Why does DJoker have relatively fewer fans?

In spite of combining the best aspects of Federer and Nadal, the tennis world hasn’t really warmed up to Djoker. Most of his fans are either Serbian (like NITB), or Federer fans who support him because he beats Nadal. Others like him because of his entertaining personality. I’ve seen very few fans who like Djoker just for his game. Why is this the case? Is it because Federer and Nadal are still top players, and have split all tennis fans between them since their styles are diametrically opposite? Is it unfortunate for Djoker that he is playing at the same time as them?

We have quality Djoko fans. It's great.

I think I posted a few months ago about Djoko's Xfactor. I don;t think he has it quite.

That's all it takes. Nadal has it in plenty.

Well, I think it's quite right to say that Djoko does not have the following of the other top four guys. While there's UK national interest in Murray, the other two are two of the greatest players to play the sport.
People flock to Fed's banner for the style of his play while Rafa's admired for his piratical appearance and fighting spirit.
I personally like Djoko's confidence, his sense of humour and his rock-solid temperament. The longer he's number one the higher becomes his profile. Interestingly, the BBC on its tennis website saw fit to put his defeat to Isner at IW above Fed's victory over Rafa, when normally a Fed win or defeat is the lead story.

I know it sounds trite, but Roger has long been the elegantly dressed player on tour, before he had the surfer look with the wooden beads and the pony tail- he has always had a very immediate identity even if you sat down and watched tennis for the first time.

Rafa was, as sfp says, the piratical one with the sleeveless shirts and the long shorts, and the long hair and now he is a slightly more mature version of that pirate, still swashbuckling around the court.

Novak with his great humour and his intelligence is less easily identifiable as a character to cheer on fom the occasional tennis fan - he needs a make over to let his personality shine through - he needs Anna Wintour!

Nadals X factor - one for the girls really.

Feds X factor - he has the Quan (see "Jerry Maguire")

Nole - great standard of tennis but lacks either of the above.

It's quite simple really:

On one hand Djokovic is not as good looking and masculine as Nadal (eg no fangirls likely to warm at him)

On the other he is not as good as Federer, on the technical side I mean.

A good all round though for sure!

no I can't believe you posted that before!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A couple of reasons.

1) Lack of Identity. Roger is like the cucumber in a coma. So cool that he doesn't require so many interviews or words to affirm what he represents. The style of his play very much matches the person away from the court. He has elligent taste and I think if he was a tracksuit wearing chav away from the court, he wouldn't have much in the way of fans identifying with him. Nadal is the grease monkey from a small island. Almost like the Billy Joel from Uptown Girl. Rafa has lots of female admiriers and his rather generous and down to earth personality further engages him to the female heart. Young girls want to bed him and the older mature female wants to hug him and bake him cookies. Novak needs time to find that personality that all fans can identify with. He tried the Djoker and didn't stick with that. His shirt ripping exploits at the AO has for me further confused his identity. He went from wearing a NYFD cap at New York in 2011 to next to nothing at the AO 2012.

2) Playing Style. Again like his identity, this is also quite conflicted. He can flat hit with Federer which looks good on the eye, to the long lung bursting iron man contests with Nadal. If he had one style that could defeat both, I think people would immediately connect with his game.

3) Science. Egg Chambers and Diets have been attributed to his success. For me this almost paints the picture that he is more robotic than human. Like Ivan Danko from Rocky IV and we all know how well liked he was.

I was a bit concerned about mentioning Rafa's sex appeal but now the subject has been raised I would say that Nadal does seem to attract a lot of women fans who may not necessarily be great followers of tennis but are great followers of Rafa.
Read some of the Fed worship sites and, yes, Rog does have a lot of women fans but the appeal can sometimes be almost quasi-religious.
Imagine what it was like for some of these Rog fans from, say, 04 to 07, when their man was playing amazing tennis, rarely let them down by losing and was number one for weeks and weeks and weeks. For them, true heaven.

legendkillar wrote:His shirt ripping exploits at the AO has for me further confused his identity. He went from wearing a NYFD cap at New York in 2011 to next to nothing at the AO 2012.

