So where is the disliked list? It’s unfair to serena to report this without that information, since she is 5th, not first. Sounds like you dislike her.

October 27th, 2012 at 1:16 pm

“Roger Federer Is The Most Liked Athlete In Australia”

Of course he is :-)

Go Fed!

October 27th, 2012 at 1:47 pm

Where is Novak, a three time AO Champion,25 year old and already a legend of Australian Open?

October 27th, 2012 at 2:40 pm

Max- Novak is a great player, but he’s not really very likable, and that’s the measure of the study.

October 27th, 2012 at 3:29 pm

Did Serena apologize for mentally stepping on that linejudge the other day? Talk about lack of character.

She is by many regarded as the most capable female tennis player of all time. Sounds pretty right to me and the case for comparison thus valid.

October 27th, 2012 at 6:41 pm

jeanius, matter of opinion of course….

October 27th, 2012 at 7:17 pm

@Jeanius:

This is a popularity contest, and with all due respect to Novak, he just isn’t as popular as fed or rafa.

At least for now.

So I wouldn’t be surprised at the outcomes of these polls. You usually see the most familiar popular fgures on such list anyway.

For example, what is there not to like about David Ferrer as an athlete in comparison to fed or rafa?

Very little, if anything, and yet you will never see ferrer on such a list- NOT because he is not likable, but more so that he is not as popular as fed or rafa.

October 27th, 2012 at 9:54 pm

Good points Brando. :) Very true about Ferrer. Such a very likeable man, and he’s spent a long time at the top too.

I wish we could see both of the full lists just out of curiosity. But when I went to the hyperlink provided in this article, all I could find out was that this study was done last June. The links to the “full list” didn’t work for me. Oh well.

October 27th, 2012 at 11:02 pm

I personally find Novak to be quite charismatic and super likeable but maybe that’s just me…

October 27th, 2012 at 11:17 pm

I don’t know how they conducted study but not to have any NRL or AFL player in top 10, doesn’t make a sense and to have swimers who underperformed badly this year including Stosur doesn’t make sense, but than again everything depend on a profile of people who participated if that is a way this study has been done, or when, not necessairaly this year.

October 28th, 2012 at 12:03 am

Stoser? Makes perfect sense….. isn’t she Australian? I would expect the country to be somewhat biased of there beloved players. This was an Australian poll, no? Knowing that, it still shows Fed”s global appeal, kudos to tthe GOAT.

I am sure if you do a Serbian poll In Serbia Nole would get the majority votes, no?

BTW, Where was Hewitt in the voting? Thought he was a beloved Aussie….

October 28th, 2012 at 12:45 am

Roger is the most liked athlete in Australia fantastic,Rafa came in at 4th,so pleased for him,just goes to show whatever peoples feelings are about the guy,he must be doing something right.

October 28th, 2012 at 3:11 am

skeezer,

Roger is not problem, we all know how is he greeted when he plays around world;)
You have to live here to know that only sport that is popular allover Australia is cricket, all other sports are divided between states. Victoria and South Australia is AFL heartland and New South Wales and Queensland is NRL heartland and you have also Rugby Union, three different sport. Tennis is nowhere near any of this sports when it comes to popularity.
If you take ordinary person from working class western Sydney (where majority 4,5 million people live)no tennis or
swimmers will have enough votes compare to Footy or cricket , and also Glen and Adam retired from test cricket in 2007/08 that was my point thinking that this study was done before and didn’t include majority of ordinary Australians. When I talk to my friends about tennis they are not to interesting and don’t care much and Stosur is not really high on their list.
So don’t worrie I wasn’t puting down Roger, I wouldn’t dare to do that not here on TX, I just don’t think that list is accurate for this moment and yes I live here and have problem to explain my Aussie friends why I like tennis so much and not Footy (though I follow NRL) or cricket or AFL, that is more or less sports #1 #2 #3 and then there is big gap before other sports come

October 28th, 2012 at 6:22 am

Wog Boy: I like most sports if they’re played well and exciting to watch…..yep, even Ryder Cup..;)
Glued to Ashes, 6 nations etc.

October 28th, 2012 at 6:25 am

Margot, Hi:)

I am convert when it comes to NRL, it took me while to understand why the people keep puting their head up the other people’s back side, why they keep bashing each other every now and then on the pitch, when I moved house next to former wellknown NRL player everything changed. I got hooked and I love the sport. It not played anywhere else but mid England (as I was told) Australia, NZ and other Polynesian countries. NRL is public shool sport and Rugby Union is private school sport, that is what they say.
I tried to get into cricket but it didn’t work.
Rugby Union is OK, AFL (Aussie rules) is also fun to watch. I even went ones with my American coustomers in the place in NW Queensland, midlle of nowhere almost desert, to watch camel races. Believe it or not it was fun, the name of the place is Boulia try to find it on map:) You can see the end of the world how flat and treeless is the place and also famous min min lights:)

October 28th, 2012 at 7:03 am

@Wog Boy
Will look up Boulia, sounds intriguing.
Camel racing? You got me there lol. Don’t like horse racing either tbh.
Love your description of NRL. Am still at that very early stage of appreciation(?)that u describe so accurately….
Even am interested in sailing now, thanx to Ben Ainslie, UK’s gr8est Olympian IMHO though Hoy close, and follow America’s Cup.

