Whateley on Djokovic's statue "Novak is not loved here. He can be admired by for his achievements, but he's not loved."

Service Ace

Hall of Fame
Djokovic and his fans have to be the most insecure desperate heels in all of sports. Most fans of disliked athletes can admit that their guy is hated and that they like them for that but Djokovic fans are the only one that bend themselves into pretzels to blame the hate on anything else other than the fact that their man is and has always been a complete knob.
 
He was cheered more than Alcaraz in that quarter final match.

And what is all this crap that no one likes him?
He was cheered for in that match, but it was distorted a bit by the loud support of the Serbian contingent.

But even though he is cheered for, it’s not commensurate with what past legends in their old age were cheered for, and that’s strange. Now, part of it is that he’s still very competitive and at worst still a top 4 player, so he’s not an old legend whom nobody thinks can win whom the crowd cheers on as an underdog.
 
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intrepidish

Hall of Fame
Nah, open your eyes and look at the crowd, and you can see how many were cheering him, and no, they weren't all Serbians.

Your agenda is lame.

If you are unable to factor in the unusual nationalist component of Djokovic's fandom, that's because you willingly choose not to see it. It's a VERY different composition from the fandoms of the other legends, and it's noticeable at every Djokovic match of significance.
 
Not surprising at all if you've been paying attention. Djokovic is not that popular outside of Serbia, and even that's questionable at times. He is a complete bell end, even if his fans won't admit it.
 

jm1972

Semi-Pro
It honestly wouldn't even surprise me if Djokovic were booed at a Belgrade tourney. He is booed literally everywhere.

Nah, that would never happen.

Let's not forget that when Rublev beat Djokovic to win Belgrade, the whole stadium remained silent and nobody applauded.

And Rublev is Russian!
 

weakera

Talk Tennis Guru
Nah, that would never happen.

Let's not forget that when Rublev beat Djokovic to win Belgrade, the whole stadium remained silent and nobody applauded.

And Rublev is Russian!


It probably wouldn't happen, but I'm just saying it wouldn't surprise me. He's the ultimate villain, that's why he's booed in every tourney.
 

inflation_era

Professional
20230911-123040.gif

Is that why nobody believes his injuries? LOLLLL. No respect.
 

Kralingen

Bionic Poster
Djokovic and his fans have to be the most insecure desperate heels in all of sports. Most fans of disliked athletes can admit that their guy is hated and that they like them for that but Djokovic fans are the only one that bend themselves into pretzels to blame the hate on anything else other than the fact that their man is and has always been a complete knob.
My favourite talking point on here is

'the tennis Establishment is against him, he is a hero for standing up to them as a free thinker and outsider"

and then in the same breath "what are you talking about, everyone loves him, he's the most popular player on tour"

He is the biggest draw in the 2024 AO, men's or women's, and by some distance I might add.

But I guess the establishment doesn't like him or whatever so we get to exist in this dual reality where Djokovic is simultaneously loved, popular, a huge name, worldwide renowned when it suits his fans, and also cheated, hated, and rigged against by the 'establishment' (and mysterious Fedal cabals) when it suits his fans. Schrodinger's Novak.
 
He was cheered more than Alcaraz in that quarter final match.

And what is all this crap that no one likes him?
Dont let facts ruin this anti-Novak narrative that has sprung up with vengeance recently.
Obviously something is going on we are not aware of, even the AO official website was trolling Novak, which i couldn't believe. What i do know is that all the right people like Djokovic who are famous and whatever is going on probably means Djokovic has upset the Establishment recently with something, which can only be a good thing!!
Real tennis fans, even if Federer Nadal or Sampras devotees will also cherish Djokovic as well.
I can understand Big Pharma and their media pals not being so keen!
 
Then why was he cheered more in that quarter final? Isn't Alcaraz the new popular one?