As I say, he needs Anna!

legendkillarV2 wrote:A couple of reasons.

1) Lack of Identity. Roger is like the cucumber in a coma. So cool that he doesn't require so many interviews or words to affirm what he represents. The style of his play very much matches the person away from the court. He has elligent taste and I think if he was a tracksuit wearing chav away from the court, he wouldn't have much in the way of fans identifying with him. Nadal is the grease monkey from a small island. Almost like the Billy Joel from Uptown Girl. Rafa has lots of female admiriers and his rather generous and down to earth personality further engages him to the female heart. Young girls want to bed him and the older mature female wants to hug him and bake him cookies. Novak needs time to find that personality that all fans can identify with. He tried the Djoker and didn't stick with that.

This is utterly wrong. In fact it's quite apparent to me that are the mature ladies who want to bed Nadal so badly!

Jeremy_Kyle wrote:

legendkillarV2 wrote:A couple of reasons.

1) Lack of Identity. Roger is like the cucumber in a coma. So cool that he doesn't require so many interviews or words to affirm what he represents. The style of his play very much matches the person away from the court. He has elligent taste and I think if he was a tracksuit wearing chav away from the court, he wouldn't have much in the way of fans identifying with him. Nadal is the grease monkey from a small island. Almost like the Billy Joel from Uptown Girl. Rafa has lots of female admiriers and his rather generous and down to earth personality further engages him to the female heart. Young girls want to bed him and the older mature female wants to hug him and bake him cookies. Novak needs time to find that personality that all fans can identify with. He tried the Djoker and didn't stick with that.

This is utterly wrong. In fact it's quite apparent to me that are the mature ladies who want to bed Nadal so badly!

I didn't really want this image so near to lunch time. So I thank you for ruining it for me!!!

At the risk of going off message, praps we should consider who have been/are the sexiest tennis players - male or female.

Henri Leconte!

And there was something about Agassi!!

There's a whole mish-mash of factors:
1) there is not yet a simple message of who Djoker is either on or off court
2) until 2011 he was very much in the shadow of one of the all-time great rivalries
3) he failed to keep his upwards trajectory from 2007-2008 through 2009-2010 which may have caused faint-hearted fans to lose faith

I think it is just because, to the wider public, he's the new boy.

Prior to 2011:

- he was the third best player in the world, which is good but hardly captures the imagination.

- he wasn't winning slams (apart from a solitary win back in 08 which was looking increasingly like a fluke) and was therefore not getting the exposure that brings.

- he wasn't part of a defined rivalry.

So it's really only in the last year or so that he has been in a position to attract fans who aren't necessarily tennis buffs.

I think he's becoming more known and more popular though. Things like winning the Laureus award and a forthcoming appearance in the Expendables 2(!) are moving him further into the public consciousness. Certainly most people where I work at least know who he is now and I don't believe that was the case a year ago.

Interesting one. I like the guy overall but can see there are some "issues" in popularity vs. the BIG TWO.
+ One problem for Nole is Rafa and Roger. They are more immediately identifiable and stylistically occupy opposite ends of tennis spectrum. Everyone else kind of fits inbetween, including Nole.
+ Nole's dress on court is often quite bland (IMO)...quite traditional really, Tachini arent known for pushing the barriers. Its neither the elegance of Federer or the more rugged/athletic look of Nadal.
+ I think he's perceived as very patriotic...ok, thats fine...but it gives the impression of being overly inwardly focused on his own nation...which I dont think adds weight to his global/all-country appeal.
+ Perhaps he's seen as a little arrogant too...shirt ripping, standing there after his wins looking around the stadium from mid-court like Cantona did after scoring a goal with his shirt collars up and hands on hips, and his family egging him on the whole way in an OTT way?
+ His playing style is sometimes a little robotic? Perhaps he's almost 'too good', too metronomic at drilling the ball. Love or hate Nadal or Federer, they play with a style that is more explosive at times...maybe because they play with more variety and have a similar type of stroke production (SSC based, Nole's isnt) which lends itself to a more whippy/explosive style that people connect to that more?
+ Finally, I do think for many people he's simply not as attractive as Rafa or Roger...either to women, men or kids (as role models) or sponsors. He kind of needs to do something with his hair in my opinion...lol...he doesnt really have a discernible style, or his own style, somehow.

