Roger Federer Named 2014 ATP Fan Favorite; Murray, Bryans, Coric Also Win Awards

Federer! Fed is still the most watched and loved player on the planet, amazing.
Congrats to all the other recipients also, like seeing all other categories.

November 6th, 2014 at 10:40 am

Congrats to all of the winners!

November 6th, 2014 at 10:58 am

I really think Federer should have also won the award for the most improved player of the year,
and the comeback player of the year, and the humanitarian award, and the doubles award. He had twins this year, didn’t he?

November 6th, 2014 at 11:06 am

^ ha ha polo; doubles indeed. :)

November 6th, 2014 at 11:15 am

Lol at the Stefan edberg winners roll call shot there….reminds one of rafa at Rolland garros. Fed dominating there and rafa sticking out like a sore thumb akin to Fed at rg in 09′ lol! Jokes aside: congrats to Fed and all the winners.

November 6th, 2014 at 11:20 am

It’s actually insane that he won by 65%.

November 6th, 2014 at 11:20 am

Polo
I agree with you about comeback player of the year but goffin did have a great comeback as well. I think he was in hot streak until he meet roger in Basel finals.
But it is unbelievable that fed is the still the most loved tennis player in the world.
I still remember the day when I first saw him play against gonzaliz. I knew nothing about tennis back then. But still I became his fan at first sight :)

November 6th, 2014 at 11:21 am

Congrats to all the winners and it just shows how much the other players admire Federer and just what he means to the sport and his fans.

Also happy to see that Nadal is up and about after his surgery.

November 6th, 2014 at 12:24 pm

Big congrats to all the award winners….

November 6th, 2014 at 12:29 pm

No surprise to see Skeeze jumping with him pompoms in the first post.

Note: I also have fans.

November 6th, 2014 at 1:51 pm

Gollum is back.

November 6th, 2014 at 1:57 pm

HR. Lol. Do you think his pompoms were red and white?

November 6th, 2014 at 1:59 pm

How the hell did dimitrov finish ahead of nole? Does anyone really think he’s more popular? And muzza not in top 5: wtf!

November 6th, 2014 at 2:04 pm

on facebook grigor has about 560,000 fans whereas nole has 10 times as many with 5.5 million and andy has nearly 3 mill. so who the hell hit the girgor vote button so many times, ha ha.

November 6th, 2014 at 2:48 pm

They are all popular with their own fan bases….

November 6th, 2014 at 2:56 pm

I do like Fabio,but i have to wonder,if he or Gulbis ever won an award like this,would the sport of tennis lose all sense of credibility?

November 6th, 2014 at 2:58 pm

I know i will be throwing a stone on a hornets nest,but didnt some Fed fans go absolutely ape once when Tiger Woods won some award by beating Roger?

November 6th, 2014 at 3:02 pm

Federer has been selected by his peers as winner of the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award for a 10th time and by fans as the ATPWorldTour.com Fans’ Favourite presented by Moët & Chandon for a 12th straight year. Since 2003, Federer has won a record total of 29 ATP World Tour Awards.

Amazing Federer!

Skeezer! *Gollom is back*. Hilarious! :)

November 6th, 2014 at 3:03 pm

I think all know as common knowledge Fed is most popular. Rafa 2nd- but even his harshest critic will cede he’s a lot more popular than these polls suggest- but more than anything: nole and Andy are way more popular than suggested by these results. The truth is: success= popularity. Nobody supports for a no hoper generally in popular sports and with Fed being GOAT he’s got these polls on lock- understandably- but the others are way more popular than suggested. I know Fed campaigned on Twitter with references to this: did rafa, nole, muzza do so? Anyone in the know as to how such polls work?

November 6th, 2014 at 3:20 pm

This remainds me on Eurovision song votes, until recently it was a joke.

November 6th, 2014 at 4:02 pm

Okay, here goes:

Upon clicking on this thread and seeing the article, at the mention of ROGER FEDERER’S win of the STEFAN EDBERG award I noticed RF’s tweet and I thought to myself:

Hang on Brando: Saying you are humbled and then posting a snapshot of your number of wins in a particular award is a bit of contradiction by RF isn’t it?

Could someone possibly call that snapshot- perhaps- a touch arrogant, showing off? Maybe that it contradicts with the following claim of being ‘humbled’?

