Novak Djokovic and Lionel Messi are both great icons of their respective sports. It is difficult to compare two legends of two different sports. But these two men have a lot in common…
Novak Djokovic and Lionel Messi have been photographed together many times.
If Messi is the reference for a perfect career in King Sports, Djokovic is the equivalent symbol in tennis. Both have had countless successes in their sports careers.
For Nole, it’s 24 Grand Slam titles, 1 Olympic gold medal, the tennis player with the most titles in history. For Leo, it’s 45 titles in an illustrious career, 1 World Cup, 2 Copa America, 1 Olympic gold medal, the soccer player with the most titles of all time.
Both athletes achieved their greatest honours in the final matches of their respective careers. For Messi, it was the World Cup. For Djokovic, it was the Olympic gold medal. They are considered the greatest in football and tennis respectively.
But it is important to know that in the Laureus Awards, the biggest award for the world’s best athlete of the year, Djokovic has been honored 5 times while Messi has only 2. At the end of April, both Nole and Leo were on the list of nominees for the 2024 Laureus Awards, but the legendary tennis player was named the winner to win this title for the fifth time in his illustrious career, equaling the record with his colleague Roger Federer.
Djokovic just completed his great collection of medals and titles
However, Djokovic has repeatedly expressed his admiration for the Argentine football superstar. In December 2022, Nole traveled all the way to Qatar to watch and cheer for Leo in the World Cup final, only to witness Messi win the biggest title he had missed in his football career.
After that, the two greatest figures in the world of sports took pictures together, sometimes in Paris, sometimes in New York, and did not spare any flowery words for each other. Even at the 2023 Golden Ball award ceremony, Djokovic left the interview to greet Messi and his wife and children.
Born in 1987, both Djokovic and Messi are great icons, with great influence in both sports and society. In December 2022, Messi completed his collection of titles when he was crowned World Champion with the Argentina national team. Nearly 2 years later, Djokovic won his first Olympic gold medal, completing the collection like his idol.
However, if viewed through the strict eyes of experts, a legend in individual sports is always rated higher than a legend in collective sports. At the Laureus awards, all the winners so far have come from individual sports except Messi.
Messi also completed his title collection nearly 2 years before Djokovic.
That is also the reason why Nole and Roger Federer are the two athletes with the most wins at Laureus (with 5 times), but Leo Messi holds the record for the number of nominations (8 times, along with Tiger Woods). In the past 24 years, in addition to the awards belonging to the 3 above-mentioned characters, Laureus has awarded 2 or more times to 4 people. Specifically, 4 times awarded to Usain Bolt (athletics), 2 times to Woods (Golf), Michael Schumacher, Rafael Nadal (Tennis).
In addition to Messi, football also has Cristiano Ronaldo (3 nominations), Robert Lewandowski (1 nomination) and Kylian Mbappe (2 nominations).
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Source: Los Angeles Times (edited)
