[marifline]

This is the result of a poll which was published in the last issue of the French TennisMag.
Because they felt that players reveal their true nature on court, they asked 89 ballboys/ballgirls four questions : who is the most pleasant, the most unpleasant, the most intimidating and the strangest player. I thought you could find it interesting.

The most pleasant
1. BAGHDATIS 25 %
2. Monfils 13 %
3. Nadal 11 %
4. Mathieu 8 %
5. Chardy 7%
6. Djokovic, Federer, Wawrinka 6%

The most unpleasant
1. CLEMENT 25%
2. Lisnard, Llodra 18 %
4. Almagro 13 %
5. Benneteau, Vicente 6 %
7. Spadea 3%

The most intimidating
1. FEDERER 29%
2. Nadal 22 %
3. Isner, Karlovic 9% ( can't see why )

The strangest
1. NADAL 29 % (no surprise here )
2. Almagro 7%
3. Davydenko 6%
4. Djokovic, Monfils, Bryan brothers 3%

So, rather bad results for French players, according to the article, this may be due to the fact the ballboys expect more from their home players, and of course, that they can understand all the swearing. But this is not the first time I hear bad things about Clément's behavior with ballboys.
I'm not really surprised about the " most pleasant" one, it seems to reflect what I saw on tournaments or TV and general opinion.

[miura]

Intimidating as in if they're scared to be handing him balls?

[Kitty de Sade]

As usual, Spadea never disappoints.

[Beforehand]

The ballboys love Clement, just like Miss Kelli!

[marifline]

Originally Posted by Beforehand

The ballboys love Clement, just like Miss Kelli!

He must have made a strong impression since he barely played two matches.

[tangerine_dream]

The strangest
1. NADAL 29 %

Gee, I wonder why?

[W!MBLEDON]

roflmao @ clement in unpleasant and nadal in strangest

[Kitty de Sade]

Originally Posted by Beforehand

The ballboys love Clement, just like Miss Kelli!

You got me. I have strong feelings about Clement.

[scarecrows]

I knew it would be Clement on top of that list before opening the thread

[HNCS]

i wonder why Federer is intimidating. i mean he's not like hewitt who seems as if he's trying to murder you when asking for the towel.


and YAAAY for baghadatis for being the most pleasant. he's such a sweetie.

[krystlel]

Yeah, looks like Baghdatis lead "Most Pleasant" by quite a large margin.

No surprise to see Clement on the top of the "Most Unpleasant" list.

[marifline]

I think the Federer/Nadal " intimidating" ones simply refer to their star status rather then the "fear" they can inspire. It's more about respect and admiration.

[luxsword]

Did they ask ballgirls, too ?

[Truc]

Yes, of course. There also are similar rankings for the female players.

Originally Posted by marifline

He must have made a strong impression since he barely played two matches.

Exactly, that's why it's impossible so many of them had to deal with Clément this time and they obviously mention him because of his bad reputation (or because they've had bad experiences with him in the past).
Since the RG 2008 ballkids were asked, I would have preferred them to mention the players who were nice and not nice during that tournament. I found the Almagro, Llodra, Benneteau... votes more significant.
Same for the nicest one, btw.

(Now, Clément seemed in the worst mood ever during his only singles match, so I can believe they didn't find him nice during that match!)

[marifline]

Originally Posted by luxsword

Did they ask ballgirls, too ?

Yep, in French the word aplies for both genders but I just translated it in ballboys. I edited the first post to be clear