Surely I am not the only one who finds some funny contradiction in the act of posting his W’s and claims of being ‘humbled’. I considered those musings rather rational, humane but dare not voice them at the time since even if they are reasonable- like any reasonable individual would surely agree with- I still fear misinterpretation and accusation of being a ‘hater’. So i thought:

Best stay schtum and if someone else mentions it then maybe touch upon it.

BOOM: Someone did and it surprised me:

A major news provider- USA TODAY- with the major writer CHRIS CHASE providing a full blown article on this matter in a major publication. A first of it’s kind that I have honestly seen. Headline:

” Roger Federer’s patented brand of humble bragging reaches new heights!”

Wow. So I was not the only one who found this claim of being ‘humbled’ a touch out of sync with that tweet photo. Thank goodness! Here’s a particular gem I thought in this excellent write up:

” It’s too bad there’s not an award for “Best Achievement in Sincere Tweeting That Comes Across Like The World’s Worst Humblebrag,” because Federer would have won that too”

LMFAO!

This bit sums up well- I feel- why some may have labeled him a ‘arrogant’ or ‘arrotard’ I feel quite possibly, over to you Chris:

”This tweet is the perfect encapsulation of all things Federer. It displays his greatness, the adoration he receives and his relative lack of awareness that his earnest sincerity often leads to accusations of cockiness. ”

”Federer already knows you know how great he is. He just wants to thank you for realizing it.”

I LOL’d hard at that one! But my personal fav- and also Chris’s- in this gem of a article- classic Fed ‘humbleness’, great modesty on display here:

”“It would be great having [Pete Sampras’ record for most weeks at No. 1] but my life is very much OK without it, too. Pete is a good friend and was an amazing champion for our game. I DON’T NEED TO BREAK EVERY RECORD HE HAS.“

LMFAO: Classic Fed!

Chris brilliantly also touches upon how these awards may work, by citing when Rafa won in 2010 and what he may have possibly done to have broken Fed’s streak. It seems he only had to be successful rather than be a particularly great sportsmen to win the award. Raises the question:

Does success, popularity on tour favour the winner of the award more than their actual behaviour?

Akin to politics: campaign $$$, advertising, big company support > Policies.

Could be. Incidentally:

I checked on the social media website FACEBOOK- a reasonable barometer to gauge popularity many feel- to see how popular our 2 great Champions are on that front and presently I found:

ROGER FEDERER- 14.7 Million followers
RAFAEL NADAL- 14.8 Million followers

Kinda shocked Rafa has him beat here. Also on twitter (I think?) which is surprising since Fed- seemingly according to the fan polls- with a near 66% vote margin seems to indicate he has no real rivals in popularity. SO it’s shocking to see that Nadal may not be as far off as that poll suggested!

Anyhow the more interesting thing I found there was the respective players personal bio:

Rafa’s about section:

Links to his website and listing of his interest of football, music, films, fishing etc. Seemingly low key wouldn’t you agree?

Fed’s about section:

”Roger is a Swiss professional tennis player. Many sports analysts, tennis critics, and former and current players consider Federer to be the greatest tennis player of all time.”

LMFAO Roger:

Truly Sport’s last of the great, humble Champions!

This is all in good fun, humour and nothing offensive so make of it what you will. It’s your discretion. Here’s the link:

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/11/roger-federer-awards-tweet-humble-twitter-sportsmanship-favorite

PS: I thought Chris’s choice’s of the photos was spot on for this write up, lol!

November 6th, 2014 at 6:19 pm

@BGP – thanks for the link. I had fun reading the article and even though I’m a Fed fan, I agree with much of it. He has every right to #humblebrag. :-)

November 6th, 2014 at 6:28 pm

Wow:

Okay, now I am genuinely shocked at how the media- major, mainstream media- has considered Roger Federer to be arrogant, aloof at times.

Just a simple google search of: ”Roger Federer Arrogant” lo and behold the results:

”The undeniable arrogance of Roger Federer’ by TIM JOYCE:

‘ Federer worship that has permeated coverage the entirety of Federer’s career; that is, failing to acknowledge the arrogant and passive aggressive nature of Federer’s demeanor – behaviors that too often border on the narcissistic and entitled.

