WATCH: Rafael Nadal catches up with Novak Djokovic and Lindsey Vonn at Laureus World Sports Awards 2025

Rafael Nadal met up with his former arch-rival Novak Djokovic and alpine skier Lindsey Vonn during the Laureus World Sports Awards 2025 in Madrid. The Spaniard received one of the rarest honors at the prestigious event, which was met with a standing ovation from the audience.

Nadal hung up the racket on his illustrious career last year at the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga. To honor the greatness of the Spaniard's career, he was awarded the rare Laureus Sporting Icon award at this year's ceremony, making him only the second man to receive this honor after Valentino Rossi.

Present at the ceremony was also the 38-year-old's former arch-rival, Djokovic, and the skiing great Vonn. The Spaniard got a chance to catch up with the two at the event and shared glimpses from their meeting on TikTok, which he has recently been active on.

" It was great to see you at the Laureus, Novak Djokovic and Lindsey Vonn 😃," he captioned the post.

It is worth noting that Lindsey Vonn hosted the coveted event, and Novak Djokovic presented Mondo Duplantis with the World Sportsman of the Year Award.

The 24-time Major champion also gave his thoughts on his rival winning the rare Laureus honor.

---

"I think Rafael Nadal is definitely the right person to receive this award" - Novak Djokovic on his rival's rare Laureus honor

Rafael Nadal at the 2025 Laureus World Sport Awards Madrid - Source: Getty

Speaking about the honor his former arch-rival was bestowed upon at the 2025 Laureus World Sports Awards, Novak Djokovic said Rafael Nadal was definitely worthy of such honor, not just because of his accomplishments on the tennis court, but also because of the things he achieved off it.

"Everyone knows of his greatness on a tennis court and what he has achieved with his great fighting spirit, tenacity. But I think as the time went on, and the injuries that he was fighting with, the never-dying spirit that he showed and the good respecting values. So I think he is definitely the right person to receive this award no doubt because of his success but also his influence extends and expands on so many areas in life, not just tennis and not just sports in general."

Novak Djokovic also reshared his above message on his Instagram and congratulated Nadal on his achievement. On the tennis side, Djokovic is currently gearing up to compete at the Madrid Masters, which will be the second event of his European clay swing campaign.