Anyway, there I've said it...shoot me down NITB!!

lydian wrote:+ Perhaps he's seen as a little arrogant too...shirt ripping, standing there after his wins looking around the stadium from mid-court like Cantona scoring a goal

I've seen this quote before (probably from you Lydian?) and IMO describes it very well!

lydian wrote:He kind of needs to do something with his hair in my opinion...

Any suggestions? Ivanisevic used to have this 'mohican' haircut, could that be something for Nole?

legendkillarV2 wrote: ... Roger is like the cucumber ... Nadal is the grease monkey ...

I agree with Legendkillarv2; whereas Federer is like a cucumber and Nadal is like a grease monkey, Djokovic is like a greased cucumber, a sort of in-betweener, and where's the pleasure in that?

lydian wrote:Interesting one. I like the guy overall but can see there are some "issues" in popularity vs. the BIG TWO.
+ One problem for Nole is Rafa and Roger. They are more immediately identifiable and stylistically occupy opposite ends of tennis spectrum. Everyone else kind of fits inbetween, including Nole.
+ Nole's dress on court is often quite bland (IMO)...quite traditional really, Tachini arent known for pushing the barriers. Its neither the elegance of Federer or the more rugged/athletic look of Nadal.
+ I think he's perceived as very patriotic...ok, thats fine...but it gives the impression of being overly inwardly focused on his own nation...which I dont think adds weight to his global/all-country appeal.
+ Perhaps he's seen as a little arrogant too...shirt ripping, standing there after his wins looking around the stadium from mid-court like Cantona did after scoring a goal with his shirt collars up and hands on hips, and his family egging him on the whole way in an OTT way?
+ His playing style is sometimes a little robotic? Perhaps he's almost 'too good', too metronomic at drilling the ball. Love or hate Nadal or Federer, they play with a style that is more explosive at times...maybe because they play with more variety and have a similar type of stroke production (SSC based, Nole's isnt) which lends itself to a more whippy/explosive style that people connect to that more?
+ Finally, I do think for many people he's simply not as attractive as Rafa or Roger...either to women, men or kids (as role models) or sponsors. He kind of needs to do something with his hair in my opinion...lol...he doesnt really have a discernible style, or his own style, somehow.

Anyway, there I've said it...shoot me down NITB!!

@Lydian: I can't make up my mind, are you a boy or a girl? (sorry for being intrusive here......)

Yes I think I've said the Cantona thing before. But you know for me, with Cantona it was different because he would have the whole Man Utd stadium adoring him...the guy is still a legend at Old Trafford 15 years on with "Eric the King" banners still held up. With Djokivic I dont get the impression all the fans in the stadium are going mad for him so when he stands there Cantona-esque it just comes across as more arrogant because its not like he's lapping up the adoration. Its more a kind of...hey just look at me you lot...I'm the best, look at what I can do...and dont you forget it!

I think he should cut it shorter, or grow it longer...its kind of a nothing style...just sort of cut 1 inch long everywhere, dont see much style about that which people connect with. Mohican? yeah why not...lol

But hey, I dont have a downer on the guy, just some reasons why he's maybe LESS popular than the big two.

JK....lol
If you cant tell I'm not saying!
The origin of my name is googleable....is that a word?

As others have said, I guess it's a mixture of things rather than anything specific . And I would agree that he might well have a larger proportion of 'real' tennis fans than the others.

Either way I doubt it's something that particularly bothers Novak himself - or at least not on a daily basis ! But there was of course his infamous, almost desperate appeal to a largely partisan crowd when facing mp against the ever-popular Fed in NY at last year's USO. He got just the motivation he needed, the rest is history and so we might see the same gesture used again at some stage (or should that be "at some point" ho ho)

In the end he's happy to let the results speak for themselves. Even though being Number One is always worth more than adulation it must nonetheless be especially rewarding to enjoy a happy combination of both, in the way that Rafa and Fed have been fortunate to do during their own respective reigns.

sfp : my personal list would include :
- Gabriela Sabatiini (I used to swoon..... until I came to know what everyone else knows )
- The 'Swiss Miss' Martina Hingis (just how can someone so small hit the ball so hard ?? )
- Anna Corr...nikova (darling of the tabloids but never troubled the record books titles-wise !)
- Chrissie Evert (not so much 'looks' but a certain allure in that ice-cool demeanour ; bet she could be bossy at home .... )

SFP...Cristea, Goerges, Sania Mirza, Bondarenko...

