Don't agree with the nationality thing...Marat Safin was widely loved by Aussies

First of all like Berrettini said, some of the fans in the stadium are not tennis fans

In a way, Med has a similar personality as Marat, wickedly charming while enjoying challenging his inner demon on the court sometimes, being real off the court
I don't see how you came up with nationality as the cause when Marat wasn't that much different

The only difference is Marat was playing in pre big 3 era.

 
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topher

Hall of Fame
In this moment Daniil feels like the whole stadium (and the world) was exulting in his misery. He’s not thinking rationally, I probably wouldn’t be either.

I do think there’s probably some people who have trouble separating the nation of Russia and its actions from its people. But that had little to do with the crowd tonight imo.

The crowd was rooting for history, for a legend maybe in his last hurrah, for an underdog even, for a comeback. It was just the situation.
 

TomTennis495

Professional
Disagree somewhat. They were actively silencing the small fan base cheering for meddy and not cheering much at his good shots. At least need to show some respect to other fans and good tennis.
 

chjtennis

G.O.A.T.
Medvedev only has himself to blame. To me, Australian crowds are much better behaved than US or French crowds. Crowd is obviously gonna cheer for Rafa, who has been around for decades and is loved by them. Crowd cheering and booing to some degree is all just part of the game. Hasn't he watched enough tennis? Medvedev is such an idiot. He was comfortably leading 2-0 and really pressed self-destruction button over absolute nothing. He should be kicking himself. I hope he learned his lessons.
 
If federer, nadal, safin were from any other place but the same personality, they'd still be equally well liked. The one thing none of them does is to go against the whole crowd. That's something Djokovic can't seem to help doing often during the match and ends up stuck in that loop of crowd reciprocating, regardless of how nice he tries to be otherwise.
 

pj80

Legend
Just "met" him?
I met Marat right after he won USO, he was parading his trophy on the grounds and signing some autographs near the practice courts across from Arthur Ashe. I remember I asked him where he played next and he said Tashkent, at that time I never heard of Tashkent, so I asked him if it was a challenger and he said no it was a (certain $ amount) Tournament.
 

Stepanek2020

New User
Sure it's not a nationality thing for me at least. It doesn't matter what country it is, I'm just not happy with the victim card players and "toilet this, toilet that" whiners. Hard to love a whiner.

I don't know if tennis players have become such sore losers in recent years. First there were no spectators and things were sh*t. No cheering, no feeling, no money. Now the spectators are back and they're the sh*t. In Agassi-times, you could take a well-deserved warm poop at your time, but with Sir Murray, you have to cut it half and wipe after the match. The only wiping allowed is the windshield wiper.
 

insideguy

G.O.A.T.
Sure it's not a nationality thing for me at least. It doesn't matter what country it is, I'm just not happy with the victim card players and "toilet this, toilet that" whiners. Hard to love a whiner.

I don't know if tennis players have become such sore losers in recent years. First there were no spectators and things were sh*t. No cheering, no feeling, no money. Now the spectators are back and they're the sh*t. In Agassi-times, you could take a well-deserved warm poop at your time, but with Sir Murray, you have to cut it half and wipe after the match. The only wiping allowed is the windshield wiper.
There has been a lot of sore losers in tennis in its history not sure its anything new.
 

Zara

G.O.A.T.
People are always attracted to good looking people. They can do nothing wrong. Even in a court of law, good looking people get lesser punishment or so I read.

Average or ugly people aren’t as lucky.

Movies won’t make much business if they had average or ugly looking people as the lead characters. It’s a convoluted world or society that we live in.
 

galain

Hall of Fame
First - yes. Aussies loved Safin. He was relaxed, a bit self deprecating and seemed to like us too. I was there singing happy birthday to him one year along with the entire stadium. Lots of love in the air for the man.

Second - most Aussies are so far removed from (cold war) politics that we don't give a rats where you're from. Being Russian means as much to the average Aussie tennis fan as being Colombian.

Third - Aussies live for the underdog. You have a guy, ten years older than his opponent who won the last major, trying to play with three broken knees/feet/whatever, to do something nobody has ever done before. He's going to get supported big time.

Fourth - and I think this goes for anywhere. If you deliberately play the heel and everyone knows this is what you're doing, nobody is going to take it seriously. If you play the heel for real, why would you expect the crowd to get behind you?

