Marcelo Rios not a fan of Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic
- Thread starter pj80
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nolefam_2024
Bionic Poster
Did he ever have good sponsors? I don't know about his era. He seems pretty shady guy though.
Mustard
Bionic Poster
Highlights of the 1998 Key Biscayne final below, the match where Rios became world number 1:
I am 50+. I have watched him before in his prime.
Ironically, Fed mentioned Rios as one of his favorite players to watch in the 90's
MissileBackHand99
Semi-Pro
Beat my man Agassi in that Final. Rios won the Sunshine Double that year, I think??
Mustard
Bionic Poster
He did. Rios beat Rusedski in the 1998 Indian Wells final.
MissileBackHand99
Semi-Pro
I thought so. He was playing darn well on Hardcourts that year. He's one of the ones that most forget won IW and Miami back to back
Ríos was always a complete a-hole, and he often could be pretty gutless in terms of throwing in the towel when things didn’t go his way. But I found him entertaining to watch when he was on song, and the best tennis I saw from him was his 1997 Monte-Carlo title run, when he cut through Gaudenzi, Costa, Larsson, Moya and Corretja like a knife through butter without dropping a set. He had those players on a string.
I thought it was funny that he kept choking in and failed to win his home tournament in Chile, usually against much lower ranked players and often against opponents that he genuinely had the upper hand against. Then again he often partied a lot and lived it up during the week of that tournament each year, which won’t have helped his title prospects.
I thought it was funny that he kept choking in and failed to win his home tournament in Chile, usually against much lower ranked players and often against opponents that he genuinely had the upper hand against. Then again he often partied a lot and lived it up during the week of that tournament each year, which won’t have helped his title prospects.
He went on to win Rome (beating Guga and Muster in straights) and St Polten...he was heavy favorite to win RG that year.
LaVie en Rose
Hall of Fame
Meh, I could swear I read it before that Rios is "not a fan" of either player. It's media that needs to write/repeat some opinions to draw attention
Mustard
Bionic Poster
And Rios then lost in the 1998 French Open quarter final to Moya (the 1998 Monte Carlo champion). Moya went on to win that 1998 French Open title.
Moya beat Peppe Imaz in the 2nd round
Federev
G.O.A.T.
Peppe has no hard feelings about it, most certainly.
mike danny
Bionic Poster
I'm pretty sure you would've loved to see Rafa bot in exchange for less entertainment
weakera
Talk Tennis Guru
I'm pretty sure you would've loved to see Rafa bot in exchange for less entertainment
Rafa with a huge serve wouldn't have been interesting, what's fun about seeing a player win 80 slams?
mike danny
Bionic Poster
You're telling me you weren't entertained at 2010 USO?
Shaolin
G.O.A.T.
I remember that match. Commentators said that he (Rios) had just woken up from the night before like 10 min before the match.
mike danny
Bionic Poster
Mainad
Bionic Poster
Maybe he thought he was still asleep and it was all just a bad dream?
TheGoldenEra1990’s
Hall of Fame
One of if not the most gifted tennis player I’ve ever seen outside of Stich and McEnroe . That dudes talent was off the charts
CHillTennis
Hall of Fame
Probably not.
Basically he is defining one form of entertainment and identifying which players are entertaining in that regard. He probably doesn’t realize how entertaining it is to watch a craftsman when you yourself are a lesser craftsman. A lot of aspiring tennis players probably find Federer entertaining in that regard as he played in a way that made the game seem effortless.
Mustard
Bionic Poster
Rios was once asked about Vilas, and Rios said "He was number 2, and I'm number 1".
Rios even managed to rile Nastase to a lot of anger once. That's some achievement.
Cliff Drysdale once said on commentary that Rios was the rudest tennis player that he had ever met.
And why couldn't he defeat Korda in the 1998 Australian Open final if he was so talented?
Mustard
Bionic Poster
Because he played rubbish.
Korda had a slow start, and then played great. Rios had a slow start, and kept playing that way through the match.