JK, answer your question?

lydian wrote:JK....lol
If you cant tell I'm not saying!
The origin of my name is googleable....is that a word?

Googoling ,I found: an ancient kingdom, a golden coin, a musical scale and a sort of flying lion: I think by now I am more confused that with a laverfan criptic clue ........

lydian wrote:SFP...Cristea, Goerges, Sania Mirza, Bondarenko...

JK, answer your question?

yes, sort of

I'm not really the right person to judge how attractive the top 3 are but I do think Djokovic has a kind of 'everyman' appeal. He's certainly the only one of them that I could imagine going for a (gluten free) beer with!

Roger seems to exist in a different world and I find Rafa's "10 year old trapped in the body of a trojan" as peculiar as I suspect others find it attractive. Novak just seems like a normal guy who happens to be the world's number 1 tennis player.

Nice one HMM .....

Since you put it like that, I reckon you're right, he would be best of the three to have a pint with, definitely the best chance of a few laughs

(although I do wonder ..... can any Number One ever be described as 'normal' ...... )

Jeremy_Kyle wrote:

legendkillarV2 wrote:A couple of reasons.

1) Lack of Identity. Roger is like the cucumber in a coma. So cool that he doesn't require so many interviews or words to affirm what he represents. The style of his play very much matches the person away from the court. He has elligent taste and I think if he was a tracksuit wearing chav away from the court, he wouldn't have much in the way of fans identifying with him. Nadal is the grease monkey from a small island. Almost like the Billy Joel from Uptown Girl. Rafa has lots of female admiriers and his rather generous and down to earth personality further engages him to the female heart. Young girls want to bed him and the older mature female wants to hug him and bake him cookies. Novak needs time to find that personality that all fans can identify with. He tried the Djoker and didn't stick with that.

This is utterly wrong. In fact it's quite apparent to me that are the mature ladies who want to bed Nadal so badly!

Now you've got me thinking about that blog, which has really spoiled my day.

Djokovic acknowledges and applauds shots from his opponents. Nadal and Federer don't do this.

Nadal is probably the most humble and gracious of the three in the aftermatch interviews held on court. Also he is the one that gives the appearance of "trying his hardest" on the court every time.

Federer is probably the best in terms of abiding by the rules on court, i.e. he doesn't play mind games by going to the toilet, having MTO's, having long rests in between points.

Some nice points. Do note that there aren't any Djoker fans contributing yet. Which kind of justifies the topic. I mean, can you imagine a Roger or Rafa thread where the first 30 posts are all by tennis fans and not by Roger or Rafa fans!?

I'm really not sure of "robotic". Roddick was robotic or one-dimensional, but he is hugely popular? Could the reason be that he is American or could it be his personality?

It's hardly the measure of sporting greatness but I do love the fact that Novak can do something like this:

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Expendables-2-Adds-Tennis-Star-Novak-Djokovic-28125.html

...and you know it will probably be quite amusing (the film itself, of course, will be dire).

Can you imagine Roger or Rafa in an action movie?

Director: "Roger, could you look a bit more alarmed please?"
Roger: "Alarmed? Sorry, I don't know what that means"
Director: "OK, could you maybe sweat a bit?"
Roger: "Sorry, physically impossible"
Director: "Could you at least lose that awful cardigan?"

Director: "Rafa, I need you to dodge the punch and then throw the bad buy over your shoulder. Do you think you can do that?"
Rafa: "I try my best. I don't say I'm good enough but every day I have the illusion to do my best, no? Keep working, keep intensity, hopefully have a good scene".
Director: "He's just moved your water bottle"
Rafa: "RAAAAARRRRGH!!!!! I KILL HIM!!!!!!!!"

bogbrush wrote:

Jeremy_Kyle wrote:

legendkillarV2 wrote:A couple of reasons.

