"How lucky was Rafael Nadal with the rain" - Diego Schwartzman shares how Lionel Messi reacted to his French Open 2018 loss against Spaniard
Former World No. 8 Diego Schwartzman recently talked about how football legend Lionel Messi reacted to his 2018 French Open quarterfinal loss against Rafael Nadal.
Nadal came back from a set down to defeat Schwartzman 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 in the rain-delayed match at Roland-Garros, and edged closer to an 11th title triumph in Paris.
After struggling in rainy conditions the night before, the 37-year-old fared considerably better in the sun on Court Philippe Chatrier, finally beating the resilient Argentine on his fourth match point.
During the Ultimate Tennis Showdown in Frankfurt, Germany, in September 2023, Diego Schwartzman spoke with Andrey Rublev, Christopher Eubanks, and Jan-Lennard Struff, and Eubanks asked him if he and his compatriot, Lionel Messi, knew each other.
The 31-year-old replied in the affirmative, claiming that he met Messi for the first time ahead of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Barcelona airport, shortly after returning from Paris following his loss to eventual winner Rafael Nadal.
"Yeah, I met him a few years before. But even if you met him, when you see him, it's like too much respect, you don't want to say anything. It's like, 'Okay, Hello Leo!'. You know, it's that you don't want to ask for anything. The first time I met him, it was before the World Cup in Russia in 2018. I had lost against Rafa in the quarterfinals of Roland-Garros and I was a set and a break up," Diego Schwartzman said.
"And after that date, I had my flight from Barcelona and the Argentinians were doing their preparation for the World Cup there with the national team. So, I went there with a few players and talked to him [Lionel Messi]," he added.
The seven-time Ballon d'Or winner spoke to Diego Schwartzman about his defeat, saying that the Spaniard was extremely 'lucky' because of the rain, else the Argentine would have won.
"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," Schwartzman said.
"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'," he added.
Diego Schwartzman congratulated Lionel Messi after World Cup 2022 title win
Lionel Messi's long wait for World Cup glory finally came to an end in 2022 when Argentina defeated France in the FIFA World Cup Final.
An evening of epic proportions saw Argentina securing their third World Cup title after a 36-year wait. The match seemed to be won by them multiple times, but the victory was ultimately secured in a penalty shootout (4-2) after France's Kylian Mbappe's hat-trick.
In view of that, Diego Schwartzman took to Instagram to celebrate his country's success, saying he was left speechless by Messi's excellent performance in which he scored two goals.
"There are no words......," he wrote, adding a bunch of heart and Argentine flag emojis along with a picture of Lionel Messi kissing the World Cup trophy.