So who's the male tennis GOAT?

[Denilson3.0]

1. Nadal
2. Federer
3. Novak

In Boxing terms. Nadal is like a prime Tyson. He puts his all and tries to knockout his opponent with every shot. Nadal seems generally loved and appreciated by all camps. It’s very easy to see how much work he puts into his tennis. You can hear and feel it with every stroke he hits.

Federer is like a prime Mayweather. Very pretty to watch. Technically brilliant. People may think his persona isn't true or is overly engineered, but he’s at least very consistent with that image. This is in addition to the gracefulness in movement and play that he displays on the court.

Novak is like Carl Froch or Holyfield. Not great at anyone thing. But very good at everything. Very tough. Very durable. Never quits. Hard to put down. Hard to discourage and just keep on coming and coming and coming.

Novak for whatever reason is the least popular by far and that annoys him.

His personality is not as smooth as Federer's, or as humble as Nadal. He is somewhere in between and it’s just hard to figure out.

It’s easy to root for this



Or this



But not so much this



I think a lot of it is classism and snobbishness. Novak is a Serb. He's an eastern European. The tennis crowd is mostly European and European Americans. They are more Anglophilic. If Novak was French, Spanish, Scandinavian or American it would be different.

If your an Eastern Europe and you kick ass you're not going to be popular. Go and ask Navratilova or Ivan Lendl.

Now if your on Eastern European that has one or two ass kicking moments like when Goran ivanisevic won Wimbledon in 2001 then o sh*t, the crowd will go nuts for you. Or if your eastern European female and ppl think your attractive ? Like a Maria Sharapova or a Anna Kornikova or a Ana Ivanevic then yeah they'll cut you some slack too.

When Djokovic came to the scene, he was a number 3 player for a long time. Federer and Nadal were winning all the big titles and Djokovic was… just there. He was good, but he wasn’t winning. Obviously, the fandom began to develop for Federer and Nadal at a rapid pace.

So when Djokovic started winning. He was seen as this new kid who was beating their heroes and he was beating them IN THEIR PRIMES.

If a young Djokovic was to come along NOW and start beating Nadal and Federer then it would have been much easier for the crowds to take.

Timing is important. Nadal and Federer came at the right time.

They smoothly took the baton off Sampras and Agassi who were the two dominant players before them and who were bowing out the game. By the time Djokovic started winning most people were already firmly in the Federer or the Nadal camp.

Djokovic has proven that he can play tennis as well as the other two guys. But there is a lot more that goes into making fans love someone. Sometimes the reasons are obvious. And sometimes, they’re not as clear. But that’s just how it works.