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From Hamilton to Neymar: These Top Athletes Are True Gamers!

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After sports comes gaming

Gaming - January 9th 2021, 19:06 GMT+1

Rafael Nadal Mario Tennis Aces — Rafael Nadal

Multiple world number one, Olympic champion in 2008, 86 singles titles, 20 of them at Grand Slam tournaments – Rafael Nadal is one of the best and most successful tennis players of all time. The Spaniard is also devoted to gaming and sometimes swaps his racket for the controller on the side.

Nadal likes to play FIFA, as some videos on YouTube show – no wonder, after all, his sporting career initially began with football in childhood and two of his uncles were professional football players. In 2018, he also collaborated with Nintendo and promoted Mario Tennis Aces. (Image credit: Nintendo)

Pirlo fifa 2020 — Andrea Pirlo

The former Italian international was, among other things, a two-time Champions League winner and World Cup winner in 2006. After the end of his days on the field as player, he became a coach at Juventus Torino and has been there since last summer.

During his career, he was very active not only on the pitch but also in virtual soccer and was an avid FIFA player. In his autobiography, he called the PlayStation "the best invention after the wheel" and said he played at least four times as many FIFA matches as actual football games. (Image credit: EA Sports)

Neymar csgo — Neymar Jr.

We could certainly put every football player on this list and say that they like to play FIFA but it's even more impressive when a football player is active in another game – and very successful there, too.

Neymar has long been a self-confessed gamer and even streams on Twitch from time to time. He's an avid fan of CS:GO and has over 1000 hours of play in the game – and it has paid off. The highlight of his sideline career as a gamer was when he took the win in a clutch against the best CS:GO players in the world. After his soccer career, the Brazilian should really consider esports. (Image credit: Neymar via Twitter)

Hector Bellerin Co D — Hector Bellerin

Like almost every football player, the Spaniard from Arsenal FC plays FIFA, but above all, he is a passionate Call of Duty player. In his youth, he even played in a clan with the other young Spanish players at Arsenal.

Today, he wears a tattoo with the name of this clan which reminds him of the many hours spent playing together. Love for video games gets under his skin! (Image credit: COPA90 Football via YouTube)

Lewis hamilton call of duty — Lewis Hamilton

Unlike many football players, the Formula 1 driver is not a fan of simulations of his sport. He grew up playing Gran Turismo and used to put in a lot of gaming time, which was great fun for him.

Lewis Hamilton is no longer that interested in racing games, as he revealed in an interview on the YouTube channel of his racing team Mercedes. Instead, he prefers Call of Duty and has already played the shooter with fellow drivers like Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly. "Games are great for connecting with others beyond sports", Hamilton said. (Image credit: Activision)

Gordon Hayward Esports — Gordon Hayward

What would happen if one of the best basketball players in NBA history, LeBron James, and his colleague Gordon Hayward met in 1vs1? "I would destroy him," Hayward claimed. The talk was not about basketball, but about League of Legends, which Hayward plays in his spare time.

Even as a teenager in high school, he spent a lot of time playing games and poured hours into Halo. Hayward has often expressed his enthusiasm for esports and has already appeared as a gaming commentator. (Image credit: IGN via YouTube)

Jorge masvidal call of duty — Jorge Masvidal

Masvidal left his name in the annals of MMA as he set the record for the shortest knockout in UFC history after taking down Ben Askren in just five seconds. Now that's fast.

In addition to his MMA career, Masvidal is also an avid gamer. In fact, he's such a big fan of Call of Duty that it even got in the way of his physical training, a topic he discussed on his YouTube channel. Naturally, he also plays EA's UFC. (Image credit: Jorge Masvidal via YouTube)

Demetrious Johnson Twitch 2021 01 05 131210 — Demetrious Johnson

The mixed martial arts fighter with the fight name "Mighty Mouse" is probably the professional athlete with the greatest passion for gaming. When he's not competing in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, he's regularly streaming on Twitch and playing all sorts of games he enjoys.

Johnson even plans to start a second career after his time in MMA comes to an end. Full-time streaming is something he already does on the side. He has his YouTube channel "Mighty Gaming" with over 75,000 subscribers in addition to Twitch. (Image credit: Mighty Gaming/Demetrious Johnson via YouTube)

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We often hear the cliché: gamers are unathletic and lazy because they are constantly sitting in front of their computer or console and playing video games. We have known for a long time that such prejudices are not true, but some people still associate gamers with people who do little to no sports. Today we provide the proof to the contrary!

Some professional athletes are active gamers in addition to their sports careers and love video games just as much as we do. We introduce you to the athletes who like to pick up the controller or mouse in their spare time away from the playing field!

READ MORE: Five League Legends Who Retired in 2020

Original article by Fabian Ruppert.

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We often hear the cliché: gamers are unathletic and lazy because they are constantly sitting in front of their computer or console and playing video games. We have known for a long time that such prejudices are not true, but some people still associate gamers with people who do little to no sports. Today we provide the proof to the contrary!

Some professional athletes are active gamers in addition to their sports careers and love video games just as much as we do. We introduce you to the athletes who like to pick up the controller or mouse in their spare time away from the playing field!

READ MORE: Five League Legends Who Retired in 2020

Original article by Fabian Ruppert.