Why does DJoker have relatively fewer fans?

First topic message reminder :

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?

emancipator - snap!

emancipator wrote: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

Sabatini shoulders were as wide as a door. I saw her pretty close at the FO when she was a top player...it was really impressive.

Not quite my taste.

Myskina would do for me! Thank you very much.

Tenez wrote:

emancipator wrote: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

Sabatini shoulders were as wide as a door. I saw her pretty close at the FO when she was a top player...it was really impressive.

Not quite my taste.

Myskina would do for me! Thank you very much.

WTA is full of gorgeousity these days, shame their tennis is so dull...

Apologies to the OP for drifting off-topic, but am I right in thinking that Laura Robson is also amongst those who will definitely not be chasing members of the male species ...?

lags72 wrote:Apologies to the OP for drifting off-topic, but am I right in thinking that Laura Robson is also amongst those who will definitely not be chasing members of the male species ...?

I dunno, that was all a bit of a storm in a teacup wasn't it?

reckoner wrote:

Tenez wrote:

emancipator wrote: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

Sabatini shoulders were as wide as a door. I saw her pretty close at the FO when she was a top player...it was really impressive.

Not quite my taste.

Myskina would do for me! Thank you very much.

WTA is full of gorgeousity these days, shame their tennis is so dull...

Yes but we should take lesson from Hawkeye. She can find a tennis player's game very exciting cause he is cute.

Laura has a sweet face but a bit of a Davenport body. A little too matronish in the making for me.

Reckoner - Ye shall be considered for potential potential discipleship.

There are just too many hot girls in the WTA at the moment.

emancipator wrote:Laura has a sweet face but a bit of a Davenport body. A little too matronish in the making for me.

Reckoner - Ye shall be considered for potential potential discipleship.

There are just too many hot girls in the WTA at the moment.

ain't that the truth

what are the benefits of discipleship? do I need to buy my own sandals?

Tenez wrote:

reckoner wrote:

Tenez wrote:

emancipator wrote: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

Sabatini shoulders were as wide as a door. I saw her pretty close at the FO when she was a top player...it was really impressive.

Not quite my taste.

Myskina would do for me! Thank you very much.

WTA is full of gorgeousity these days, shame their tennis is so dull...

Yes but we should take lesson from Hawkeye. She can find a tennis player's game very exciting cause he is cute.

hmmm yeah I suppose I could watch with the sound off

HarpoMars wrote: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.

The girl must get into this discussion to explain it
At the times when Roger was winning everything appeared Nadull who could beat him, so he won fans to his side. Quite easy.
Although Roger is great player, he is so gentle gentleman, that I only hope that it will not go in the same way as Gabby
and the second scratchy and cleaning guy has definitely a problem with everything. So, Nole looks like the only one to be normal, that is simple as ABC

Tenez wrote:

emancipator wrote: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

Sabatini shoulders were as wide as a door. I saw her pretty close at the FO when she was a top player...it was really impressive.

Not quite my taste.

Myskina would do for me! Thank you very much.

I saw her play Graf at Wimbledon and she had the shoulders of an Olympic swimmer, and her walk wasn't exactly graceful either. She was quite a handful (so I imagined......)

bogbrush wrote:

Tenez wrote:

emancipator wrote: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

Sabatini shoulders were as wide as a door. I saw her pretty close at the FO when she was a top player...it was really impressive.

Not quite my taste.

Myskina would do for me! Thank you very much.

I saw her play Graf at Wimbledon and she had the shoulders of an Olympic swimmer, and her walk wasn't exactly graceful either. She was quite a handful (so I imagined......)

Amazonian from the sounds of it.

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

lol...
No, my name refers to this type of thing... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYQu0GGlEaw

All right, let me get you all in need of a cold shower testosterone overcharged men out of misery:

Nole is not as popular as Nadal and Federer because he is the best. Nadal fans know it, Federer fans know it, by the time NOle turned up on the scene most tennis fans were already "taken" I'm surprised there's anyone there that likes him except his family and me Simples.

Now go back to your "conversation"....

I think there is Simple Analyst who is not yet totally taken........

I've got one more question for you: why all the fans weren't already taken by Federer before Nadal appeared on the scene? That seems completely logical to me.

Also: why Nole is not popular because he is the best? I can't quite follow this one.......

Jeremy_Kyle wrote:I've got one more question for you: why all the fans weren't already taken by Federer before Nadal appeared on the scene? That seems completely logical to me.

Also: why Nole is not popular because he is the best? I can't quite follow this one.......

I know you can't....

http://blog.oregonlive.com/tennis/2012/03/forget_the_trivalry_its_still.html - thats why I think. Andy Roddick sums it up

Excellent article.

noleisthebest wrote:

Jeremy_Kyle wrote:I've got one more question for you: why all the fans weren't already taken by Federer before Nadal appeared on the scene? That seems completely logical to me.