October 28th, 2012 at 7:42 am

I would also like to see the dislike list. It makes sense to see the australians there. That would be quite normal in any country to vote their home stars. Fed and Rafa are pretty much popular everywhere. I also like Casey Stoner. I shame he is retiring this year.

October 28th, 2012 at 9:43 am

Alex,

You are right, Casey went out with a big bang winning sixth Australian GP in a row yesterday at Phillip Island and at 27 retired, Honda revealed that they offered him $15 million to keep him and if he accepted he would be best payed man in Honda, more than any Honda F1 driver ever, but he knocked it back saying his family is more important to him and that he lost passion for sport.
Fair dinkum Aussie, good luck to him whatever he decides to do in future.

October 28th, 2012 at 7:26 pm

It is very funny to see Serena accused of being a “whinger”, that favorite Aussie word. The fact is, the Aussies themselves are without doubt the biggest whingers on the face of the earth. Look at a forum like the one on Sportal, and you’ll find it consists largely of moans about one thing or another. But if you point this out, they say YOU are whinging!

Skeezer, Hewitt was never a beloved Aussie. He was unpopular even in his prime, though he is now somewhat admired for his fighting spirit in the face of many injuries and advancing age.

October 29th, 2012 at 9:27 am

Of all the tennis fans in the world, I like the Australians the most because they know what good tennis is, and they’re always very fair, and they don’t like poor sportsmanship.

I also like the French, because they really know their tennis, and they don’t like players who take themselves a little too seriously.

October 29th, 2012 at 12:25 pm

Colin,

Don’t be so harsh. Aussies just like to beat England in every sport England invented and they are prrety good in doing that:)

But to prove you they love England is referendum in 90s when majority of Aussies voted for Queen Elizabeth to stay as o head of state and keep Union Jack on the flag.

I am neutral, I am not of Anglo-saxon background.

October 29th, 2012 at 4:28 pm

they are so right about Serena Williams, i cannot stand her one single bit, she has no character or likeable quality whatsoever, just a spoilt brat who cries on tap.. even when she loses a point she is in tears thesedays, thankfully for her… her competition is dire since Hingis and Henin left the sport

October 29th, 2012 at 7:18 pm

Wog Boy, how are Australia pretty good at beating England/GBR in every sport? remind me -

who won the last ashes series?

who won the rugby world cup final in 2003?

who won 29 gold medals at the Olympics and which country was lagging behind on 7 (SEVEN! lol) golds?

who won a tennis GS most recently.. Hewitt or Murray?

who won a formula 1 world title more recently.. Webber or Button?

who replaced the Aussie as the Tour De France champion in 2012, where was he from again?

October 29th, 2012 at 7:23 pm

mike,

First that was joke that I heard here when my friends, Aussie and English, use to tease each other over a drink in the pub. I am neither Aussie nor English but liked to listen to them debating.
Second, it was about three sports, cricket, rugby league and rugby union. I don’t follow cricket but from what I heard Aussies were better until recently, about rugby league no need to waste time, rugby union very similar. We are talking overall results not cherry picking from last few years, particulary because my pub days are all but gone. If you don’t mind check previous Olympic games not just this year one, that is same as if I take Sydney 2000 as example, no cherry picking, that includes cricket results etc:)
Point is that it is fun to listen to them (Aussie and English) when they get stuck in to each other after few drinks particulary about cricket and some other things. I didn’t found real animosity in the group of the people I am socializing with, just fun and that is the way it should be, after all they are first cousins and same system, Westminster one. If that is not the case the would get rid of Queen long time ago, including Union Jack on the flag and became republic, but Australians choose not to and keep in your mind that 20-30% of Australians are with no Anglo-saxon backround.
At the and of the day it is only sport:) Cheer up

October 29th, 2012 at 7:55 pm

mike,

You made me going to wiki to check who was really right in those pub debates and I have to tell you Aussie were right:
- Who won most Ashes series….. Aussie, 31

-Who won more rugby world cups…. again Aussie, 2

-I even went to check medal tally from Olympic games, I went as far as Barcelona1992, better don’t go there particulary Atlanta 1996. GBR was better only in Bejing 2008(what is normal since they were getting ready for London) and of course this year, all the other years Australia is well ahead of UK when it comes to olympic games. Population was almost three times smoller.
BTW, I watched British and Irish Lions in 2001 in Australia, do I have to remind you who won series and in what style.They are coming next year, I will give them more chances this time since Australia is not playing its best.

Last but not least, how many GS titles won UK in last 70 or so years and how many Australia, both male and females:)
I know for UK….1 (one), I am too lazy to count Aussies ones, I leave it to you.
Cheers

October 29th, 2012 at 9:10 pm