The media has forever relentlessly uttered superlatives regarding Federer’s “sportsmanship” and “classy demeanor.” But, while he usually comports himself very admirably on court, Federer’s snarkier comments and questionable acts are often overlooked,’

‘ I’ve also spoken to other tennis journalists off-the-record who feel that Federer’s responses to their questions often take on a tone of passive aggressive bullying. But you’ll rarely find a tennis writer say such a thing for fear of banishment from the establishment.”

WOW!

http://www.realclearsports.com/articles/2014/09/03/
the_undeniable_arrogance_of_federer.html#.VFwC_jSsWSo

That’s America, here’s a major UK Paper, THE INDEPENDENT:

‘No, the point is that Federer was being arrogant – and not for the first time. After Andy Murray gave him a thrashing in Cincinnati, he responded, “There’s no reason to be [disappointed] because I’m on an incredible run. You always expect a loss once in a while. So when it happens, why be disappointed if I win over 90 per cent of my matches?”‘

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/roger-federer-hero-or-villain-7922337.html

I found the existence of such articles, in major, worldwide publications such USA TODAY, THE INDEPENDENT among others to be very, very surprising to see.

Seeking some video footage on youtube to see IF there is any visual evidence of this and the first result for: ROGER FEDERER ARROGANT produces this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBnop7Rcz5g

Now please ignore the ridiculous imagery, music but that moment of him starting at the umpire was genuinely shocking for me to see.

There were many, many other videos of shocking acts for me to see of this supposedly perfect, record breaking sportsmanship player engaging in but here’s a funny one that I truly LMAO at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Xg8l5hQhRQ

ROFL!

But seriously barring that last video, all this has been done without any real personal comment so I can lead upto this question to ask you folks:

IF Federer was not as successful as he was do you see him winning the Sportsmanship award and that too in such a great amount?

Is his behaviour genuinely so superior than say a DAVID FERRER that it warrants so many wins or is it that his pedigree as a winner, popularity raises him above others in the spotlight?

Thoughts?

November 6th, 2014 at 6:51 pm

@RZ: lol no worries glad you enjoyed it, that to a Fed fan!:-)

November 6th, 2014 at 7:03 pm

Theoretically speaking, sportsman spirit doesn’t really have much to do with ranking. I mean the Sportsmanship award has to go to the player who displays the highest degree of sportsman spirit. In this regard, take Dr. Ivo, can anybody say he doesn’t display the same level of sportsmanship as Federer ? I’ve hardly seen him getting embroiled in an argument. Monfils, the entertainer, displays a great degree of sportsmanship from my perspective.

The award is not to be given to the person who wins the most, but displays the greatest degree of sportsmanship. I find it hard to believe that there was nobody on tour who displayed higher sportsmanship than Fed all these years. I’m not even making a case for Nole, or the other big guns.

It’s a sportsmanship award, not the elegance-excellence-exquisiteness award , for which Fed would be the prime candidate.

Apologies to Fed fans for this rant but had to let it out.

November 6th, 2014 at 7:44 pm

@Patson:

Great post and I completely agree!

I find it laughable that in all of these years only Rafa has been able to beat Fed to this award! That’s just plain ridiculous IMO!

Don’t get me wrong: I think Rafa is a great sportsman, worthy of any reward he receives for it, ditto with Fed but come on now:

Fed wins every year and the only year he gets beat is coincidentally by his biggest rival, i.e. 2nd most famous player on tour and that to in a 3 peat year!

what did Rafa do so unique in that year which he has not managed in other years? Where did Fed slip up so badly in 2010 to not win like every year?

LOL: methinks not much different from both as in any other given year. And honestly:

How can one objectively- seeing as this more of a matter of conduct, behaviour than anything else- say that KARLOVIC, FERRER, NISHIKORI, DIMITROV, CILIC, POSPISIL, ISNER etc and whole load of others have not been atleast a equal to Fed in conduct and likewise rafa in 10′ in all of these years?

You just cannot!

My take:

Most of these awards are lazy judgments that see- as per usual- the successful, popular, dominant players on tour winning such titles.

I mean would Fedal’s conduct be any lesser if they had not been so successful on tour? Of course not.

But would they win such awards if they had not be so successful and enjoy legendary status on tour?

I doubt they would win at all! Certainly in such a ridiculously dominant fashion!

