An interesting read

First topic message reminder :

Looking at the character displayed by Federer, Nadal and Djokovic in embracing winning or losing.

http://www.sbnation.com/longform/2012/11/9/3605420/roger-federer-rafael-nadal-novak-djokovic

L.

LuvSports

As a Federer fan be honest. Would you dislike of Nadal so much if he didn't beat Federer? Do you seriously imagine he beats Federer by re arranging his water bottles or jumping about before the match starts? Federer is an accomplished player (to say the least) and so is Nadal. Neither need to resort to gamesmanship to win but both play with a game face and follow their own routines.

They both have immense respect for each other and this is obvious when they play. Also in the way they behave after competing in the many important matches they have played. Did you read the article? How they deal with wins and losses against each other is particularly revealing. They don't have to behave in such a gracious way... They choose to.

Yes I did
And were you aware that the first person to text (telephone) David Ferrer on his win in Paris was none other than Rafa
Were you also aware that Rafa flew in to Valencia and watched Ferrer win that tournament..
Could you have seen Federer doing that for Wawrinka. ??? I think not.
The arranging of his water bottles is nothing to do with gamesmanship he has been doing that since he was a small boy.. he is highly supersticious. Ive already mentioned about the jumping... did you not see Federer do it yesterday... well then you missed a treat.

This conversation is getting nowhere and frankly I do not care what you think.
However I do feel really sorry for you if you are of the belief that there are no genuinely nice people out there in the world. Ive met one or two and believe me it does my soul good to know that life is not all about being a cynic and thinking the worst of people. And nobody but nobody has a God given right to be arrogant.

wow i seem to have touched a nerve

you really are so biased its ridiculous.
I pointed out some of feds flaws and then you went hell for leather and went on some sort of attack!
If you really cannot think of the examples of gamesmanship nadal shows countless times then you must be watching different games or just not watching him at all.
You honestly think everyone dislikes nadal because he comes across and sincere and a nice guy???
Still reeling from that question. That deffo isnt the case for me.

Ok that was nice of rafa to do but how can you forget what federer did when blake was in a hospital in rome? Fed was the only tennis player who wished him the best and a speedy recovery.
You clearly have a vendetta against fed but don't make assumptions about him without doing some research.

LOOOOL that 2nd last line of yours is just ridiculous. I disagreed that you think a big reason why people don't like nadal is because he is sincere and you make the nonsensical assumption that I believe there are no nice people in the world? Is that the biggest craziest generalization ever made?? probs not but maybe on v2!

Stop taking everything i say out of context ok?
This post is so deluded I am struggling to respond.
Thankyou for judging me so nicely. ciao

Where would the tennis world be without Nadal to talk about. None of them are perfect, it's the fans and media putting them up on pedestals that is the main issue - not the players, when it comes to being expected to win and be whiter than white. Nadal has his foibles...time wasting, misinformation (from his team mainly), towel wiping, getting more grumpy these days, etc...but he's not alone in having foibles.

For example this recent interview with Federer amused me: http://www.10sballs.com/2012/11/09/federer-misses-his-former-rivals/

Parts of it reminded me of the PseudoFed blog which always starts, "Hi Fans, I am fine, you're welcome". This interview passage from the above link was pure gold Federer...

“I do feel sad not seeing them so often anymore on tour because I like those two guys or other guys that came from my generation as well, who have marked the sport, motivated me, admired me, crushed some dreams of mine.
I always felt sad when I have to do the video message for Andy or Gonzalez or Ljubicic or Ferrero. It’s not really what I want to do, but I’m happy because I know it might mean a lot to them. Yeah, sort of the time has come."

Haha...but somehow he gets away with these flashes of self-grandeur with that 'Swiss style' of his.
Boy we'll miss these guys when they're gone for sure...can't see us getting as excited by Raonic, etc.

H-n : I'm always keen to see both sides of a reasoned argument, but whilst I have no wish to get involved in any of the personal squabbles here, I am genuinely surprised by the vitriol you are directing specifically at Federer's character (ie as opposed to anything to do with his tennis or on-court behaviour, where any pro is there to be criticised, should circumstances merit)

To be honest I'm unsure whether you feel driven/provoked into it by comments from others OR whether you really mean it.

This in particular shocked me from a poster such as yourself :

"Fed is not arrogant at times .... Fed is arrogant all the time"

Wow. Really ...?? All the time ....??

- even when he's organising charity matches to help Australian flood victims ....?

- even when he's joking and having fun with with Rafa well away from the court .....?

- even when he's praising his opponents to high heaven for their quality of play and overall achievements ...?

- even when he's working behind the scenes representing the interests of 'less experienced' players on the ATP Players Council ....?

As you can read in an earlier post above I have, like so many other members, some criticisms of Rafa's on-court behaviour and gamesmanship. But when he was playing at the 02 a couple of years back I was there in the general melee straining to catch a glimpse and to take photos of him on the practise court (I can email you copies if you like ... ). I have zero issues with Rafa's character off court or indeed his quality of play and outstanding career record.

There's certainly no law that you have to like people but equally I just can't imagine myself working up a dislike for any player at quite the level you seem to have for Roger Federer.

Goodness. What on earth has the guy done to you ...??

