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Rafa: "It's a pity that this crowd never has a nice gesture with me"

68K views 740 replies 273 participants last post by  abraxas21 
#1 · (Edited)
Reading Pam Shriver's comments on why the Williams sisters get no love at Roland Garros, and seeing once again that loveable four-time champion Rafael Nadal also gets no love from the RG crowd got me wondering: what is it about Nadal that turns them off? Is it racism? I'm curious to know.
 
#2 ·
Re: Why does the French Open crowd love Andy Roddick but not Rafael Nadal?

Its cause they prefer you over Linda.
 
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#17 ·
Re: Why does the French Open crowd love Andy Roddick but not Rafael Nadal?

Probably they are tired of Nadal by now.
They did not like him from his first RG :shrug: because he beat their precious Federer. French crowd loves Federer and Ivanovic (do the Frenchies have a thing for Swiss?) thus they don't like anybody who beat or can beat them. I guess they know Roddick is no threat to Rogi ;)
 
#5 ·
Re: Why does the French Open crowd love Andy Roddick but not Rafael Nadal?

Roddick has always been very "French friendly", even before he began wearing Lacoste.

He's also good pals with Grosjean, who is part of the rare fraternity of "set stealers" from Nadal at RG.

Monfils also attempted to serve in the same vein as Roddick, and you can see similarities in their service style.

Expect their 4th round clash to be very loud and awesome :yeah:
 
#7 ·
Re: Why does the French Open crowd love Andy Roddick but not Rafael Nadal?

Ask Sawan.

If you want a serious answer, getting booed for retiring is not uncommon from some French fans, so Nadal is hardly alone, nor does that specific incident reveal any consistent dislike of him.

How do you conclude that the French crowd loves Roddick?
 
#10 ·
Re: Why does the French Open crowd love Andy Roddick but not Rafael Nadal?

I have seen a few threads on this topic. I guess it is more like how you relate to a particular player. That's why Fed is liked a lot (and perhaps Roddick too). They have pleasant games and the french love artistic games.

Anyway who cares about who is liked more? It's results that we all care about. Roger can be liked a lot by many people, but at the end of his career if he can't win one RG title, no body would care about how much of a fan favorite he was. Everyone would talk about his inability to win the RG.

So long as Rafael is winning the title, thats all he should care for (and not to win some worthless popularity contest).
 
#12 ·
Re: Why does the French Open crowd love Andy Roddick but not Rafael Nadal?

Roddick is protected by the media and he is white Nadal is not completely white,but all americans whose families have been in USA for 300 yrs are not completely white the are a melting pot of ethnicities blacks,natives,chinese and god knows what.:p
 
#25 ·
Re: Why does the French Open crowd love Andy Roddick but not Rafael Nadal?

Roddick is protected by the media and he is white Nadal is not completely white,but all americans whose families have been in USA for 300 yrs are not completely white the are a melting pot of ethnicities blacks,natives,chinese and god knows what.:p

Nadal is white. It's just that the French have a stronger rivalry going with Spain in Tennis it seems.
 
#16 ·
Re: Why does the French Open crowd love Andy Roddick but not Rafael Nadal?

I think the French have liked Andy since he first came to play in RG. They like gutsy players with heart, and I watched the match he had with Chang there. Andy had an emotional breakdown and fought on to win the match; the crowd respected that, and they continue to push for Roddick whenever he shows up.
 
#22 ·
Re: Why does the French Open crowd love Andy Roddick but not Rafael Nadal?

I think the French have liked Andy since he first came to play in RG. They like gutsy players with heart, and I watched the match he had with Chang there. Andy had an emotional breakdown and fought on to win the match; the crowd respected that, and they continue to push for Roddick whenever he shows up.
this firstly.

secondly: they like players who interact with the crowd, call them for help.
Roddick does that occasionly now, but more so when he came on the tour: he was a likeable young dog, very extrovert on court.


Also: I've noticed a change in the attitude towards Nadal. Lots of children adore him and it seems the media have finally picked up: on French tv they constantly refer to him as "your favourite", "our hero" - just as they do with Roger.
The years before that was much more toned down (until second week when the inevitable became clear and then they would say "the champion").
Also, it helps I haven't seen Guy Forget around ;)
 
#19 ·
Re: Why does the French Open crowd love Andy Roddick but not Rafael Nadal?

The thing about Roland Garros is that the crowds are usually more well knowledged in average than the other grandslams. They know about the rules of the tennis and understands Nadal's use of gamesmanship in all of his matches.
 
#20 · (Edited)
Re: Why does the French Open crowd love Andy Roddick but not Rafael Nadal?