Finally - be a good sport. That helps.
 

obana48

Rookie
I would agree with Medvedev. Look at those Anti-Russian rhetoric on the major TV channels these days. This hysteria has been fed by western block like for 300 years. No surprise Medvedev was hated from the day one...
 

Thriller

Hall of Fame
What a wimp. Collins had the whole stadium behind Barty but she didn't lose her mind or complain afterwards. Williams was aged 17 at Indian Wells final in front of a truly nasty, racist crowd and kept it together. A 17 yr old girl better than 'small cat' Medvedev at handling pressure. Says it all.
 
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OhYes

Guest
First of all like Berrettini said, some of the fans in the stadium are not tennis fans

In a way, Med has a similar personality as Marat, wickedly charming while enjoying challenging his inner demon on the court sometimes, being real off the court
I don't see how you came up with nationality as the cause when Marat wasn't that much different

The only difference is Marat was playing in pre big 3 era.

Safin was good looking rebel and not dominant champion.
 

Rovesciarete

Hall of Fame
Nationality may play a small part I grant him that. In this case they were far fewer true tennis fans than usual in the crowd mixed with quite a bit of Aussie and heritage nationalism.

Still in tennis right now even older players outside the big three like Monfils had many years to build up a fan base. This can turn a crowd very partisan.

One has just to look at this forum to see that so much is seen through a fans eye.

Overall the US Open and French had far more often a bad crowd so it is not just an Aussie thing. For the record I disliked some of the antics in Turin.
 

mistik

Hall of Fame
I do believe where you come from plays a part but to some extend.On the other hand players like Djoko and Medvedev not have huge charm either. Why nationality didnt play a role for some one like Sharapova where she turned out to be biggest money maker.She has the looks and charm.Same thing can happen in men tennis.If you have the game looks and charm people get interested in you in the end.
 
Safin was never odds on favourite for any tournament, nor he was dominating tennis. He was more of a likeable headcase loser than anything else.
 

tex123

Hall of Fame
Sure it's not a nationality thing for me at least. It doesn't matter what country it is, I'm just not happy with the victim card players and "toilet this, toilet that" whiners. Hard to love a whiner.

I don't know if tennis players have become such sore losers in recent years. First there were no spectators and things were sh*t. No cheering, no feeling, no money. Now the spectators are back and they're the sh*t. In Agassi-times, you could take a well-deserved warm poop at your time, but with Sir Murray, you have to cut it half and wipe after the match. The only wiping allowed is the windshield wiper.
That's hilarious. Ha ha.
 

zagor

Bionic Poster
Everybody would have always loved Safin, he had movie star looks and charisma, and a very exciting game. Not the best example to use.
 
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OhYes

Guest
He was but no more and Safin was also a top 3 favorite in AO'01. Dominant you ask? Let Med reach #1 first.
What exactly are we dissecting here ???
Safin time vs this time now ?
Are you all gone nuts comparing apples and oranges ?

Med is not accepted bcs he is not Fedal, bcs he is not good looking, bcs he comes from Russia and bcs he is not swaying to general PC all the time.
Safin is totally different fruit from different time with different set of fans on stands.
 

Old Gregg

Rookie
Safin was a babe and had some spunk.

Karatsev is very well-liked and seems to have zero personality.

It's not a Russian thing.
 

onefineday

Hall of Fame
Nationality would impact players from Arab countries where there is a poor infrastructure and it's hard to get sponsors. I think a player recently made a video about it. Nationality would impact a player who could not get a visa and play. I think Kuznetsova had that once.
Nationality has never once impacted Madvedev. As far as I know he has had total access to tennis infrastructure and plenty of funding. He even said he joined tennis Europe circuit as a teen, so he had the same chances as Swiss, French, Spanish, etc kids.
 

RelentlessAttack

Hall of Fame
To be fair to Medvedev, not everyone can look and act like Safin. Men wanted to be him and women wanted to be with him.

Ovechkin might be a better comparable, because his looks are below average but people love his athleticism, flashy style of play, and fun loving nature. The dude is a Russian playing as captain of the team in the US capital for 15 years and beloved by all
 

RF-18

Talk Tennis Guru
lol what the hell is this, Safin had more charm and charisma in his pinky finger than Medvedev. Not to mention he's far better looking.
Medvevev just seems to be a bit quirky, that's all.

Medvedev better player
 
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