The 31-year-old professional tennis player from Argentina, Diego Schwartzman recalls the moment when he was in God’s good grace. The former world number 8 in the ATP rankings shared an instance from 2018 when he met The God of Soccer Lionel Messi. Let’s find out what was Messi’s take on the performance of Rafael Nadal.

The Jewish tennis player impressed Messi with his resilience on the clay court against ‘The King of Clay’, Rafael Nadal. But for some unavoidable circumstance in 2018, Roland Garros could’ve witnessed one of the biggest setbacks of the tournament. What was it?

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Diego Schwartzman first met the Argentine captain before the World Cup in 2018 in Russia. At that time he was returning after his loss to Rafael Nadal and was in Barcelona. The national football team of Argentina was also in Barcelona preparing for their World Cup. He says he went to a few players and met them in practice ground and he was surprised by Messi’s remark on the former number one in tennis.

Schwartzman attended the Ultimate Tennis Showdown in Frankfurt along with Rublev, Eubanks  & Struff. Upon asking his first interaction with Messi Schwartzman said, “The first thing he said to me was: ‘How lucky was Rafa with the rain!’. Because I was a set and break ahead, and the rain stopped the match. I was leading 6-4, 3-1 and break point to lead 4-1, and after that, we played like 15 more minutes then had to come back the next day.” He continued, “After that, I lost like too easy for him playing with the sun at noon. But he [Messi] said to me that, so I was thinking, ‘Okay, he was watching the match. He knows who I am.” But how did Rafael Nadal upset Messi?

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Diego talks about knowing Lionel Messi
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Surely when it comes to ‘El Classico‘ it has its reach way beyond the Footballing World. The Argentinian recalling the moment he found the La Masia graduate Leo Messi taking a jibe at Rafael Nadal, who is a well-known Real Madrid fan is nothing less than a mini El Classico. 

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It just takes a moment to get back the momentum for Rafael Nadal

It was during the Roland Garros in 2018 that Rafael Nadal beat Schwartzman (4-6,6-3,6-2,6-2) in a rain-delayed match. The Spaniard was seen struggling with the wet conditions on the pitch until the match stopped and started later on. But even a drop of blood is enough for a Lion to smell its prey. Here, the lion was Rafael Nadal. As soon as the sun came back, he roared over the Argentinian and won the match. But Leo wasn’t happy with it, he felt Rafa was extremely lucky else the Argentine would’ve won the match.

However, the rivalry was set aside when Messi admitted he is a big ‘admirer’ of the icon in tennis, Rafael Nadal at Laureus Sportsman of the Year in 2021. The love between tennis & soccer was yet again reflected when Schwartzman congratulated Messi for his performance in making Argentina the champions of the world. The 7-time Ballon d’Or winner has high regard for his 5 feet 7 inches compatriot ‘El Peque‘. Can Diego Schwartzman drag back himself to the top 10 yet again? 

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