I never ever said he was more popular than Federer and Nadal, but the lame statement that he is not popular is just a blatant lie. His fanbase is massive.
Not sure Alcaraz is as popular now as he was when he came on the scene. He is not disliked but i think at the moment fans are relatively neutral towards him, same with Sinner. To be expected given they are just starting their journeys really.
Djokovic is liked in Australia, i have been to the AO and along with Fedal he was who everyone wanted to see practice.
This is all fake news by legacy media with an axe to grind with Novak for something that clearly has gone on behind the scenes. Toni Nadal getting in on this was disappointing and unnecessary
 

intrepidish

Hall of Fame
My favourite talking point on here is

'the tennis Establishment is against him, he is a hero for standing up to them as a free thinker and outsider"

and then in the same breath "what are you talking about, everyone loves him, he's the most popular player on tour"

Preach. It has been like that for well over a decade now. People are against him: haha, it motivates him! Wait a minute, he's actually the most loved, can't you see that ?!

Of course, he's anti-establishment...with a slam tournament director who wants to make ad hoc rules for him and build him a statue and while he himself lives in tax-havens in Western Europe.

This is WAY beyond just happening to like a tennis player.
 
Preach. It has been like that for well over a decade now. People are against him: haha, it motivates him! Wait a minute, he's actually the most loved, can't you see that ?!

Of course, he's anti-establishment...with a slam tournament director who wants to make ad hoc rules for him and build him a statue and while he himself lives in tax-havens in Western Europe.

This is WAY beyond just happening to like a tennis player.
What is the issue with him having a statue? He won the event 10 freaking times! I think any player winning any event 10 times deserves a statue or a stadium named after them.
 

intrepidish

Hall of Fame
What is the issue with him having a statue? He won the event 10 freaking times! I think any player winning any event 10 times deserves a statue or a stadium named after them.

You completely missed the point. Djokovic has significant support from the supposed 'establishment' that many of his fans theorize is feverishly plotting against him. Tiley proposing the statue and going the extra mile to get Djokovic to Australia when Djokovic didn't do what every other player simply did are 2 examples of that.

So it's always this fluctuating case of 'one man against the world' which clashes with the opposing story of how loved the guy is and often the two stories overlap simultaneously.
 
You completely missed the point. Djokovic has significant support from the supposed 'establishment' that many of his fans theorize is feverishly plotting against him. Tiley proposing the statue and going the extra mile to get Djokovic to Australia when Djokovic didn't do what every other player simply did are 2 examples of that.

So it's always this fluctuating case of 'one man against the world' which clashes with the opposing story of how loved the guy is and often the two stories overlap simultaneously.
Tiley is small time. He is a nobody. When i refer to the Establishment i am referring to Governments and multi billion pound corporations.
 

intrepidish

Hall of Fame
Tiley is small time. He is a nobody. When i refer to the Establishment i am referring to Governments and multi billion pound corporations.

Governments in the slam countries are not interested in Djokovic in the slightest. To the extent they even thought about him, they surely all hoped he would do virtually what every other athlete did and that's that.

As for the tennis world, Tiley runs 1 of the biggest events in tennis is obviously team Djokovic. If that's not 'establishment' for a tennis player, then NOTHING is.
 
Governments in the slam countries are not interested in Djokovic in the slightest. To the extent they even thought about him, they surely all hoped he would do virtually what every other athlete did and that's that.

As for the tennis world, Tiley runs 1 of the biggest events in tennis is obviously team Djokovic. If that's not 'establishment' for a tennis player, then NOTHING is.
Naive nonsense. Governments were very interested in Djokovic as he was one of the most high profile anti-vaxxers. The UK Government literally banned him visiting Becker in prison, which Novak wanted to do. No legal basis to stop prisoners having visitors unless there is a threat to national security.
Tiley is a nobody. He has no power at all. He is a glorified HR person really. He doesnt make any decisions at the AO unless it gets approved.
 

intrepidish

Hall of Fame
Naive nonsense. Governments were very interested in Djokovic as he was one of the most high profile anti-vaxxers. The UK Government literally banned him visiting Becker in prison, which Novak wanted to do. No legal basis to stop prisoners having visitors unless there is a threat to national security.
Tiley is a nobody. He has no power at all. He is a glorified HR person really. He doesnt make any decisions at the AO unless it gets approved.

Djokovic is a political non-entity. In the tennis world, which is what is relevant here, he has obvious establishment support.

Apart from that, this comedy about Djokovic being anti-establishment while having lived in the most notorious luxury Western tax-havens is really quite a tale.
 

intrepidish

Hall of Fame
What? He's the richest man in the World and not the establishment? How's that possible???

Establishment means exactly what he wants it to mean, regardless of inconsistencies. No more and no less.

