winning the battle but not the war. i noticed nole had a lot of the crowd behind him yesterday, perhaps more than i’ve ever noticed before! that was nice, to see them pulling for him.
I do think Rafa’s popularity or lack thereof is interesting. In Paris, London, NY – is it just him being an overdog and everyone rooting for an underdog. Is it his style of play. He clearly has a lot of fans, but for some reason I think his popularity has not matched his results. He seems like a good guy not pulling Nastase type antics etc.
i think nadal is pretty popular actually, but not to the degree of fed. and maybe therein lies the answer. rafa is seen as “the anti-fed” by some, i guess: in terms of style, demeanour on court, tennis, etc.
re: nole/rafa – i think the last time’s they’ve played at the us open they were quite equally supported. maybe it was just the crowd wanting a longer match this time, but it almost seemed to me like the crowd were really behind nole?
They typically pull for a long match, like they cheered for Monfils but I think the crowd seemed pretty even when I watched the replay last night. Nadal is pretty popular except in France. When they played in 2011 the crowd seemed to be behind Rafa because he was losing and they wanted to extend the match, and when they played in 2010 they were behind Rafa because they wanted to witness the career the career grand slam
Tennis Abides: Dan Martin on Tennis and Life 
winning the battle but not the war. i noticed nole had a lot of the crowd behind him yesterday, perhaps more than i’ve ever noticed before! that was nice, to see them pulling for him.
I do think Rafa’s popularity or lack thereof is interesting. In Paris, London, NY – is it just him being an overdog and everyone rooting for an underdog. Is it his style of play. He clearly has a lot of fans, but for some reason I think his popularity has not matched his results. He seems like a good guy not pulling Nastase type antics etc.
i think nadal is pretty popular actually, but not to the degree of fed. and maybe therein lies the answer. rafa is seen as “the anti-fed” by some, i guess: in terms of style, demeanour on court, tennis, etc.
re: nole/rafa – i think the last time’s they’ve played at the us open they were quite equally supported. maybe it was just the crowd wanting a longer match this time, but it almost seemed to me like the crowd were really behind nole?
They typically pull for a long match, like they cheered for Monfils but I think the crowd seemed pretty even when I watched the replay last night. Nadal is pretty popular except in France. When they played in 2011 the crowd seemed to be behind Rafa because he was losing and they wanted to extend the match, and when they played in 2010 they were behind Rafa because they wanted to witness the career the career grand slam
In France they will cheer for anyone over Rafa, overdog, sick of him winning the event, france/spain dislike etc.