So what's the real reason why the crowd never cheers for Djokovic?

Jokervich · Oct 31, 2015

It wasn't just in the US Open final this year that the crowd weren't cheering for Djokovic. I've re-watched many of Djokovic's previous matches and it's amazing how 99% of the crowd actively gets behind Djokovic's opponent every single time. At best, Djokovic gets his camp + a tiny percentage of Serbians in the crowd to support him. At worst, they cheer his mistakes (US Open this year) or cheer his opponent much, much louder with no cheers for him (Wimbledon this year). Even at the French Open, the crowd were clearly supporting Wawrinka and only offered a bit of sympathy to Djokovic at the trophy ceremony (when he cried - that was the most emotional moment in tennis this century imo).

To me, I don't understand this. Djokovic is one of the all-time greats of the game and plays thrilling tennis. He's played in some of the best matches of all time (AO12, USO semi finals in 2010 and 2011, FO13 semi final to name a few). He's won 10 slams and counting, he's by far the best player in the world right now, his breakthrough in 2011 was extraordinary when he had to beat peak Nadal and a still dangerous Federer. He's literally crushed the competition this year - only Wawrinka playing the match of his life against a tired Djokovic after a 5 set semi final vs Murray the previous day was able to stop him winning the CYGS.

But despite all of this, he still doesn't get the support he deserves. It's like Federer, Nadal and Djokovic are all part of the same family - Federer and Nadal are the older brothers who did everything first, and Djokovic is the nobody who everyone forgets.

Doctor/Lawyer Red Devil · Oct 31, 2015

Expect some of those people who constantly cheer against him to flood this thread.

Cup8489 · Oct 31, 2015

He's boring to watch. I find his theatrics forced in comparison to someone like Rafa. His antics when younger rubbed me the wrong way. His holier than thou attitude rubbed me the wrong way. I could care less about him being Eastern European or Serbian or whatever. He just came off as a cocky jerk... not that dissimilar in my mind to Kygrios and Tomic.

Ciaron · Oct 31, 2015

Its the dodgy hair cut

Fedeonic · Oct 31, 2015

He doesn't have an appealing game like Federer or Nadal, too defiant and classless to the casual fan, sometimes getting engaged in problems with ballboys, umpires, crowd. if he can accept that he's not likeable, he'll be more appreciated by the crowd. However, he's having a wonderful career in spite of these things.

CYGS · Oct 31, 2015

That's why his 10 slams are worth more than Federer's 17 slams, because he had to overcome obnoxious crowds while Fed didn't.

Cup8489 · Oct 31, 2015

CYGS said:
That's why his 10 slams are worth more than Federer's 17 slams, because he had to overcome obnoxious crowds while Fed didn't.

No, they're not.

duaneeo · Oct 31, 2015

Djokovic often provokes the crowd. It clearly annoys him when they root for his opponent, so he goes over-the-top in his reactions, which only makes the crowd that much more against him. But as long as he gets the last word, who cares.

tennisaddict · Oct 31, 2015

You expect the crowd to cheer when Novak shouts at them to suck his *** or because he screams at little ball girls ?

swordtennis · Oct 31, 2015

Provoke the crowd LMAO. He is part of the crowd. Fred would have a child boy executed or thrown into a gulag for taking a selfie. Djokovic will put t short on given to him by a fan and then commence to dance with said fan on court.

Humans in general seem to love a fuedal system. Worship a king that throws them cheap trinkets and pocket cash from time to time all the while being abused and looked down upon. A flawed species.

KineticChain · Oct 31, 2015

djokoervicher am no real goat. only real goat get claps and applauserer

TheGhostOfAgassi · Oct 31, 2015

Ive seen him play several times and the crowd finds his play bit boring. He lacks bit passion on court, that charisma. It's like he is against everybody.
It's often more passion on the court with a rank 30 something players.
Crowd doesn't care who is the best player. They rather see stunning shots now and then and feelings on the court.
Nadal and federer has that impact on the crowd it's insane. Their style of play is more thrilling and they have an attitude on court more appealing. It's pretty tough to compete with that for any player.