The world's richest man with huge federal contracts and contacts in the world's superpower? Obviously he's locked out.

Some scientist who has devoted her life to studying public health on a public and reviewable salary? Clearly an 'establishment' stooge.
 
I think local Australians can answer this more accurately. During his matches, its occupied by Serbian origins , his fans and neutral fans. So support would be there in court,

BUt what about general public. Popular, unpopular, people dont care ??
I've lived in Australia all my life, and most of us don't like Djokovic, because he's a hothead on the court :cautious:

The anti-vaxxing hurt his reputation too (Australia likes vaccines, even though I don't), but his on-court persona has always been the biggest problem...
Of course there many other hotheads in tennis, but because he's a rival of Nadal and Federer, his behavior is disliked the most.

Nadal and Federer are HUGE in Australia!
Nadal and Federer are also HUGE in England, but Djokovic is a lot more liked at Wimbledon I think, according to the way crowds treat him that I've seen...

The crowds are quick to turn on Djokovic in Australia (y) because people are suspicious of him.
But if you look at the social media pages of Australian news outlets and read the replies, the tennis player Australia hates more than any other is Nick Kyrgios.
 
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No news here. Booed at many places across the world. Different crowds, same player. A chip off the old block, always with a chip on the shoulder.
It started at the very beginning, as early as or earlier than uso 2008 qf where Novak took on the crowd.

The link in the post below talks about how the crowds cheered for each of his much lower ranked opponents in 3 rounds at rg '22.
Thread 'Novak Djokovic is in purgatory – a master of his craft'
 

reaper

Legend
I ask is there even a need to have statue.

Feels megalomaniacal.
There are statues at a lot of Australian sporting venues. I'm not sure about Melbourne Park, (The AO venue), but at plenty of others. If they are going to have statues there, it's hard to not have one of Djokovic....so I guess it's either a statue of Djokovic, or no statues at all.
 
Not a single lie detected. His fanboys have also spent the last 10-12 years being completely INSUFFERABLE across social media platforms (trolling posts that have nothing to do with or even mention Novak, constantly trying to crap on his rivals on his rivals' fan pages, etc)....which certainly hasn't increased his popularity. Then there's the international incident he caused at the Aussie Open in 2022, his incessant anti-vaxx nonsense, etc. He isn't and never will be loved like Rafa, Roger, and Murray are
 

Cashman

Hall of Fame
Firstly, you have to consider the source. Whateley is a football journalist, SEN is mostly a football broadcaster. The audience of this article is football fans, they really like the narrative that tennis stars are sooky overpaid prima donnas who nobody likes.

Secondly, a lot of the controversy around the statue is not specifically about Djokovic. Australians do not erect statues of foreign athletes in front of their stadiums. The only statues at Melbourne Park currently are Australian tennis players. Across the road at the MCG, the only statues are of Australian footballers and Australian cricketers. They got those statues because Australia is sports-mad enough that they are national heroes.

As a result it seems very weird to honour Djokovic in this way. It would be like Americans putting up a statue of Queen Elizabeth II in front of the White House.

And what is all this crap that no one likes him?
Did anyone actually say that? The article certainly doesn't. It just says he is not loved in Australia. Which is pretty accurate.

Bear in mind the vast majority of the population are not tennis fans, They only really know Djokovic as 'that overpaid ******** who wouldn't get vaccinated'. He is more liked amongst tennis fans, but he is not universally loved like Nadal at Roland Garros for a few reasons:
  • Australians hate Serbian-Australian sports fans, like a bunch of other Balkan-Australian sports fans they are heavily associated with local football hooliganism and when Djokovic got successful they brought a lot of ****ty behaviour into the Australian Open. Rightly or wrongly Djokovic will always be tarred with that.
  • Djokovic has always acted like he was owed a certain amount of support from the crowd and got sooky when he didn't get it. Australians hate that attitude from professional sports people. They have paid hundreds of dollars to see you get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars. They will support who they like and you will shut the **** up and be humble and grateful for the opportunity.
  • Australians like a fight more than they like a winner (at least when an Australian isn't playing). Djokovic's dominance has made the tournament pretty ****ing boring, and basically everyone was ready for him to retire a long time ago.
He's respected for his achievements and he has his fans, but he is certainly not someone who is generally popular.
 
