French Open: Novak vs. Rafa again. Ugh.

[+ WilliamM]

No surprise.

 

But, the US Open was quite interesting without Rodger, Novak or Rafa.

 

At least to me.

[JayCeeKy]

I don't follow sports much, except for MLB where I cheer for the Yankees, the Orioles, and the White Sox. On rare occasion I will watch a little pro tennis. especially when super hunk Rafael Nadal would play. The sight of that bounteous bouncing bubble butt was a wonder to behold and I could watch that juicy watermelon ass jiggle around in those tight white shorts for hours. However, I caught a photo of him in USA Today at the French Open (w/out his usual sweat band) that startled me when I realized that he is losing his beautiful Mallorcan head of hair. It doesn't diminish his overall sexiness esp those wonderful and fully intact arse cheeks, but it does remind me, once again, that "hair today, gone tomorrow" - a story that many of us know all too well.

 

Edited October 10, 2020 by JayCeeKy

[MscleLovr]

the US Open was quite interesting without Rodger, Novak or Rafa.

I agree @WilliamM but nonetheless I shall be glued to the television for the French Open final tomorrow

[+ Charlie]

Rafa's thinning hair has been noticeable for a few years, but I doubt that he will emulate Agassi (and now Mannarino) by shaving it all off.

[BSR]

If you're not a Rafa or Novak fan, I can see why you're feeling meh about this final. But for us Big 3 aficionados, Rafa-Novak LVI is simply delicious.

 

If Rafa wins, he'll tie Roger's record of 20 Grand Slam singles titles. If Novak wins, he will be the first player ever to beat Rafa in a Roland Garros final (where Rafa has an eye-popping 12-0 record), will complete the double career Grand Slam (at least 2 titles at each of the 4 majors), and will reach 18 Slams (2 short of Roger, just 1 behind Rafa, plus he goes into the 2021 Australian Open as the overwhelming favorite).

 

If the knock on yet another Rafa-Novak final is the playing style, I get it. The matchup doesn't produce the most interesting point constructiom - a lot of endless rallies of Rafa's forehand crosscourt into Novak's 2-hander, ad infinitum. But for drama & tennis history, tomorrow's final is off the charts.

[+ WilliamM]

Aren't the chances of Novak Djokovic winning fairly slim. He has won the French Open once. Rafa Nadal has won many, many in Paris on clay

[Danny-Darko]

I rarely watch these days but Nadal has my vote always! ????

[manTOman]

Aren't the chances of Novak Djokovic winning fairly slim. He has won the French Open once. Rafa Nadal has won many, many in Paris on clay

 

Everyone's chances against Nadal at Rolland Garros are pretty slim. Out of all of them, Novak for sure is the best bet. His chances are still slim though. lol

[+ WilliamM]

Glad I did not watch the match

[MscleLovr]

Good display by Rafa but I found the match uninvolving.

[+ WilliamM]

The year I actually went to French Open, it rained part of each day.. Still, I loved being there.

 

1986

[MassageDrew]

I probably would like Novak more if he wasn't trying too hard. He wants so bad to be the best in the world. So once in a while I do take pleasure watching him lose. You look at Roger and Rafa and the bond they have a friends even if they are rivals and Novak doesn't have that. Not with anyone really. I think he has a little bit of that Trump ego that he has to be better than everyone. He can try and he can even surpass the titles of Roger and Rafa but people will not love Novak the way they love the other two.

[+ WilliamM]

I probably would like Novak more if he wasn't trying too hard. He wants so bad to be the best in the world. So once in a while I do take pleasure watching him lose. You look at Roger and Rafa and the bond they have a friends even if they are rivals and Novak doesn't have that. Not with anyone really. I think he has a little bit of that Trump ego that he has to be better than everyone. He can try and he can even surpass the titles of Roger and Rafa but people will not love Novak the way they love the other two.

 

Perhaps folks who live in the former Yugoslavia might disagree, especially Serbia and Croatia.

