Cristiano Ronaldo-Marcelo, PV Sindhu-Carolina Marin, Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal, 5 Real-Life Friendships in Sports

Be it Cristiano Ronaldo and Marcelo playing side by side for Real Madrid or PV Sindhu taking on Carolina Marin in badminton clashes, the sporting world have witnessed numerous forms of friendships. Sports provide a great platform to build strong, meaningful friendships that often last a lifetime. Since in competitive sports, the athletes often end up spending a large amount of time together training or playing against each other, which gives them the platform to bond, understand each other’s likes and dislikes. Often their stories of struggles and handling of pressure is understood by each other, which helps the friendship grow. In a team sport, being friends with your teammate often leads to a better understanding on the pitch and helps the individual grow. When the chips are down, the sportsperson known their friends are around to support them and help them out of the slump, which has a positive effect. A look at some great stories in the sporting circuit. Friendship Day 2020: From Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers to Rohit Sharma and Yuzvendra Chahal, Top 5 Best Friends in World Cricket.

PV Sindhu and Carolina Marin – Badminton

Two of the fierce badminton rivals currently on tour, PV Sindhu and Carolina Marin are the best mates off the court. Carolina Marin dashed PV Sindhu’s hope of an Olympic Gold medal, but that did not deter their friendship to develop. They spend a lot of time discussing the game and other events while on tour and often speak before going head to head in finals.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Marcelo – Football

When Cristiano Ronaldo left Real Madrid for Juventus, his best mate Marcelo was so devasted that he decided to follow suit and head to Italy. It took some serious persuasion from the Los Blancos board which helped Marcelo sign a new contract. Both Cristiano Ronaldo and Marcelo were like a brother during their time in Spain which brought the best out of the two in a hugely successful reign.

Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer – Tennis

Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are two of the greatest rivals the game of tennis has ever seen with each bringing out the best in other in the battle of greatness. But despite the competitive nature of the ATP tour, the two remain the best of friends. They play in exhibition games together, pull each other’s leg and always have wonderful things about the other. Their friendship can be summed up by the fact that once Rafael Nadal apologised for beating Roger Federer in an Australian Open final as the latter could not stop crying.

LeBron James and Kobe Bryant – Basketball

US national basketball team dominated the world with Kobe Bryant and Lebron James being a key member of the core group. They had such a strong bond that the constant comparisons in media between them did not have any effect on them. When Kobe Bryant passed away this year in an unfortunate helicopter crash, an emotional Lebron James promised to keep the legacy of his best friend alive.

Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel – F1

Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel’s friendship has often made headlines as the duo have managed to keep the pressure of acing the F1 races behind them and be normal friends off it. During their time at Ferrari, they supported each other well, often managing to suppress rumours of their infighting with ease.

These were some of the many pairs of BFFs from the sporting world. They could be rivals on the field, but there is no way these personalities have let the on-field tension and animosity seep into their personal lives. They truly are great buddies giving major friendship goals.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 02, 2020 02:02 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).