I often ending up cheering for Novak as I feel sorry for him and he deserves more appreciation for being such a great player.

swordtennis · Oct 31, 2015

TheGhostOfAgassi said:
Ive seen him play several times and the crowd finds his play bit boring. He lacks bit passion on court, that charisma. It's like he is against everybody.
It's often more passion on the court with a rank 30 something players.
Crowd doesn't care who is the best player. They rather see stunning shots now and then and feelings on the court.
Nadal and federer has that impact on the crowd it's insane. Their style of play is more thrilling and they have an attitude on court more appealing. It's pretty tough to compete with that for any player.

I often ending up cheering for Novak as I feel sorry for him and he deserves more appreciation for being such a great player.

Huh? I watched him play Davis cup in Boise Idaho. vs Isner. It was a soccer world cup atmosphere. Djokovic was absolutely insane with passion and he had the building shaking. I agree tho he is unappreciated. Humans are ****ed up tho it is not surprising.

Noelan · Oct 31, 2015

swordtennis said:
Huh? I watched him play Davis cup in Boise Idaho. vs Isner. It was a soccer world cup atmosphere. Djokovic was absolutely insane with passion and he had the building shaking. I agree tho he is unappreciated. Humans are ****ed up tho it is not surprising.

Guy is another Gary20/ Tennis_Commentator, Levi A in the making. Such generic posts

TheGhostOfAgassi · Oct 31, 2015

swordtennis said:
Huh? I watched him play Davis cup in Boise Idaho. vs Isner. It was a soccer world cup atmosphere. Djokovic was absolutely insane with passion and he had the building shaking. I agree tho he is unappreciated. Humans are ****ed up tho it is not surprising.

Yeah humans are not the best kind of spieces.
I'm just describing how it is when I've seen him. I've mostly seen him at Wimbledon and WTF. I haven't seen him in USA.... Soon I will I hope.
It is his personality that hasn't made him more popular. he just hasn't got it to get popular like some other.. That's just how it is. Both Rafa and federer had that kind of personality and the right kind of passion, and it's hard to compete w that. Fedal has been very special in tennis too.

But this is not really a popularity contest, it's tennis it's all about and to me Novak doesn't look that desperate as he did to become more popular anymore. And his fans too should just accept it as it is.

THE MAN · Oct 31, 2015

This is a good question and I do not understand why the crowd does not pull for him like Federer, Nadal or other top players. When he plays lower seeded players he seems to get more support. He was very emotional and thankful for the fans that cheered for him after is runner up at the French open this year which he lost to Stan. This video says it all....

Red Rick · Oct 31, 2015

Because people had already decided they liked Nadal or Federer before Djokovic spoiled the party and are prejudiced because of that. And because they like to judge people for their on court antics, even though that doesn't say a lot about whether they're actually assholes off the court or not.

StannisTheMannis · Oct 31, 2015

tennisaddict said:
You expect the crowd to cheer when Novak shouts at them to suck his *** or because he screams at little ball girls ?

He's never done that. Stop lying and spreading crap.

Steve0904 · Oct 31, 2015

StannisTheMannis said:
He's never done that. Stop lying and spreading crap.

Yes he has.

TennisHound · Oct 31, 2015

tennisaddict said:
You expect the crowd to cheer when Novak shouts at them to suck his *** or because he screams at little ball girls ?

X2. He's blown it bad a couple of times. The blowup at Wimbledon was the worst one so far - Yelling allout at a 14-15 yo girl. Does it get any worse than that?

Deleted member 733170 · Oct 31, 2015

swordtennis said:
Provoke the crowd LMAO. He is part of the crowd. Fred would have a child boy executed or thrown into a gulag for taking a selfie. Djokovic will put t short on given to him by a fan and then commence to dance with said fan on court.

Humans in general seem to love a fuedal system. Worship a king that throws them cheap trinkets and pocket cash from time to time all the while being abused and looked down upon. A flawed species.