No offense Fed fans and congrats to your fav for winning it but if you take sentiment, emotion out of the equation and look the title of ‘Sportsmanship’ and even you’ll cede that:

Hang on, surely some guy on tour in atleast one year must have shown superior behaviour or atleast equal to Fedal to win such a award?

Ultimately:

I think this award- like most such awards based on voting to measure something ultimately we cannot (Oscars)- is ultimately a popularity contest.

Fedal being the most popular personnel on tour has more to do with them winning such awards as opposed to sheer merit of their conduct. They are impressive:

But NEVER to such a ridiculous extent!

Out!

November 6th, 2014 at 8:07 pm

Patson,
Of course, such thoughts visited heads of many Roger’s fans. Ten consecutive times looks somewhat weird or even ridiculous. And really, “the award is not to be given to the person who wins the most”, as it at least seems, isn’t it?
But…would it make true sense to give this award to someone who could not win big? You see, who cares that some #485, OK, or #58 has excellent manners and never behaves bad? Did he face that level of competition, being exposed on the central courts and media headlines with all the cruel scrutiny weak by weak for many years, etc? Are you sure that your former #low would preserve his exemplary sportsmanship after big wins? Who knows.
So, there is some logic in selecting among the winners. They are checked by their enormous success. Sure, on the way to the top each of them made some mistakes, etc. ATP players (who vote!) know their bright and dark sides very well, this is in fact a very tight community, capable of evaluating “who is who”. That their opinion coincide with that of the fan masses for so long (more than decade! and WB, it’s not a Eurovision joke!) is truly amazing. Say what you want but…
That said, I’d rather restricted this (SE) award by three or maximum five times to the same player. That would be more than enough.

November 6th, 2014 at 8:51 pm

hi patson, is it the case that the players can vote only for whomever is nominated, and that the atp itself makes the nominations?

if so, then they are to blame for not nominating the ferrers, dr. ivos, etc of the tour.

someone on another tennis site brought up the sponsorship of moet as possibly impacting, but i haven’t read anything about the offical rules process at the atp site.

this is just stuff i’ve read in comment sections.

the humanitarian award seems to pass through various players: i think all of the big 4 have now won it, for example.

November 6th, 2014 at 9:15 pm

Chris chase? Lol. A pure fed hater if u look at his history. Probably got fired from yahoo for posting trash

November 6th, 2014 at 10:10 pm

These polls are probably rigged…..who would ever know the difference? They are essentially popularity contests and the person with the biggest fan base will win, having said that, it doesn’t mean that the recipient of the said award is the best sportsman…..just the most popular one! That is Okiegal’s logic…..for what it’s worth…..lol

November 6th, 2014 at 10:24 pm

Why all this bickering about the sportsmanship award? Do these non-Federer fans really care so much for this award? I’m a Federer fan and it’s not really something I pay too much attention to. If Federer never won it, it would not change a whit how I admire him as a tennis player. Nice to have but it’s not really something to be discombobulated about. To do so is just being, well, unsportsmanlike.

November 6th, 2014 at 10:27 pm

Okiegal,

sportsmanship award is voted by atp players not fans

and for those surprised about dimitrov being more popular than novak, i’d like to say to them one can vote for a player MULTIPLE times if he/she has MULTIPLE e-mail accounts and choses to vote for their fav (i’m not sure if they would allow only 1 vote from 1 IP adress). Which makes the fan fav award lose its importance as it may not be as accurate as the ATP tells us

November 6th, 2014 at 11:26 pm

Apparently posters don’t take the time to research the facts before they mouth off with really, jealous hateful comments. It’s a shame a few try to dishonor a moment in tennis history that probably will never be repeated in their lifetime. Yes, that is how good Fed is, and that is how good Fed is as a role model and sportsmen in the Tennis game.

There is no conspiracy, laughable really, with the few Fed dislikes here, they constantly cling to it cause they are in denial. And this Brando charactor is the queen pile on with no gonads, trying to say “joke” when she means otherwise.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2014/Moet-ATP-Awards/2014-ATP-Awards-Winners.aspx

The PLAYERS vote for the best sportsmen, not some Fed fantasy induced brainwashed minions.

Congrats Fed, for stamping another all time best award!!

November 6th, 2014 at 11:49 pm

@Sirius….Thanks, I stand corrected. I voted for Rafa the other day, not sure what it was, I suppose fan favorite since only the players vote for the sportsmanship award. I stay confused most of the time…..lol…..You are right Skeezer, I didn’t do enough research before I mouthed off…..I will try to do better in the future.