[+ Charlie]

The Serbs are wildly enthusiastic for Novak because they have no other international figures to cheer for. In fact, if they were less jingoistically demonstrative at his matches, the rest of the world might appreciate him more on his real merits.

[manTOman]

The Serbs are wildly enthusiastic for Novak because they have no other international figures to cheer for. In fact, if they were less jingoistically demonstrative at his matches, the rest of the world might appreciate him more on his real merits.

 

I don't find his supporters any less demonstrative than many other nations. Greeks, Argentinians, Brazilians, French and Australians are all rather vocal and loud in cheering for their players. Even Andy Murray's supporters at Wimbledon have breached the rules of politeness at times. Not to mention the support all the American players get, especially on their home soil. To me that's normal, and if any one individual gets out of hand, the last thing I will ever do is use their culture, religion, gender, orientation or skin color as a very bigoted excuse for their behavior. Your post is extremely offensive and not far off from racist.

 

The funny thing is that audiences are often obnoxiously loud against Novak, and yet you never hear anyone say they dislike Federer or Nadal or any other player for enjoying such support. Hingis got booed off the court, literarily, she refused to accept the runner up trophy, at the 1999 French Open Final, yet nobody ever said they disliked Steffi Graf for it.

 

As for Serbians having no one to cheer for, which is also a very petty insult, I would say take a look at the NBA. We often forget that Monica Seles is from the same region and speaks the same language, and yet she was also very much disliked pre stabbing. And she was just a kid and nothing but the nicest girl with a giggle that occasionally got out of hands. Serbs cheered for her too.

 

But you're right in one thing. Federer, Nadal. Serena, Djokovic, Sampras, they're such exceptions and national treasures for their nations. They're very rare even for large nations, so I really can never blame anyone for being too proud of their own countryman/woman's accomplishments.

[+ Charlie]

I happen to think that Novak may turn out to be a greater player than Roger or Rafa, at least statistically. I also think that it is unfortunate that many tennis fans don't appreciate him as much as the other two. But I have watched many of his matches since he first appeared, and I know that many fans react negatively to the kind of enthusiasm that the Serbian fans show for him. Swiss fans have always been less numerous and rather subdued at Roger's matches, and the Spanish fans have long had many great Spanish players to root for. It is natural for the Serbs to be extremely proud of the first great Serbian player, and it is unfair that there is probably anti-Serb ethnic prejudice in the general tennis community that carries over to Novak. As I have written elsewhere, he was unlucky to come along when the Roger/Rafa bromance had already captivated the media, and he was regarded by them as an unwanted intruder in their script--a third party often gets turned by them into a villain rather than another legitimate contender for GOAT. Novak has made it clear that he is aware of that favoritism shown to the others and resents it, which probably makes the Serb fans even more demonstrative.

 

I don't think Monica Seles was ever treated or regarded in the same way, since she was actually an ethnic Hungarian, played for Yugoslavia rather than Serbia, and became a US citizen while she was still a top player. I remember clearly that many fans and even commentators at the time didn't know where she was from in Yugoslavia and thought she was Croatian, like Iva Majoli and Goran Ivanisevic.

Edited October 23, 2020 by Charlie

[manTOman]

Novak was liked at the beginning while he was doing his impressions, which were somewhat goofy and lame, and before he was a non threat. You're right that everyone wanted to see Roger and Rafa play all the finals, and Novak spoiled that. However if it weren't for the two of them, he would have never reached the level he's at. So it's a double edged sword. He gets the glory but it comes at a cost.

 

As for Monica Seles, she was born in a Serbian city, that's still a part of Serbia and has a very large population of ethnic Hungarians even today. Novak has said himself that she was one of his role models growing up. Seles is also fluent in Serbian and has done many interviews for their press in their language. She's done exhibition matches in Belgrade. She was coached by her Father Karoly, and then by Jelena Gencic, before moving to the Bollettieri's tennis academy. Well Jelena Gencic happened to be Novak's childhood coach too. So yes Monica is definitely an ethnic Hungarian but she has strong ties to Serbia.

