Does Fan Support Explain Novak's Great Play in China?

[Riotbeard]

I think it's fair to say that Southeast Asia (and China in particular) is maybe the only place were Novak gets as much or more fan love than anyone else. Is this why plays so confidently here? Is this how he would always play if he was as beloved as Fed or Rafa?

Just a thought...

 

[nehmeth]

I think it's fair to say that Southeast Asia (and China in particular) is maybe the only place were Novak gets as much or more fan love than anyone else. Is this why plays so confidently here? Is this how he would always play if he was as beloved as Fed or Rafa?

Just a thought...

That and the court surface. Shanghai has moved from fast to medium/medium-fast. Beijing has changed the name of their surfacing to, Nole-turf. :snicker

In Asia, there at least seems to be some parity in the support of the elite players - unlike Wimbledon or NYC where it's 90% for the other guys.

 

[herios]

I think it's fair to say that Southeast Asia (and China in particular) is maybe the only place were Novak gets as much or more fan love than anyone else. Is this why plays so confidently here? Is this how he would always play if he was as beloved as Fed or Rafa?

Just a thought...

That and the court surface. Shanghai has moved from fast to medium/medium-fast. Beijing has changed the name of their surfacing to, Nole-turf. :snicker

In Asia, there at least seems to be some parity in the support of the elite players - unlike Wimbledon or NYC where it's 90% for the other guys.

That is mainly because China joined the circuit more recently and Fedal did not have the time to build such a big fan support like elsewhere in the world.
Also Nole won the most titles in China to date among all players, therefore he is perceived as the player to look up to.

 

[BIG3]

Nole is emotional player and audience support plays a huge role. Right coming out from tough NYC, he should really appreciate China home court feel. Uniqlo is his apparel sponsor (his biggest?) and without any Chinese company sponsorship, he picked Beijing instead of Tokyo all the years. Not sure what if he'd face Fed? Look Fed still got more support in last year's Shanghai semi.

 

[Kieran]

He's definitely at home there, it's a great observation. I get the idea Federer never heard of Internet banking and showed up this year to collect his dough in person, and while Rafa tries in earnest in Asia he's not as at home there as Novak. It's a nice relationship he has with the fans and they're obviously thrilled by his successes...

 

[Backhand_DTL]

I think it's fair to say that Southeast Asia (and China in particular) is maybe the only place were Novak gets as much or more fan love than anyone else. Is this why plays so confidently here? Is this how he would always play if he was as beloved as Fed or Rafa?

Just a thought...

It certainly doesn't hurt, but I think that especially at Beijing the combination of conditions, rather slow, low bouncing court and heavy balls being more or less perfect for his game is of greater importance, as he can hit through that court quite well, while nobody seems to be able to consistently put him under pressure.

Shanghai being faster, maybe higher bouncing and probably using slightly lighter balls is not as ideal for him, but especially compared to the summer HCs still a quite favorable court. Especially his serve, return and general degree of comfort seemed to be at a significantly higher level than in Canada, Cincinnati and the US Open.

So in my opinion the favorable courts combined with Novak being one of the few players who genuinely gives the impression to like playing in Asia because of the support he receives there explains why things often seem to fall into place for him at that part of the year.

 

[tented]

Anyone who watched last year's trophy ceremony saw the dazzling displays of love and adoration for Federer. It was almost embarrassing.

I think it's a cultural thing, which Roger was able to experience last year in Shanghai, and Novak last year in Beijing, and again this year in Beijing, plus Shanghai. The winners are feted at a high level.

Who knows how Novak's results might change if he we received this way in every city, but we're once again circling back to the issue of how much attention and adulation Novak needs in order to succeed. We're quickly reminded of the USO/New York crowd, who were clearly against him, as opposed to the Shanghai crowd, who loved him. As it happens, he won both events, so "love to love ya baby" isn't everything.

 

[DarthFed]

Court surface is always the biggest factor, way bigger than crowd support. Roger spanked Nole at Shanghai last year on a fairly quick court, if they played at Beijing he would have next to no chance. Wouldn't matter how the crowd acts. The crowds at RG and USO are more rowdy in their support for Roger than at Wimbledon, but his results are obviously better at Wimbledon.

 

[isabelle]

Why don't he play great in RG ? people always support him in Paris

 

[Backhand_DTL]

I didn't want to create a new thread for that so I thought it might fit best into this one:

For me it was interesting to see that this year with Roger out of the picture for most of the season apart from the SF in Australia and maybe against home players I can't think of any match where Novak didn't receive at least reasonable support and he even appeared to be the crowd favourite in a notable number of important matches.

While his great last season certainly lead to Novak getting new fans it also looks like there is a significant number of casual fans that prefer Roger or at least want him to win another major but also like Novak. So if they play each other there are probably many fans rooting against Novak although they basically like him which factoring in this season is in my opinion much more the reason for what happened at the finals of Wimbledon and especially the US Open last year than a general lack of appreciation for him. Additionally with Roger not being in a tournament it's likely that his more dedicated fans are not as interested in other top players losing as when it would mean that them going out increases Roger's chances of winning the title, so there might be less spectators who cheer for the opponent of someone like Rafa or Novak by default.

 

[10isfan]

The spectators in China struck me as being fake in their cheering as though someone had instructed them to cheer for player X or Y. I would not be surprised if things were orchestrated to that extent.