My ploy worked again….dissing Fed in any way, shape form or fashion will get a response! I haven’t gotten a response lately just wanted to see if I could……LOL> Okey Dokey??

Congrats to Fed on being the player that is the favorite of all the other players… that is a huge honor!!

November 7th, 2014 at 12:47 am

OK,
All good, good luck to your fav in 2015.

November 7th, 2014 at 1:09 am

Let me just say that I’m not a Fed hater. I’m actually a Fed admirer who happens to be a Nole fan.

@Leon

There is precedent of giving the Edberg award to not-so-famous folks. Paradorm Schripaun won it 2002 and 2003. He was ranked 18 in 2002 and 11 in 2003. Now, just because Federer has been the icon of the game should not work against somebody who isn’t as popular as him but plays the game in the spirit it should be played.

Having said this, my rant is meaningless because players voted for Fed, and they know best.

So, congrats Fed. Now, I’ll go to sleep.

@Skeezer

Here, take a candy :)

November 7th, 2014 at 1:19 am

@Patson,
Don’t think I need to explain myself twice, but…
“Here, take a candy :)”
That wasn’t nice. And the context of you’re post(s)stands as such. No need for explanation.
Good luck to Nole in WTF and beyond, he is величанствен.

November 7th, 2014 at 1:27 am

Okiegal,

you’re welcome :)

November 7th, 2014 at 1:35 am

@Skeezer

Sorry but you seem to have lumped me into the ‘jealous hater’ category alongside others, and that wasn’t nice.

Have a good night.

November 7th, 2014 at 1:45 am

I don’t see a problem with some of us who don’t think these awards (both of them) are such a big thing. In 20-30 years time the onli thing that people will talk about and will remember is number 17, how many weeks as #1, how many year end #1, in the other words the results on the court and not fan favorite or whatever, same as we remember today Laver, Nastase, Connors, Borgs results on court and nothing else, That is what I admire about Federer. So I think Patson previous post is spot on…except for Monfils:)

Leon, sorry, it is like Eurovison song contest voting, particulary fan favorite, joke! Who is going te send more SMS or whatever. It Idol thing, or X-factor you name it.
Good on you Federer fans, enjoy your man awards, I hope I will enjoy the most important one, Year End #1, if not I will come bac to conratulate you:)

November 7th, 2014 at 1:46 am

@Skeezer…..Thanks….it’s been a bummer of a year for us Rafa fans…..but he might rise to the occasion and have a year like 2013……and maybe not! Whatever the outcome, I’m anxious for the Aussie Open. Good luck to Fed….he’s been an interesting follow this year, I must admit. It’s gonna be fun to see how it all plays out!

November 7th, 2014 at 1:47 am

IM-not-so-HO Nishikori would be a very deserving winner of the “Sportsman of the Year” award. Never seen him argue with the ref., never seen him over celebrate his wins or moan about his losses. Is quiet and calm in his demeanor and respectful to the other players.
He’s a pocket rocket shooting star, he is.

November 7th, 2014 at 1:57 am

@Margot

True that. Alas, the voting players thought otherwise.

November 7th, 2014 at 1:58 am

“I don’t see a problem with some of us who don’t think these awards (both of them) are such a big thing”
True…..but…
Hey now, if Nole won them 10 years in a row?
Naw, not special.?
There are! …in a compilation of all the other awards, just do the wiki thing. But hey, what do I know?

November 7th, 2014 at 2:02 am

Do you all think Murray cares, or Coric, or the Bryans? Sorry, think they do!

November 7th, 2014 at 2:04 am

I want any objective Federer fan to tell me what Federer did better in 2011 and why Nole couldn’t get “Sportsman of the Year” in 2011? Did he abuse anybody, players, ballgirls, umpires… appart of abusing Roger’s and Rafa’s right to be the best in the world:)
I know why but I will not go there, that is why I don’t have much of respect for that kind of awards, fullstop.

November 7th, 2014 at 2:06 am

@Wog Boy

2011 …. aaaaaaaah sweet memories!

November 7th, 2014 at 2:09 am

i still don’t get the rules. aren’t players nominated for the sportsmanship award first and then the voting happens? and if so who nominates? the atp or players or what? i assume there is a limit for the nominations too?