1) Lack of Identity. Roger is like the cucumber in a coma. So cool that he doesn't require so many interviews or words to affirm what he represents. The style of his play very much matches the person away from the court. He has elligent taste and I think if he was a tracksuit wearing chav away from the court, he wouldn't have much in the way of fans identifying with him. Nadal is the grease monkey from a small island. Almost like the Billy Joel from Uptown Girl. Rafa has lots of female admiriers and his rather generous and down to earth personality further engages him to the female heart. Young girls want to bed him and the older mature female wants to hug him and bake him cookies. Novak needs time to find that personality that all fans can identify with. He tried the Djoker and didn't stick with that.

This is utterly wrong. In fact it's quite apparent to me that are the mature ladies who want to bed Nadal so badly!

Now you've got me thinking about that blog, which has really spoiled my day.

Are you talking about the forum dedicated to the most enigmatic and exciting caramel skin tennis player in history?

Lags72. Glad you put Chrissie Evert down in your fanciable list. Always thought she was hot. I used to have a thing about Kerry Melville but we are going back a bit. Anna Ivanovic is fairly pleasing on the eye.
Back on topic, I think yr remark about "abnormal" number ones was quite interesting. Connors once said you had to be a bit mad to be a top player. Asked how he considered himself during his career, Connors replied: "I was as mad as a hatter."

Jeremy_Kyle wrote:

bogbrush wrote:

Jeremy_Kyle wrote:

legendkillarV2 wrote:A couple of reasons.

1) Lack of Identity. Roger is like the cucumber in a coma. So cool that he doesn't require so many interviews or words to affirm what he represents. The style of his play very much matches the person away from the court. He has elligent taste and I think if he was a tracksuit wearing chav away from the court, he wouldn't have much in the way of fans identifying with him. Nadal is the grease monkey from a small island. Almost like the Billy Joel from Uptown Girl. Rafa has lots of female admiriers and his rather generous and down to earth personality further engages him to the female heart. Young girls want to bed him and the older mature female wants to hug him and bake him cookies. Novak needs time to find that personality that all fans can identify with. He tried the Djoker and didn't stick with that.

This is utterly wrong. In fact it's quite apparent to me that are the mature ladies who want to bed Nadal so badly!

Now you've got me thinking about that blog, which has really spoiled my day.

Are you talking about the forum dedicated to the most enigmatic and exciting caramel skin tennis player in history?

By the one who should know better but gets all of a dither?

I'm afraid so.

bogbrush wrote:

Jeremy_Kyle wrote:

bogbrush wrote:

Jeremy_Kyle wrote:

legendkillarV2 wrote:A couple of reasons.

1) Lack of Identity. Roger is like the cucumber in a coma. So cool that he doesn't require so many interviews or words to affirm what he represents. The style of his play very much matches the person away from the court. He has elligent taste and I think if he was a tracksuit wearing chav away from the court, he wouldn't have much in the way of fans identifying with him. Nadal is the grease monkey from a small island. Almost like the Billy Joel from Uptown Girl. Rafa has lots of female admiriers and his rather generous and down to earth personality further engages him to the female heart. Young girls want to bed him and the older mature female wants to hug him and bake him cookies. Novak needs time to find that personality that all fans can identify with. He tried the Djoker and didn't stick with that.

This is utterly wrong. In fact it's quite apparent to me that are the mature ladies who want to bed Nadal so badly!

Now you've got me thinking about that blog, which has really spoiled my day.

Are you talking about the forum dedicated to the most enigmatic and exciting caramel skin tennis player in history?

By the one who should know better but gets all of a dither?

I'm afraid so.

Jeremy_Kyle wrote:

lydian wrote:JK....lol
If you cant tell I'm not saying!
The origin of my name is googleable....is that a word?

Googoling ,I found: an ancient kingdom, a golden coin, a musical scale and a sort of flying lion: I think by now I am more confused that with a laverfan criptic clue ........

lol...you're not too far off with musical

Good grief! You lot need to have a bucket of cold water tipped on you.