Had to laugh at this post. More finesse and humour in that post than in Djokovic's ground strokes.

NBP · Oct 31, 2015

No charisma. And it's not necessirily what I think, but the majority of other tennis fans or he would get support. Whether it's true or not, I don't know and even if I said it was true the newly founded idemo brigade will be over me like a rash.

estigma2001 · Oct 31, 2015

People doesn't like ULTRON

TennisHound · Oct 31, 2015

Djok used to be fun and was still winning. I think Becker (and his little regime) has added to Djokovic's militaristic attitude. Doesn't matter. He's still making gobs of money. He's just becoming callous. That's just the way it is.

Djokodal Fan · Oct 31, 2015

Every 10 days there has to be a thread like this.

We'll done.

Jokervich · Oct 31, 2015

TennisHound said:
X2. He's blown it bad a couple of times. The blowup at Wimbledon was the worst one so far - Yelling allout at a 14-15 yo girl. Does it get any worse than that?

You really shouldn't believe everything the Daily Mail writes. He was shouting at himself for losing the point, but the tabloids twisted the story to make it look like he was yelling at a ball girl, when he clearly wasn't. A bit like how they twisted this story too: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...anks-Novak-Djokovic-minutes-losing-final.html yet I don't see you talking about Ignorerer/Ruderer

vanioMan · Oct 31, 2015

scotus · Oct 31, 2015

Jokervich said:
Even at the French Open, the crowd were clearly supporting Wawrinka and only offered a bit of sympathy to Djokovic at the trophy ceremony (when he cried - that was the most emotional moment in tennis this century imo).

That was not just "the most emotional moment" but also (most likely) the longest applause & standing ovation given to a tennis player in history. And you call it "a bit of sympathy"?

TennisHound · Oct 31, 2015

Jokervich said:
You really shouldn't believe everything the Daily Mail writes. He was shouting at himself for losing the point, but the tabloids twisted the story to make it look like he was yelling at a ball girl, when he clearly wasn't. A bit like how they twisted this story too: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...anks-Novak-Djokovic-minutes-losing-final.html yet I don't see you talking about Ignorerer/Ruderer

lol, Yeah, keep telling yourself that.

Everyone (including all of us who watched the match)saw it. He yelled all out (unrestrained) for a towel while looking at her. Doesn't matter now. yawn. The point is, he doesn't get applauded much cause he's a little nuts and unpredictable. Federer is still arrogant and pouty, but doesn't have crazy outbursts and doesn't come across as militaristic.

Lord Anomander · Oct 31, 2015

He's neither Federer nor Nadal. His game is neither gracious nor pure power. Moreover, he is winning too much right now.

People think of ripping shirts, swearing and shouting at ball boys when they think of Nole.

They fail to see the great man he has become. The person, who does so much for his fans, who has a heart for kids and loves the sport. Yes, he is not peRFect, but who is? Djokovic is an all-time great, he is humble in defeat and does not take victory for granted.

I will root for him anytime

clayqueen · Oct 31, 2015

Unfortunately for Novak. Tennis fans were already split between Federer and Nadal before his assent and they really don't care who wins what or who is # 1, they are just loyal to their life time favourite and when Djokovic wins it has the opposite effect on his popularity because they think he is depriving their favourite player of those titles so they dislike him even more.

Djokovic doesn't have a captivating personality to steal fans fron Fedal and his game is boring. When Rafa came on the scene, Federer had cornered the market but Nadal has so much going for his style of play and his charisma that he had no problem building his own fan base to rival Federer's.

Gary20 · Oct 31, 2015

Jokervich said:
It wasn't just in the US Open final this year that the crowd weren't cheering for Djokovic. I've re-watched many of Djokovic's previous matches and it's amazing how 99% of the crowd actively gets behind Djokovic's opponent every single time. At best, Djokovic gets his camp + a tiny percentage of Serbians in the crowd to support him. At worst, they cheer his mistakes (US Open this year) or cheer his opponent much, much louder with no cheers for him (Wimbledon this year). Even at the French Open, the crowd were clearly supporting Wawrinka and only offered a bit of sympathy to Djokovic at the trophy ceremony (when he cried - that was the most emotional moment in tennis this century imo).

