librarysteg
Hall of Fame
A.K.A. Nadal and Federer really are ridiculously more popular the Djokovic, Murray, and everyone else.
Cincinnati has been my first big tennis tournament, and it was so interesting to see the things I read about here play out in real life, especially when it comes to fans and how they react to the players. Roger and Rafa were treated like rockstars...screaming fans at their practice sessions and waiting for them to leave the player exit. I happened to catch Rafa's exit last night, and it was insanity. Same with Roger singing autographs after his post-match interview Tuesday evening. Kids were getting trampled by adults there, and I was a little nervous being in that throng of people. For Novak and Andy the crowds were always smaller and much more subdued...people were excited to see them, don't get me wrong, but the level of excitement was noticeably different. Novak was late coming to his practice session so pretty much everyone cleared out, and it took quite awhile for a decent crowd to build back up. He signed a few autograph afterwards to relatively little fanfare.
Then there's poor Ferrer. It's really true; no one cares about Ferrer. He came to the practice court right after Novak yesterday. Novak's crowd streamed away, and I heard so many people asking who Ferrer was. Later at the player exit not a single person called his name as he was walking out. I was near the end of the line so when he got close to me I yelled out, "David" and he signed for me. A few other people stuck their stuff out. Reluctantly
I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised by all of this, but it's strange to see it with your own eyes.
Cincinnati has been my first big tennis tournament, and it was so interesting to see the things I read about here play out in real life, especially when it comes to fans and how they react to the players. Roger and Rafa were treated like rockstars...screaming fans at their practice sessions and waiting for them to leave the player exit. I happened to catch Rafa's exit last night, and it was insanity. Same with Roger singing autographs after his post-match interview Tuesday evening. Kids were getting trampled by adults there, and I was a little nervous being in that throng of people. For Novak and Andy the crowds were always smaller and much more subdued...people were excited to see them, don't get me wrong, but the level of excitement was noticeably different. Novak was late coming to his practice session so pretty much everyone cleared out, and it took quite awhile for a decent crowd to build back up. He signed a few autograph afterwards to relatively little fanfare.
Then there's poor Ferrer. It's really true; no one cares about Ferrer. He came to the practice court right after Novak yesterday. Novak's crowd streamed away, and I heard so many people asking who Ferrer was. Later at the player exit not a single person called his name as he was walking out. I was near the end of the line so when he got close to me I yelled out, "David" and he signed for me. A few other people stuck their stuff out. Reluctantly

I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised by all of this, but it's strange to see it with your own eyes.