A heartwarming interaction between Carlos Alcaraz and Lionel Messi at the Laureus World Sports Awards will go down as one of the most wholesome moments of 2023.
Tennis world number two Alcaraz, who recently defended his title at the Madrid Open after beating Jan-Lennard Struff, was speaking to reporters at the event in Paris when he spotted Messi walking towards him.
Smiling from ear to ear, the Spaniard said: "It's crazy. I've never met him before. It's crazy to see him here, metres away from me. This is crazy for me, honestly."
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Moments later – after the reporter suggested shaking hands with the World Cup winner – a nervous Alcaraz introduced himself to both Messi and his wife Antonela Roccuzzo.
As you can see in the footage above, Alcarez, who won the Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year Award at Monday's event, was almost awestruck as he interacted with the seven-time Ballon d'Or winner.
Soon after the interaction, Messi beat the likes of Kylian Mbappe and Max Verstappen to this year's Laureus Sportsman of the Year award after his achievements for club and country.
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The 35-year-old, of course, lifted the World Cup with Argentina in December after they beat France in the final. He also won Ligue 1 with PSG.
"This is a special honour, particularly as the Laureus World Sports Awards are in Paris this year, the city that has welcomed my family since we came here in 2021," he said during his acceptance speech.
"I want to thank all my teammates, not only from the national team but also at PSG. I have achieved none of this alone and I am grateful to be able to share everything with them.
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"I want to thank the Laureus Academy. What makes these Awards so special to us as athletes is the fact that they are voted for by these incredible champions, my heroes, and this puts my sporting achievements in true context.
"This is the first time I have been the sole winner of the Laureus Sportsman of the Year Award and after a year when we finally won another prize we had been chasing for a long time, at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
"It’s an honour to be able to hold this Laureus Statuette."
Messi added: "I was looking at the names of the incredible legends that won the Laureus Sportsman of the Year Award before me: [Michael] Schumacher, [Tiger] Woods, [Rafael] Nadal, [Roger] Federer, [Usain] Bolt, Hamilton, [Novak] Djokovic… it really sunk in what unbelievable company I’m in and what a unique honour this is."
Featured Image Credit: Twitter/@atptourTopics: Lionel Messi, Tennis, Paris Saint-Germain