To me, I don't understand this. Djokovic is one of the all-time greats of the game and plays thrilling tennis. He's played in some of the best matches of all time (AO12, USO semi finals in 2010 and 2011, FO13 semi final to name a few). He's won 10 slams and counting, he's by far the best player in the world right now, his breakthrough in 2011 was extraordinary when he had to beat peak Nadal and a still dangerous Federer. He's literally crushed the competition this year - only Wawrinka playing the match of his life against a tired Djokovic after a 5 set semi final vs Murray the previous day was able to stop him winning the CYGS.

But despite all of this, he still doesn't get the support he deserves. It's like Federer, Nadal and Djokovic are all part of the same family - Federer and Nadal are the older brothers who did everything first, and Djokovic is the nobody who everyone forgets.

Simply beacause he only a Tier 2 ATG while currently there are two GOATS still active. Plus his antics on court are frankly disgusting at times. Shanghai 2013 against Del Potro probably did for him popularity wise.

beast of mallorca · Oct 31, 2015

Jokervich said:
It wasn't just in the US Open final this year that the crowd weren't cheering for Djokovic. I've re-watched many of Djokovic's previous matches and it's amazing how 99% of the crowd actively gets behind Djokovic's opponent every single time. At best, Djokovic gets his camp + a tiny percentage of Serbians in the crowd to support him. At worst, they cheer his mistakes (US Open this year) or cheer his opponent much, much louder with no cheers for him (Wimbledon this year). Even at the French Open, the crowd were clearly supporting Wawrinka and only offered a bit of sympathy to Djokovic at the trophy ceremony (when he cried - that was the most emotional moment in tennis this century imo).

To me, I don't understand this. Djokovic is one of the all-time greats of the game and plays thrilling tennis. He's played in some of the best matches of all time (AO12, USO semi finals in 2010 and 2011, FO13 semi final to name a few). He's won 10 slams and counting, he's by far the best player in the world right now, his breakthrough in 2011 was extraordinary when he had to beat peak Nadal and a still dangerous Federer. He's literally crushed the competition this year - only Wawrinka playing the match of his life against a tired Djokovic after a 5 set semi final vs Murray the previous day was able to stop him winning the CYGS.

But despite all of this, he still doesn't get the support he deserves. It's like Federer, Nadal and Djokovic are all part of the same family - Federer and Nadal are the older brothers who did everything first, and Djokovic is the nobody who everyone forgets.

Why spread the hate on Djoker ? He's got 10 GS and is now the ruler of tennis. He doesn't need those damn applause.
Just sayin'............

Mainad · Oct 31, 2015

Federer to a great extent and Nadal to a lesser extent have cornered the market in fan popularity. There doesn't seem to be much room for Djokovic (or anybody else) while they're both still active.
Fed and Rafa fans still tend to see Novak as the irritating little upstart who broke into their heroes' private winners' enclosure and is now lording it over their former domain. Now he seems even more dominant than they were in their heyday and this has got a lot of their backs up. There's a feeling that he needs to be brought back down to earth and humanised a little which is why there is always so much support for his opponents as any opponent is automatically an underdog.

I honestly believe his popularity will rise when a worthy opponent appears who will give him a run for his money and start to beat him consistently!

weakera · Oct 31, 2015

Crowds cheer for good sportsmen and against poor sportsmen. It's as simple as that.

Doctor/Lawyer Red Devil · Oct 31, 2015

Mainad said:
Federer to a great extent and Nadal to a lesser extent have cornered the market in fan popularity. There doesn't seem to be much room for Djokovic (or anybody else) while they're both still active.
Fed and Rafa fans still tend to see Novak as the irritating little upstart who broke into their heroes' private winners' enclosure and is now lording it over their former domain. Now he seems even more dominant than they were in their heyday and this has got a lot of their backs up. There's a feeling that he needs to be brought back down to earth and humanised a little which is why there is always so much support for his opponents as any opponent is automatically an underdog.