Has no one noticed that Nadal and Federer play the most exciting tennis and have played a few matches (against each other and other players) that have captured the general publics imagination? Djokovic will have to do a bit more than have a media friendly personality and win a few trophies to compete with them...

Djokovic is the Schumacher of tennis, always doing some sneaky stuff, secret food under the towel, MTO's, egg & bacon chambers, Rambo style t-shirt ripp-offs, incites as much as he can his nationalistic fans with extremist insignia and behavour etc etc.

He might be the No:1 but he will never be loved or interesting to watch.

Maybe it's something of an irony (given the title of the thread itself) that some of Novak's most 'engaging' moments with the crowd have come during his impersonations of OTHER players in exhibitions, clinics etc. He's damn good at it ! His Andy Roddick is outstanding. Have yet to see him try the other Andy (too much of a genuine friendship/respect there ...?)

HMM : I like your Rafa + Roger reaction to instructions from Director for action movie sequence. Cheekily exploiting Rafa's spoken English a tad, but very funny nonetheless

Although to be fair, Djokovic is far more popular than Murray outside the British Isles and maybe Australia.

I'm yet to meet a Murray fan who does not fit the above criteria.

Even less accomplished players like Nalbandian seem to garner more support than Murray.

Poor Muzza. He's just a marketing nightmare

BTW Lags, What is it that were all supposed to know about Sabatini?

Jahu wrote:... always doing some sneaky stuff, secret food under the towel....

The cad! The bounder!

And "secret food"? Is this a Popeye / spinach thing he has going on?

emancipator : simply the fact she is - as some like to put it - "a friend of Dorothy's" (in the same way that Ms. Navratilova is ....)

Rumours about Gabby had been swirling for quite some time, but I think I'm right in saying that she eventually confirmed it herself, albeit only three/four years ago

I think Roger and Rafa have had a bit of a head start don't you think, so when the top four are in a tournament, you're going to support the one you've been supporting for years (Rog or Rafa).

Attractive wise, (I'm a girl btw) I find Rog and Nole much more so than Nadal.

Devastating news about Sabatini. What a waste. Good story about her. She gave a remarkably dull post-match interview once and the Press were saying how awful it was but giving her the benefit of the doubt as English was not her first language.
But then a local journalist piped up with the comment: "She's even more boring in Spanish."

lydian wrote:

Jeremy_Kyle wrote:

lydian wrote:JK....lol
If you cant tell I'm not saying!
The origin of my name is googleable....is that a word?

Googoling ,I found: an ancient kingdom, a golden coin, a musical scale and a sort of flying lion: I think by now I am more confused that with a laverfan criptic clue ........

lol...you're not too far off with musical

Lydian, your user name always reminds me of this music - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4zRe_wvJw8

sfp : I try to choose my words carefully, in the knowledge that there are a good number of female members here, to whom I would hate to cause offence.

But the phrase "what a waste" does indeed spring to mind, and if anything it's more of a compliment than a criticism.

In her younger days, Sabatini was - to use the jargon - an absolute stunner (I myself, despite the passage of time, obviously remain an oil painting .... )

Pity she was (allegedly) so boring, based on that account. Sometimes it's much better to not have your illusions shattered in life.

Sabatini was/is beautiful in an alluring, exotic way. Unfortunately she does have a bit of a manly jaw line, albeit not quite as bad as Mauresmo

JuliusHMarx wrote:

lydian wrote:

Jeremy_Kyle wrote:

lydian wrote:JK....lol
If you cant tell I'm not saying!
The origin of my name is googleable....is that a word?

Googoling ,I found: an ancient kingdom, a golden coin, a musical scale and a sort of flying lion: I think by now I am more confused that with a laverfan criptic clue ........

lol...you're not too far off with musical

Lydian, your user name always reminds me of this music - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4zRe_wvJw8

Excellent performance as ever Julius

Sabatini was very good looking, but did have a bit of a Sian Lloyd / Coulthard jawline going on. My Dad used to watch her matches with great interest as I recall...