She might be another one kicked out of a public forum for silly rantings and hence decided to waste her time in a bigger scheme of things.

It doesn't look like an article, it looked like public moaning to me as her beloved hero is kept in darkness by media and fans for the last few months.

The worst part is the jealousy, she moans on Fed's court attire and then later claims its nothing to do with sportsman ship, so why the hell she even wasted time in writing about it in the mid of the article?

Its neither humorous nor interesting nor did it make sense. I don't know whether the magazine will survive if this is all the quality they got at the top.

lags72 wrote:H-n : I'm always keen to see both sides of a reasoned argument, but whilst I have no wish to get involved in any of the personal squabbles here, I am genuinely surprised by the vitriol you are directing specifically at Federer's character (ie as opposed to anything to do with his tennis or on-court behaviour, where any pro is there to be criticised, should circumstances merit)

To be honest I'm unsure whether you feel driven/provoked into it by comments from others OR whether you really mean it.

This in particular shocked me from a poster such as yourself :

"Fed is not arrogant at times .... Fed is arrogant all the time"

Wow. Really ...?? All the time ....??

- even when he's organising charity matches to help Australian flood victims ....?

- even when he's joking and having fun with with Rafa well away from the court .....?

- even when he's praising his opponents to high heaven for their quality of play and overall achievements ...?

- even when he's working behind the scenes representing the interests of 'less experienced' players on the ATP Players Council ....?

As you can read in an earlier post above I have, like so many other members, some criticisms of Rafa's on-court behaviour and gamesmanship. But when he was playing at the 02 a couple of years back I was there in the general melee straining to catch a glimpse and to take photos of him on the practise court (I can email you copies if you like ... ). I have zero issues with Rafa's character off court or indeed his quality of play and outstanding career record.

There's certainly no law that you have to like people but equally I just can't imagine myself working up a dislike for any player at quite the level you seem to have for Roger Federer.

Goodness. What on earth has the guy done to you ...??

Lags great post , I have been trying to echo the same view for quite some time in vain, both Nadal and Fed are humble and have done a lot of charity works , at the end of the day we have to understand they are human beings too and might be sensitive after the defeat , but few crappy statements don't make them a villain overnight.

Its all few silly fangirls like this bring a bad name to their hero and the respective fans.

One could be cynical and state all the top player PR 'stunts' and charity patronages are a function of their PR teams being approached by a dozen charities daily to seek allegiances. Then having put their names to a dozen or so charities via their PR teams they then get held up for humanitarian awards.

I'm sure it's not quite like that but I wouldn't also assume the top players go out of their way to find charity work/causes. Or conversely, the charity work and humanitarian awards only seem to happen once they have become top, cash rich players for some time. Are Federer or Nadal any more charitable at heart than say Ruben Bemelmans at rank 120ish? I don't think so, the difference is they have teams to devote time to these things and a global image to leverage. Ruben doesn't.

lydian wrote:One could be cynical and state all the top player PR 'stunts' and charity patronages are a function of their PR teams being approached by a dozen charities daily to seek allegiances. Then having put their names to a dozen or so charities via their PR teams they then get held up for humanitarian awards.

I'm sure it's not quite like that but I wouldn't also assume the top players go out of their way to find charity work/causes. Or conversely, the charity work and humanitarian awards only seem to happen once they have become top, cash rich players for some time. Are Federer or Nadal any more charitable at heart than say Ruben Bemelmans at rank 120ish? I don't think so, the difference is they have teams to devote time to these things and a global image to leverage. Ruben doesn't.

They have opportunity. We can't condemn Ruben for not having a foundation, but we must applaud Federer & Nadal for having them.

High-minded tennis purists tend to regard character as peripheral to the sport. But for some observers and many fans, a player’s character – or, more accurately, their particular perception of it –

The bold is the crux of the whole debate here, and the article.

Character, as defined by the dictionary, is "the complex of mental and ethical traits marking a person… which determine his or her response regardless of circumstances."


But for all of these guys their sportsmanship like responses can be very much dependent on circumstances - I can make cases for and against all of them with different contests, different opponents or when their form has been in freefall.


The rationale for this delay was that the roof would keep the match from being halted by darkness if the fifth set went long; its immediate consequence was to give the fading Rosol an opportunity to re-group which proved the sports equivalent of being born again.

Here talking about the match - a lot of the ebb and flow of the players' behaviour curiously not attracting comment here.

This is a blog written by someone who insinuates that she is a journalist. To be quite frank a sporting journalist would be incapable of writing an article like this without mentioning the odd forehand or two imvho.

She obviously doesn't think much of Rafas mental strength if she thinks Rosol could make so much better use of the delay. How stupid!

She's great raw material for Slam intervals when we need something to laugh about.

Personally, I would go as far as to invite Elizabeth to the forum. It would be an invaluable opportunity to share her tennis views

Go ahead J_K ... http://www.sbnation.com/pages/contact?community_id=247

I'm sure she cant wait to read your insights

I am shy guy.....

Me too, so instead of asking her to join the forum, I asked her on a date.

Sounds like you've got competition JK...

In that case....I am going to declare myself out.

You sound like Duncan Bannatyne there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ino2DEvl4w