I honestly believe his popularity will rise when a worthy opponent appears who will give him a run for his money and start to beat him consistently!

What will Fedal fans do if Djokovic still remains on top when their favorites retire? Switch to Andy and new generations?

BeatlesFan · Oct 31, 2015

The OP once more uses the flawed logic that Nole "deserves" crowd support. Novak himself finally understands that no player "deserves" anything out there: their results are based on their talent, fitness and work ethic. Lendl was almost universally detested by an entire generation of tennis fans, and his fans never whined that "Ivan deserves so much better than this!"

One big reason Novak doesn't get audience support is that he lacks charisma. I've seen all the great players from Mac,Lendl, Connors onwards and many players that I disliked had unbelievable charisma. Connors and Becker are two guys I basically loathed, but man, did they have that certain intangible something. Guga was so charismatic is was impossible to put into words. You couldn't take your eyes off any of these greats when they played and they oozed charisma. The only great players I've seen who had no charisma on court have been Lendl (and I was a huge fan of his), Wilander, Sampras and... Nole.

That's not a knock on him, it's just a personal observation that has been referenced by any who have seen many of his matches. Off-court, he's totally different, he carries himself well, is friendly, not phony anymore and really seems to like the crowds. In contrast, Fed and Rafa are not nearly as approachable, but on court, they both have incredible presence. Nadal just bristles with energy and flair, and Fed is.. a genius with a racket. Nole is mechanical, not really likeable on court to many fans, and tends to irritate people with his little comments or gestures. I'm being totally impartial here, as well. He's very classy and friendly to the crowds on the grounds at Indian Wells, but he gets very little applause when he plays. And when he plays Fed there, it's literally a 98%-2% split for Roger. The crowd is borderline hostile to Nole. It's almost sad, considering he is indeed now an ATG.

mistik · Oct 31, 2015

Even I am somewhat annoyed with never ending No one loves Djokovic threads. God knows ı am not a fan of the guy but enough already. At the end of the day we like him or not tennis isnt a popularity contest and not all the great players can have a huge fan base.

Mainad · Oct 31, 2015

Doctor/Lawyer Red Devil said:
What will Fedal fans do if Djokovic still remains on top when their favorites retire? Switch to Andy and new generations?

That will be for them to decide but I suspect they still won't want him muscling in on their heroes' records!

Doflamingo · Oct 31, 2015

Oh look...it must be that time of the week again where threads are made about Novak's popularity, crowd support etc

ayyyy lol

Gary20 · Oct 31, 2015

BeatlesFan said:
The OP once more uses the flawed logic that Nole "deserves" crowd support. Novak himself finally understands that no player "deserves" anything out there: their results are based on their talent, fitness and work ethic. Lendl was almost universally detested by an entire generation of tennis fans, and his fans never whined that "Ivan deserves so much better than this!"

One big reason Novak doesn't get audience support is that he lacks charisma. I've seen all the great players from Mac,Lendl, Connors onwards and many players that I disliked had unbelievable charisma. Connors and Becker are two guys I basically loathed, but man, did they have that certain intangible something. Guga was so charismatic is was impossible to put into words. You couldn't take your eyes off any of these greats when they played and they oozed charisma. The only great players I've seen who had no charisma on court have been Lendl (and I was a huge fan of his), Wilander, Sampras and... Nole.

That's not a knock on him, it's just a personal observation that has been referenced by any who have seen many of his matches. Off-court, he's totally different, he carries himself well, is friendly, not phony anymore and really seems to like the crowds. In contrast, Fed and Rafa are not nearly as approachable, but on court, they both have incredible presence. Nadal just bristles with energy and flair, and Fed is.. a genius with a racket. Nole is mechanical, not really likeable on court to many fans, and tends to irritate people with his little comments or gestures. I'm being totally impartial here, as well. He's very classy and friendly to the crowds on the grounds at Indian Wells, but he gets very little applause when he plays. And when he plays Fed there, it's literally a 98%-2% split for Roger. The crowd is borderline hostile to Nole. It's almost sad, considering he is indeed now an ATG.