Djokovic is a political non-entity. In the tennis world, which is what is relevant here, he has obvious establishment support.

Apart from that, this comedy about Djokovic being anti-establishment while having lived in the most notorious luxury Western tax-havens is really quite a tale.
I can only speak on behalf of the United Kingdom. He was a Person of Interest to the UK Government and intelligence agencies. And that was under the previous administration. The UK's current administration is likely to have Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy on a watchlist!
 

Backspin1183

Talk Tennis Guru
Djokovic not being popular in Melbourne is a lie. Yes, Roger Federer (he's loved everywhere) and Nadal are loved more in Australia but Djokovic isn't hated either. Many Australian tennis fans might actually prefer him over Nadal and maybe even over Federer. It's the casual fans who like Federer and Nadal more.
 

Down_the_line

G.O.A.T.
Typical Aussie media behavior. Most are still mad he didn't take the jab and he is their enemy. Of course most were fans of Fedal anyway but since the vaccine situation, the media there has gone very dark when it comes to him.
Bingo. The media in places like Australia and Canada are horrendous. They are establishment water carriers who despise anyone with any sort of autonomy who bucks the system. If you don't follow the crowd (the system) you're a black sheep who needs to be shunned.

Djokovic was never my #1 favourite - I'm a Federer guy and always have been - but I adored him after that covid fiasco. Good for him and it is soooo satisfying that he's the king in Australia whether they like it or not.
 

Down_the_line

G.O.A.T.
Exactly. Djokovic can get huge pop but he needs to stop riling up crowds. Last 4 seasons he has gone out of his way to do everything in his power to get crowd against him.


Knowledgeable fans know it's in jest but it's not right. Don't play with the crowd.
I think it's because at this point he just doesn't give a crap. His achievements speaks for themselves.
 

Subway Tennis

G.O.A.T.
Firstly, as far as the Gerard Whately article, Gerard is a big name sports TV broadcaster and columnist, but his area of expertise is covering the mainstream sports like football, cricket and some things like horse racing.

Whately’s opinion and authority on tennis is to be taken with a grain of salt, given that he has no particular outstanding background in the game or knowledge. You can kind of see his lack of knowledge showing through in the way he mischaracterises Rafa’s relationship with the French crowd. I’m a huge Rafa fan and even I know that Rafa had to work hard for years to win the French over, and it’s nonsense that he was loved there. It took years of toil and his highest level of tennis to earn their affection and acknowledgment.

Secondly, as an Australian and a tennis fan, I don’t think local tennis fans here have a done a good job explaining to people viewing this from afar without context that Novak’s relationship with Australia is much more complicated than Non-Australian tennis fans think it is or maybe want it to be.

It is not the case that Novak is universally loved nor is he universally hated here.

And the reception that he gets in a place like Adelaide will be very different from the reception he gets in a city like Melbourne.

And outside of the love or hate thing, he will always get big crowds, and that is more an indication of begrudging respect than love or hate. Australians in the majority are sports mad and often their interest in watching a particularly great player will still be there regardless of whether the spectator loves them or hates them.

We reserve our utmost adulation for athletes that can combine the ferocity at the contest with absolutely incorruptible character, but a great player will still get grudging respect even if we don’t like them personally.

Yes, Australians love character and charisma in sportspeople, and players like Safin, Agassi, Rafter, Nadal, Federer, Clijsters are treated somewhat as immortals. We unapologetically and somewhat harshly ascribe extra value to that, and a rough Australian crowd can be brutally uncompromising even to players they respect greatly like Novak Djokovic.
 

NoleFam

Bionic Poster
Bingo. The media in places like Australia and Canada are horrendous. They are establishment water carriers who despise anyone with any sort of autonomy who bucks the system. If you don't follow the crowd (the system) you're a black sheep who needs to be shunned.

Djokovic was never my #1 favourite - I'm a Federer guy and always have been - but I adored him after that covid fiasco. Good for him and it is soooo satisfying that he's the king in Australia whether they like it or not.
This pretty much sums it up, and the hate he got and is still getting over there because he wouldn't take a shot that no one even cares about today is weird af. Like you said though, he gets the last laugh either way because they will have to endure him being the king of their Slam whether they like it or not.
 
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