Also: why Nole is not popular because he is the best? I can't quite follow this one.......

I know you can't....

Come on tell me the secret

Nice article CAS. The guy just isnt as popular as the Big Two and never will be in my opinion even if the other 2 have left the scene. Nole is a good guy, great player...just not as popular. He doesnt quite have that broad-appeal X factor to be popular on a different scale.
Doesnt stop him winning tennis matches though

The noise he makes when he hits the ball isn't exactly charismatic either. It's weird.

I like his forehand increasingly, I think it's improved during his reign at the top. It's quite a beautiful stroke.

I think he always sounds like Connors did when he was serving.
Out of interest is he the 'gruntiest' male player on tour?

Jeremy_Kyle wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:

Jeremy_Kyle wrote:I've got one more question for you: why all the fans weren't already taken by Federer before Nadal appeared on the scene? That seems completely logical to me.

Also: why Nole is not popular because he is the best? I can't quite follow this one.......

I know you can't....

Come on tell me the secret

Nah, don't like you enough...

Ah yes ..... Jimbo Connors ....

A grunter well before the laydees began to make grunting fashionable ...

noleisthebest wrote:

Jeremy_Kyle wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:

Jeremy_Kyle wrote:I've got one more question for you: why all the fans weren't already taken by Federer before Nadal appeared on the scene? That seems completely logical to me.

Also: why Nole is not popular because he is the best? I can't quite follow this one.......

I know you can't....

Come on tell me the secret

Nah, don't like you enough...

But why is it that Socal, he likes me

I am not even gay

If you listen to Nole's and Jimbo's serving grunts they're almost identical.

lydian wrote:If you listen to Nole's and Jimbo's serving grunts they're almost identical.

You have too much time on your hands

If I must listen to grunting let it at be from from a hot female player...

I am surprised the original rebel McEnroe and the blond Swede Borg are not mentioned for their respective appeal. Was it McEnroe or Connors who dated and later married a Playboy centerfold, Patti McGuire (a different McGuire than Jerry, BB)?

Ilie Nastase and Safin (just announced his marriage) were also considered 'sexy'.

Verdasco and Tsonga with the 'naked' photo shoot.

Deliciano the model is another.

For Kournikova fans, you will have to fight Enrique Iglesias.

Back to the topic, Djokovic has slowly started making inroads into public view.

The US public specifically were turned off because of the Roddick USO incident.

ATP marketing is partly responsible for the Fedal storyline. Till ATP figures out how to market Nadalovic equally well, Nole may be just a tad behind.

The MSG BNP Paribas showdown and similar made Federer even more popular.

I would suggest ATP do something like a Top 4 set of exhos while the current Top 4 are here and raise awareness which should help Djokovic attain a global image.

I don't think you can make it happen. Charisma is an elusive quality; for instance, though I like him Andy Murray is just never going to have it. And neither will Djokovic, imho.

Jeremy_Kyle wrote:I am not even gay

A bromance or a man crush is fine, JK.

I think one of the reasons for his relatively low popularity is that he is not married yet......or he is?? Anybody can come in handy here......

Here is my take on this.

Certainly, Novak doesn't have the fan base just now of Federer or Nadal and there could be a number of reasons for this. Firstly, he is a Serb which isn't going to endear to certain fans around the world much like how Ivan Lendl suffered. Secondly, he has five slams but I'd say if he goes on picking up slams his fan base will grow. I mean was Federer always so well-backed before he came mega-successful I'd say not and the same goes for Nadal. Give it another couple or three years of much success in slams and I'd be very surprised if his fan base hasn't grown a fair bit.

Federer was hugely rated early on; when he first won Wimbleon it was like a coronation.

Sorry to harp on about it but it's always been about his extraordinary game.

bogbrush wrote:Federer was hugely rated early on; when he first won Wimbleon it was like a coronation.

Sorry to harp on about it but it's always been about his extraordinary game.

Perhaps a bit earlier, in 1998, when he won the Junior W crown.

Jeremy_Kyle wrote: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!

Lets do those all important lie detector results...

Why, yes I think he is good, maybe very good but he just lacks that wow factor that make people gathering for a match.....

Jeremy_Kyle wrote:Why, yes I think he is good, maybe very good but he just lacks that wow factor that make people gathering for a match.....

lets get those DNA results..

DNA? What do you mean? Blood test maybe......

Jeremy_Kyle wrote:DNA? What do you mean? Blood test maybe......

Maybe he needs to grow a pair..

bogbrush wrote:Federer was hugely rated early on; when he first won Wimbleon it was like a coronation.

Sorry to harp on about it but it's always been about his extraordinary game.