Absolutely brilliant post sir.

Amalhotra · Oct 31, 2015

CYGS said:
That's why his 10 slams are worth more than Federer's 17 slams, because he had to overcome obnoxious crowds while Fed didn't.

We've got a winner for the coveted 'dumbest statement of day' award

Deleted member 688153 · Oct 31, 2015

swordtennis said:
Fred would have a child boy executed or thrown into a gulag for taking a selfie.

He just asked all the ball boys to do exactly this.
Literally a day or two ago.

Federer is not some feudal king.
He commands, not demands, huge respect due to his achievements.

Deleted member 688153 · Oct 31, 2015

CYGS said:
That's why his 10 slams are worth more than Federer's 17 slams, because he had to overcome obnoxious crowds while Fed didn't.

Slice'n'dice · Oct 31, 2015

My guess would be because they don't like him very much. People don't tend to cheer for people they don't like.

Noleberic123 · Oct 31, 2015

Next person that says djokovics game is boring.... ughhhh

RF-18 · Oct 31, 2015

I find all these things like "his game is boring", "his antics from before" etc and all that as BS as a reason for not supportING him.

Lets just put it simple: He had a bad timing when breaking through the big scene. He has trashed Nadal for years and stopped Federer several times from adding a 18th slam 19th etc and positioned himself as the dominant number one for 5 years. People were all in this Fedal loving thing but there was one guy who came in between them and put both to dust.

Djokovic hasn't done anything on court that Federer nor nadal hasn't done. One guy spends half the time playing gamesmanships and has antics that annons pretty much Every player and the other guy has on several occasions yelled shut up to the crowd.

Don't make Novak as this villan like he is the only one letting feelings control his behaviour, all players has bad moments. It is totally unfair.

We all know the real reason. Majority suffers from butthurtism. USO final is a good example.

cc0509 · Oct 31, 2015

RF-18 said:
I find all these things like "his game is boring", "his antics from before" etc and all that as BS as a reason for not supportING him.

Lets just put it simple: He had a bad timing when breaking through the big scene. He has trashed Nadal for years and stopped Federer several times from adding a 18th slam 19th etc and positioned himself as the dominant number one for 5 years. People were all in this Fedal loving thing but there was one guy who came in between them and put both to dust.

Djokovic hasn't done anything on court that Federer nor nadal hasn't done. One guy spends half the time playing gamesmanships and has antics that annons pretty much Every player and the other guy has on several occasions yelled shut up to the crowd.

Don't make Novak as this villan like he is the only one letting feelings control his behaviour, all players has bad moments. It is totally unfair.

We all know the real reason. Majority suffers from butthurtism. USO final is a good example.

You've got it all wrong. Djokovic's game IS boring and his antics from years ago DO influence fans' opinion of him. Add his current antics of losing his temper when things aren't going his way and yelling at ball kids and fans, his constant attention-seeking ways and his possum playing and there you have your reasons for his unpopularity. It has nothing to do with the fact that he's beating an out of form Nadal and an aged Federer now. It's all about his style and his antics on court. The fact that he's from Serbia is only a small part of the issue.

coloskier · Oct 31, 2015

cc0509 said:
You've got it all wrong. Djokovic's game IS boring and his antics from years ago DO influence fans' opinion of him. Add his current antics of losing his temper when things aren't going his way and yelling at ball kids and fans, his constant attention-seeking ways and his possum playing and there you have your reason for his unpopularity. It has nothing to do with the fact that he's beating an out of form Nadal and an aged Federer now. It's all about his style and his antics on court. The fact that he's from Serbia is only a small part of the issue.

Don't forget the "injury" timeouts......

Deleted member 688153 · Oct 31, 2015

StannisTheMannis said:
He's never done that. Stop lying and spreading crap.

Nice DA you've got there, pal.

So what's the real reason why the crowd never cheers for Djokovic?

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