It was the opposite when they met at 1998 Indian Wells, when Korda was feeling the pressure of chasing the number 1 ranking, and never got it. Rios got that number 1 ranking instead after winning both Indian Wells and Key Biscayne in 1998.
Galvermegs
Professional
Pretty good achievement for someone who wasnt that tall and injury prone
Sentinel
Bionic Poster
It's such a load of crock!!
It sounds more like the troll threads that sometimes spring up here and are supposed to be funny.
Rios was always difficult to get to do his post-match interviews. He was unprofessional and argumentative. As a tennis player, he was extremely talented and retired too soon. He did not give back to the game. Rios never won a slam event and has no right putting down Federer or Djokovic. Just sour grapes from a guy who is still a tempermental fool.
Oval_Solid
Hall of Fame
fed in his early days said he was a fan of rios game
maybe he changed his mind now
maybe he changed his mind now
No wonder he never won a slam-LOL!
Marcelo Rios not a fan of Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic as they are not 'entertaining,' describes tennis as 'boring'
Marcelo Rios has never been someone who beats around the bush and he didn't hold back in his latest comments about Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and the restrictive nature of tennis.www.tennis365.com
During an interview with ESPN Chile journalist Ricardo Shannon for the FShow, the Chilean – the only player to have been world No 1 in the ATP Rankings without winning a Grand Slam – said: “Federer for me is not a player that you see and you say ‘how entertaining’.
“I like the way he plays because he’s a guy with incredible ease, very intelligent on the court, very good. But he is not a Kyrgios, a Fognini that you see him and you are waiting for him to make a fuss, to leave a mess. That’s more entertaining.”
He added: “I don’t find Djokovic an entertaining guy on the court either.”
The former world No 1 continued: “Tennis has always had restrictions. If you swear, you get a fine; if you throw your racket, another fine. In press conferences you couldn’t talk bad things about anyone.
“Wimbledon makes you dress in white making you look like I don’t know what. Tennis is boring, it’s like watching cricket. Then a guy like Kyrgios comes out and revolutionises everything.
“He packs stadiums, it’s a spectacle. My personality was also a bit ‘wrong’. I used to attract a lot of attention by throwing rackets, or by saying ‘old f***’ (to an annoying lady in the crowd). People were entertained.”
Cabeza del Demonio
Professional
Good to see he hasn't changed one bitMarcelo Rios not a fan of Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic as they are not 'entertaining,' describes tennis as 'boring'
Marcelo Rios has never been someone who beats around the bush and he didn't hold back in his latest comments about Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and the restrictive nature of tennis.
During an interview with ESPN Chile journalist Ricardo Shannon for the FShow, the Chilean – the only player to have been world No 1 in the ATP Rankings without winning a Grand Slam – said: “Federer for me is not a player that you see and you say ‘how entertaining’.
“I like the way he plays because he’s a guy with incredible ease, very intelligent on the court, very good. But he is not a Kyrgios, a Fognini that you see him and you are waiting for him to make a fuss, to leave a mess. That’s more entertaining.”
He added: “I don’t find Djokovic an entertaining guy on the court either.”
The former world No 1 continued: “Tennis has always had restrictions. If you swear, you get a fine; if you throw your racket, another fine. In press conferences you couldn’t talk bad things about anyone.
“Wimbledon makes you dress in white making you look like I don’t know what. Tennis is boring, it’s like watching cricket. Then a guy like Kyrgios comes out and revolutionises everything.
“He packs stadiums, it’s a spectacle. My personality was also a bit ‘wrong’. I used to attract a lot of attention by throwing rackets, or by saying ‘old f***’ (to an annoying lady in the crowd). People were entertained.”
Obviously I'm not a fan of any of these Conor McGregor types, but he's not wrong in saying they're more entertaining and grab more headlines than the Big 3.
Again I like players with some character and box-office value (Djokovic, Agassi, Safin etc) but there's a difference between throwing your racquet at the net post and throwing your wife out of a moving car (as Rios allegedly did, and fits completely with his general behavior back then). One of the most gifted players to ever pick up a racquet, and also consistently one of the worst-behaved.
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