I think also a big part of it is that the French have never really liked Spaniards. They never embraced Ferrero, Costa, Sergei, etc. They have traditionally ranged from indifferent to hostile to Spanish players. I don't know why there is so much ethnic prejudice but it seems to be there and strong.

Tommy Robredo was asked about the Paris crowds this year and he said that he thought they were knoweledgeable about tennis but he wished they would not be so hostile to Spanish players. So it seems like the Spanish players know that the French will be prone to disliking Spanish players for the sin of....being Spanish.

Also the French crowd chooses who they hate from the get go. Rarely- like with Maria - they switch. But they have always hated the Williams Sisters, have always hated Nadal, always hated Hingis, etc. They seem to enjoy hating rather than being positive at times it seems. A perfect fit for MTF- where hate is more applauded than being positive.

All that grumpiness stated - a lot of the French players seem to be very positive and have a good relation with their fellow players- regardless of where they are from. I think, in particular, Monfils is widely liked by players from all countries.
 
#31 ·
Re: Why does the French Open crowd love Andy Roddick but not Rafael Nadal?

I think also a big part of it is that the French have never really liked Spaniards. They never embraced Ferrero, Costa, Sergei, etc. They have traditionally ranged from indifferent to hostile to Spanish players. I don't know why there is so much ethnic prejudice but it seems to be there and strong.

Tommy Robredo was asked about the Paris crowds this year and he said that he thought they were knoweledgeable about tennis but he wished they would not be so hostile to Spanish players. So it seems like the Spanish players know that the French will be prone to disliking Spanish players for the sin of....being Spanish.
This is a MTF legend. And I'm surprised even you Clara believe this "ethnic prejudice towards the Spaniards" rubbish.
It is wrong. I know MTF is sure of the opposite, and French posters repeating year after year that it's not true doesn't change anything, but never mind.

The RG crowd doesn't like much the typical grinders who will play only from the baseline, without much variety in their game, in 5 hours matches... No matter if they are Spaniards or Peruvians or Austrians or Swedes.

There are plenty of Spanish tennis players who are pretty popular in France. Nadal, Moya, Ferrero, Corretja, Sanchez-Vicario... But if the RG crowd doesn't go apeshit over a player like Costa, MTF will see "ethnic prejudice" in it.
 
#79 ·
Re: Why does the French Open crowd love Andy Roddick but not Rafael Nadal?

They identify with his rude manners.
:D
 
#27 ·
Re: Why does the French Open crowd love Andy Roddick but not Rafael Nadal?

In fairness I think it's true that the RG crowd can be a bit fickle, but I don't think they're completely wild and cruel as some say.

True, the don't like Serena, but they seem ok with Venus. Venus comes across much more poised and cool on court, while Serena gets angry, acts histrionic and acts a bit like a diva. If I notice this it's likely they do too.

They do like Nadal, they just don't love him. Roger (the French speaking guy) is their favourite. Nadal had some bad luck playing partisan matches against Grosjean and getting his words confused in one of the final speeches , but overall that's a minority of the crowd.

As for Hingis, she brought a lot of that on herself, with comments on Mauresmo and diva behaviour, but when she came back after her hiatus, she got a warm reception - until she disputed the odd line call (the RG crowd have long memories).
 
#28 ·
Re: Why does the French Open crowd love Andy Roddick but not Rafael Nadal?

Maybe another element is the love for grand loosers who do it with style. In cycling, the most beloved rider was Raymond "Poupou" Poulidor, who was countless times second of the Tour de France and never wore the yellow jersey. Still, he was much more popular the the winners of his time. Completely dominating athletes like Merckx, Hinault or Armstrong never enjoyed love from the public. Interestingly, the French started to like Hinault when he lost the first time. There are exceptions like Miguel Indurain, who was able to mix a very humble style with imperial elements.

Dechiffring Andy, he is a all but a sore looser in PAris, whereas Rafa, with his crushing dominance and his macho-fist-style movements after winning big points has about everything whats's needed to be disliked by the French. But when he calms down on the court and starts to display more style, and once he'll begin to loose, he might be a very likable player in Paris
 
#29 ·
Re: Why does the French Open crowd love Andy Roddick but not Rafael Nadal?

Nothing new here. The Paris crowd doesn't use to like spanish tennis players. They must be feed up with our guys winning their GS so many times, i guess. :lol:
 
#34 · (Edited)
Re: Why does the French Open crowd love Andy Roddick but not Rafael Nadal?

As for Roddick, I think he is also popular in RG because he has played some spectacular, hard-fought 5-setters there. The ones against Chang and Hewitt in his first Roland-Garros. The Chucho match was a classic. Not surprising people rather like him, he has provided some exciting matches in RG.

I hadn't seen General Suburbia's post, sorry, he said it all.
 
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