Nadal booed again at the French Open.

Ok - Not my idea for a thread (copied it from 606 ) but I think it coudl make an interesting debate here.

Apparently, though I did not notice, the French crowd was again cheering against Nadal, like they did in 2009 v Soderling.

Is it because The French don't get on well with the Spaniards? Jaleous maybe? Or is it because Toni said the Parisians were stupid. Certainly did not help!

I found Darren Cahill's comment pretty peculiar: "I'm not sure why (...they don't like Nadal). I guess it's kind of like the Lance Armstrong thing where if you win too many times they like to see the upset".

It was a 40/60 split at the end of the Nadal/Isner game.

First there was a loud cheer, which was overpowered by a chorus of boos.

It's pretty obvious that the French love Federer and dislike Nadal.

Rather pathetic is you ask me

I remember Nadal was booed in 2006 (mind you: at the time he had 1 FO under his belt) during and after his match against PHM at RG. It was a close match and the French could not appreciate that Nadal interrupted PHM's service at a crucial point of the match. Just when PHM was about to serve Nadal walked off court to drink some water. He said he had to flush out a piece of banana (!).

I guess there's never been much chemistry between the Parisiens and Nadal.

It was from the neighbouring court they booed when the match score was displayed at the end, not the court he played on.

The french (and Parisians especially) are a fickle bunch and always support the underdog. The french and spanish never get on that well - the french see spaniards as unsophiscated next to their chic elegance, hence they like the image of Federer and his French speaking ability (people from Basel learn to speak French and German).

But to be fair, I don;t think it happens to the French only when it comes to Nadal.

I wrote that a year ago on 606 after observing the same thing v Davydenko. Of course the difference is that Isner or Karlo are not as frail and technically sound as Davydenko but the fact is people in general prefer risk takers, those who try to take the game in their own hands.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/A61671846

Agree with the risk taking (the french probably still hark back to a love of duels at dawn and chivalrous sword fighting), but they do support the underdog too - no matter who he is.

Either way, boo'ing is not acceptable and is highly disrespectful to these guys who at the end of the day are only trying to do their 'job' (win).

The parisian crowd is the second worst crowd in tennis after new york. They are awful; nationalistic, fickle, and quick with the booing. The worst is in NY where they routinely yell out during the service motion and then half the fans laugh when the player stops his serve or misses because they find it amusing. As a westcoast southern cal native, can't stand that New york attitude. I think paris is a lot of the same first city mentality.

The Paris crow is awful. Even the French are mostly embarrassed by them. I think the Nadal booing thing is a combination of two things mainly: the fact they like Federer, and the fact they find the same guy winning all the time boring.

LOL! Of course the Chelsea football crowd is a distinguished lot!

Mad for Chelsea wrote:The Paris crow is awful. Even the French are mostly embarrassed by them. I think the Nadal booing thing is a combination of two things mainly: the fact they like Federer, and the fact they find the same guy winning all the time boring.

I don't think he ever has been popular in Paris

The crowd even boo'ed other members of the crowd today when they were sitting down between breaks! Just shows they'll even turn on themselves easily - no wonder the french were always keen on revolutions!

It's amazing how Federer is literally loved everywhere. I doubt the Parisian crowd would boo Fedz even is he had won the French as many times as Nadz.

The parisian crowd is super hostile and aggressive, I don't really understand their attitude if you are angry and you don't like the tennis players then don't pay money to go watch the event live.

I AM AWESOME wrote:It's amazing how Federer is literally loved everywhere. I doubt the Parisian crowd would boo Fedz even is he had won the French as many times as Nadz.

Could you please elaborate on this? I mean where and how do you know that Fed is loved everywhere? I am someone and I dislike him because of his arrogance. I have watch many Fed/Nadel match and from my experience Nadal had equal if not more fans!

I think Wimby crowd is the best. They come to watch tennis and not any particular tennis player. In Wimby, you notice that crowd always support the one behind because they want the game to go on not because they dislike the one ahead. But in Paris, they can't stand anyone who can't speak French. So proud they are - wonder why? For all their food, style or whatever, French people are just rude and when things really matter - they have no ball! Try speaking English/any other language to French and they will reply in French knowing very well that you don't understand.

Superhog, you should travel a bit more, that would open your mind.

Tenez wrote:Superhog, you should travel a bit more, that would open your mind.

for what? I have half French for your kind information and half Chinese - well travelled.

I agree with superchog, I dont' want to disrespect the french they have many great qualities but hospitality and modesty are not two of them. I went to Nice with my father and store manager wanted to charge charge us 100 euros for each pair of swimming trunks that you could easily purchase for 30 euros anywhere else. We asked for a discount and he nearly attacked us and threw us out of his store. All he had to say was no, I have similar experiences every single place I have visited in France. Paris is even worse, easily the one of the worst crowds in all of tennis.

Do you really want me to start talk about all my little misadventures around the world?

Where shall I start? Tienanmen square or Tehran?

I've just got back from Paris (spent two days at Roland Garros, and did a bit of sightseeing the third day) and to be honest I found everyone really nice and helpful.

Maybe I'm a one off case but If I tried speaking french and then told them I wasn't very good at speaking it (again, in French) then they made every effort to speak English for me and I made every effort to speak as much French as I could. I never met anyone rude whilst out there. As I said, maybe I was a one off case!

I actually thought the atmosphere was good, the crowd got behind the French players when they were playing which I like to see. I watched the Nadal Isner match on the big screen as I only had an outdoor pass on that day and nearly every point (no matter who won it) was being cheered.

But I could have been next to a group of Spaniards, who knows!

socal1976 wrote:I have similar experiences every single place I have visited in France.

So you basically get kicked out of every store you visit in France? Well at least you save yourself some money..

Sorry man, but you have no idea how funny your post was

Gallery play the guy was selling a pair of shorts that were expensive at 30 euros he was selling them for over 100 euros. Heck at those mark ups we thought he would have room for a discount. Another night in paris I have a reservation at the meridian arrive late and they tell me that there has been a mistake and that they overbooked, no apology just point me in the direction of another this time three star establishment they booked me for the same price as the freaking meridian two blocks down. A yeah you pay 450 Euro a night for a good hotel, they overrbook and send you to lower priced hotel, don't discount you the room and give you attitude for not shutting up about it, and you pay for the taxi as well. I personally am boycotting france. Spain and Italy have nicer weather and are more friendly, and I have travelled to France half a dozen times. Will say this I left my wallet loaded with cash and travelers and a nice french man picked up off the bench and returned it to me, so can't say all my experiences have been negative.

I was only kidding Socal, it sounds funny that you said it happens to you all the time. Anyway, i didn't meant to be rude, hope you noticed that

No gallery, I wasn't upset, I don't ask for a discount at every store, this guy was really price gouging though these weren't georgio armani bathing trunks. When I meant I have had the same thing happen, I meant more like bad customer service type of experiences. When you go to france during the summer you expect to be mauled by the resturants and shops but this guy was going nuts.

I do not like that way he celeberates. It is too much like "on your face". I would have been really peed off with that if I was Soderling. On top of that Rafa was annoying him with the time taken between 2 points.

I wish Murray all the luck for Fri and would like to see him winning.