 

Croatian and Serbians get mixed up a lot by commentators. I think there might have even been a trophy presentation where they said that Novak is Croatian, and then he corrected them. It happens.

 

As for Monica not being liked, maybe it wasn't on the Novak level but she was heavily criticized for her grunting, to the point of her muting it for a Wimbledon final due to the complaints. She was also scrutinized for her playing style and the audiences definitely favored Graf over Seles at the time. I was a huge Monica fan and could not figure out why everyone was against her. When Seles got stabbed her peers, top tennis players, voted not to freeze her ranking until her return to the tour. The vote was 16-1 against freezing her ranking. You can draw your own conclusions at how much respect she had at the time. Out of her 9 Grand Slam titles 8 were won prior to the stabbing, while she still played for Yugoslavia. Only upon her return to tennis has she become the crowd favorite. Her game was never the same though even though she remained a top player.

Edited October 23, 2020 by manTOman

[+ WilliamM]

Even Richard Holbrook couldn't negotiate peace between Novak and many tennis fans.

[+ Charlie]

Novak was liked at the beginning while he was doing his impressions, which were somewhat goofy and lame, and before he was a non threat. You're right that everyone wanted to see Roger and Rafa play all the finals, and Novak spoiled that. However if it weren't for the two of them, he would have never reached the level he's at. So it's a double edged sword. He gets the glory but it comes at a cost.

 

As for Monica Seles, she was born in a Serbian city, that's still a part of Serbia and has a very large population of ethnic Hungarians even today. Novak has said himself that she was one of his role models growing up. Seles is also fluent in Serbian and has done many interviews for their press in their language. She's done exhibition matches in Belgrade. She was coached by her Father Karoly, and then by Jelena Gencic, before moving to the Bollettieri's tennis academy. Well Jelena Gencic happened to be Novak's childhood coach too. So yes Monica is definitely an ethnic Hungarian but she has strong ties to Serbia.

 

Croatian and Serbians get mixed up a lot by commentators. I think there might have even been a trophy presentation where they said that Novak is Croatian, and then he corrected them. It happens.

 

As for Monica not being liked, maybe it wasn't on the Novak level but she was heavily criticized for her grunting, to the point of her muting it for a Wimbledon final due to the complaints. She was also scrutinized for her playing style and the audiences definitely favored Graf over Seles at the time. I was a huge Monica fan and could not figure out why everyone was against her. When Seles got stabbed her peers, top tennis players, voted not to freeze her ranking until her return to the tour. The vote was 16-1 against freezing her ranking. You can draw your own conclusions at how much respect she had at the time. Out of her 9 Grand Slam titles 8 were won prior to the stabbing, while she still played for Yugoslavia. Only upon her return to tennis has she become the crowd favorite. Her game was never the same though even though she remained a top player.

Monica certainly has strong Serbian roots, but she wasn't perceived as "Serbian" by the fans, mainly because she was already so Americanized by the time she came to their attention. She also benefited from being identified with Yugoslavia before the civil war which resulted in the break-up, in which Serbia was generally perceived in the West as the bad guy (another problem for which Novak is not responsible). You're right that the initial negativity was due to her loud vocalizations, which were unusual thirty years ago; a lot of older fans still complain about them and connect them with the rise of Eastern European players, like Sharapova and Azarenka. Some of the mixed reaction from American fans to Sonia Kenin is due to the feeling that she is too "Russian," even though they cheer similar outbursts from Serena. A lot of what happens to players' reputations has little to do with their actual talents or personalities.

 

Novak was criticized a lot when he first appeared for frequently retiring from matches because of physical problems (Andy Roddick notably mocked him for that). I think that the funny impressions were Novak's way of trying to defuse that, but he also became extremely serious about his fitness, and it's probably one of the reasons why he now plays even when he is obviously suffering. I think he is respected more by his peers than he is by the fans.

[+ WilliamM]

Certainly the locals in Sarajevo in 2013 when I was there was strongly against Serbia.

 

People were no shy about it.

[Becket]

UUGG? Any match with Rafa is appointment viewing. I could watch his ass all day long. Gorgeous man!!!