said that the 2022 FIFA World Cup winner deserves the honour. Notably, Laureus announced the nominees for various categories and the Sportsman and Sportswoman of the year shortlist list includes both Nadal and Messi among other athletes like Kylian Mbappe, Iga Swiatek, Tiger Woods and Mikaela Shiffrin.

Despite himself being a nominee, the 22-time Grand slam winner said that Messi deserves to clinch the award.

Rafa Nadal on IG 📲🎾🇪🇸

“An honor to be nominated again to the Laureus Sportsman of the year… but… this year… let’s go Messi, you deserve it.” pic.twitter.com/UyIvI2enQK

— All About Argentina 🛎🇦🇷 (@AlbicelesteTalk) February 20, 2023

"Vamos @leomessi te lo mereces tu [Come on Lionel Messi you deserve it]," Nadal said in one of his Instagram stories.

Complete List Of 2023 Laureus World Sports Awards Nominations

2023 Laureus Sportsman of the Year 

Lionel Messi (Football, Argentina)
Kylian Mbappe (Football, France)
Rafael Nadal (Tennis, Spain)
Max Verstappen (Motor Racing, Netherlands)
Mondo Duplantis (Athletics, Sweden)
Steph Curr (Basketball, USA)

2023 Laureus Sportswoman of the Year 

Iga Swiatek (Tennis, Poland)
Alexia Putellas (Football, Spain)
Katie Ledecky (Swimming, USA)
Mikaela Shiffrin (Alpine Skiing, USA)
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (Athletics, USA)
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (Athletics, Jamaica)

2023 Laureus Team Of The Year

Argentina Men’s Football Team
England Women’s Football Team
France Men’s Rugby Team
Golden State Warriors (USA) Basketball
Real Madrid (Spain) Football
Oracle Red Bull Racing (Austria)

2023 Laureus Breakthrough of the Year

Carlos Alcaraz (Spain) Tennis
Tobi Amusan (Nigeria) Athletics
Nathan Chen (USA) Figure Skating
Morocco Men's Football Team
Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan) Tennis
Scottie Scheffler (USA) Golf

2023 Laureus Comeback of the Year

Francesco Bagnaia (Italy) Motor Cycling
Christian Eriksen (Denmark) Football
Jakob Ingebrigtsen (Norway) Athletics
Klay Thompson (USA) Basketball
Annemiek van Vleuten (Netherlands) Cycling
Tiger Woods (USA) Golf

2023 Laureus Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability

Diede de Groot (Netherlands) Wheelchair Tennis
Catherine Debrunner (Switzerland) Para Athletics
Declan Farmer (USA) Para Ice Hockey
Cameron Leslie (New Zealand) Para Swimming and Wheelchair Rugby
Oksana Masters (USA) Para Cross-Country Skiing and Para Cycling
Jesper Saltvik Pedersen (Norway) Para Alpine Skiing

2023 Laureus Action Sportsperson of the Year

Justine Dupont (France) Big Wave Surfing
Stephanie Gilmore (Australia) Surfing
Ailing (Eileen) Gu (China) Freestyle Skiing
Chloe Kim (USA) Snowboarding
Rayssa Leal (Brazil) Skateboarding
Filipe Toledo (Brazil) Surfing

2023 Laureus Sport for Good Award

Boxgirls (Kenya) Boxing
High Five (Germany) Action Sports
Made For More (South Africa) Multi-sport
Slum Soccer (India) Football
TeamUp (Global) Movement