That may have been the case in Europe but nobody in the states outside of tennis fans knew anything about Federer until he had about 5 or 6 slams. You never saw big advertising spots for Federer lets say in early 2005 or late 2004. Tennis was low on the US radar, I think it has strengthened last few years, and Federer was just not really known or idolized. Oddly, he sort of made his bones with the American sports fan in general afer he beat Agassi in 05 open final. Agassi pumped Fed up huge on national television saying he was the greatest ever and then it really started to build from there.

Craig makes good points, I think if Novak was from Britain, the Us, or even spain he would be more popular. If he was from the states he would be rolling in praise and notoriety same thing as britain. Serbia is a tiny country population wise when you think about it. Still who is more loved in his home country than Novak. I wouldn't be surprised if the guy was elected president at some point. So I think in life it is all about tradeoffs. Maybe he makes a 10-50 million less in money. But he still will make tens of millions, and quite a few of them. And his legacy and popularity are set in his native land forever.

It's a bit like Sampras to some extend. Neither his game, nor personality had a wow factor and as far as I remember he did not have delirious fans behind him.

Pete was american and therefore bound to have millions of fans but I think it's fair to say that Agassi was their Jimmy white, the number 2 people prefered.

Problem for Djoko is that he hasn't Pete's record and is not American either ...however I think he has a bit more charisma and communicates better with the crowd. That's his strong point....but is it enough to sell millions of tickets?

Tenez wrote:It's a bit like Sampras to some extend. Neither his game, nor personality had a wow factor and as far as I remember he did not have delirious fans behind him.

Pete was american and therefore bound to have millions of fans but I think it's fair to say that Agassi was their Jimmy white, the number 2 people prefered.

Problem for Djoko is that he hasn't Pete's record and is not American either ...however I think he has a bit more charisma and communicates better with the crowd. That's his strong point....but is it enough to sell millions of tickets?

Nole has a great TV personality. He's articulate, can be funny (sometimes), speaks several languages, loves the spotlight and has even won a few trophies. I can already imagine him "dancing on ice" and eating bugs on "I'm a celebraty get me out of here"... and winning (and also having a great time). But it's not enough in fact these skills although admirable are not even necessary to become a sporting legend.

All true, but as has been pointed out, he's not American, so personality isn't going to get you a big fan base over there. He needs some sort of unique selling point...

Personally I think it's a shame he stopped doing impressions - they were excellent!

Reckoner, I actually think he is making inroads in the states slowly but surely. When I have gone out to Indian wells he actually gets a lot of neutral, non-serbian support there. People are starting to appreciate him for his personality. He has done the big talk show circuit with leno and letterman and people really gave him good reviews for his personality and charm. And the prince commercial with him imitating sharapova got a lot of play as well. It takes time as a foreign player to build a reputation and a brand in the states, it took Federer a very long time, I would say that he wasn't that recognized until 2006, which at that point he had already been world #1 2 years running.

he has only had real success in the last year, Federer and Nadal have been doing it for 6-8 years they have built it up. He also has not got that defining rivalry, Sampras/Agassi, McEnroe/Borg Federer/Nadal.

He needs a special match at Wimbledon, that also always gets you elevated, or maybe just retaining it next year. I think a lot of the British public didnt know much about him, and it was a huge shock when he won it. Win it again and his profile will rise dramatically, or have a defining moment. The Aus Open final may have got it for him but its too early to tell.

socal1976 wrote:Reckoner, I actually think he is making inroads in the states slowly but surely. When I have gone out to Indian wells he actually gets a lot of neutral, non-serbian support there. People are starting to appreciate him for his personality. He has done the big talk show circuit with leno and letterman and people really gave him good reviews for his personality and charm. And the prince commercial with him imitating sharapova got a lot of play as well. It takes time as a foreign player to build a reputation and a brand in the states, it took Federer a very long time, I would say that he wasn't that recognized until 2006, which at that point he had already been world #1 2 years running.

Like I said in my earlier post Nole has a great media personality. I'm sure he will be appreciated for that and I have a feeling he may work in some sort of public capacity after he retires from tennis. But this has little to do with how he is appreciated on the court. Roger and Rafa don't have to build a reputation or a "brand" in this way. Can you imagine either of them having to resort to imitating Sharapova in order to build their reputation? If they did stuff like that would it build their image or reputation? (I have just made myself think up a very strange image...)

I'm not so sure people are quite as easy to manipulate as those involved in "building images" would like. For example look at Andy Murray. He's the most successful British tennis player for 1,000 years (according to Federer) at a time when Tennis is very popular (because of Roger and Rafa), he gets acres of positive media coverage (because he was born in a country with a powerful media). He's from the country with the most important slam and gets prime centre court time as a right and he is profesionally marketed like a major brand (because of the potential he has to make money for other people)... but the finiticky public refuse to buy...

Djoko imitating to delusional US public is exactly what made Djoko a 3min fun guy and a totally cheap and unserious sportsman.