November 7th, 2014 at 2:18 am

@jane

Great question. Who nominates the nominees ? I do not know.

One possibility – and I’m just guessing here – could be that all the players on the tour nominate the nominees, and then ATP picks the top 4. This is then followed the same players voting amongst the 4 players again. But then , this doesn’t make sense because why have the players vote twice. They can get rid of the nominations to begin with. The player who nominated Federer would vote for Federer again the second time, unless the player suffers from a severe form of Dementia and/or dual personality disorder.

Anyway, this was again a meaningless rant. I really need to go to sleep.

November 7th, 2014 at 2:27 am

@Margot…..agree that Kei should be a candidate for the sportsman award…..I think he is the nicest guy on tour. He has a great demeanor on court, rather shy acting. I certainly don’t think racquet smashers should even be considered……but in lieu of the fact that most of the tennis players are guilty of doing it, guess it makes no never mind!! I know my guy has never been guilty of that….now he’s got after the umps lots of times….so where to draw the line is the question. But when I really think about the fact that the players select the winner, I’m surprised they choose Roger every year….curious to know how many actually vote.

November 7th, 2014 at 2:49 am

wog boy @ 2:06

may be the Magical Time Out at USO final 2011 after the 3rd set loss….? ;)

November 7th, 2014 at 2:57 am

Sirius, are you serious? :)) (re: post @2.57)

Nole was injured. He came to the tournament injured. If I can freshen your memory up, he gave up the fight in Cincy final as well as later, in Davis Cup against Argentina. It was obvious to all that he was hurting. He missed a good chunk of the fall season, part of the year when he performs the best. The injury got worse in each match at the USO.

November 7th, 2014 at 3:26 am

Sirius, either that or bathroom brake at AO when you have a problem with sun moving across the court…and you oponent is playing lights out;)

November 7th, 2014 at 3:52 am

Would anybody like to have a wager with me that fed will NOT win either of these Awards next year?
Too much exposure this year, too many questions that cannot be answered. I think the ATP will deprive fed next year and probably resume this hocus pocus in 2016.

November 7th, 2014 at 3:53 am

^^^” “your oponent”

November 7th, 2014 at 3:53 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2GUpbNKSWs&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Did fed win the awards in 2008? Here he is telling the joker camp to “be quiet”. Lol
Was he a headmaster in another life?

November 7th, 2014 at 4:03 am

I knew you’d say that! Been waiting for it. Probably that’s why he didn’t win the sportsmanship award that year ;)

and fyi berdych said that he voted for rafa instead of roger because of the statement roger made after his loss to berdych in wimbledon. Could be another reason for not winning it!

November 7th, 2014 at 4:19 am

@OK
I don’t mind racquet smashing, it’s often an explosion of understandable frustration. And the OTT way Baggy did it is extremely funny. I also remember a real epic from Roddick.
Now racquet smashing on someone’s head is an entirely different proposition…;)

November 7th, 2014 at 4:51 am

Margot Says:
IM-not-so-HO Nishikori would be a very deserving winner of the “Sportsman of the Year” award. Never seen him argue with the ref., never seen him over celebrate his wins or moan about his losses. Is quiet and calm in his demeanor and respectful to the other players.
He’s a pocket rocket shooting star, he is.

November 7th, 2014 at 1:57 am

Margot, you are right. It’s a cultural thing, don’t you think?

And for the laughs, (and let’s face it, we need a few of those around here!)….here you go:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7kS68T6ptA

It’s baggies cute smiling face at the end, as well as the umpire who is trying very hard not to smile/laugh. It’s worth a minute of everyone’s time!

November 7th, 2014 at 5:22 am

Madmax lol thanks for that link,i remember one day at home i was so angry at something(cant remember what?),that i slammed our back door which had a great big pain of glass in it,and the glass didnt smash which made me even more angry,so i kept on opening and slamming the door till eventually the glass pain smashed to smithereens,then and only then did i actually feel better,im pleased to say i havent actually lost it like that since thankfully lol,so going by Baggys face and the smile i think he must have felt better for getting it out of his system….

November 7th, 2014 at 5:35 am

There is absolutely nothing entertaining watching a player demolish his racquet. This is the tool that earns him his livelihood and he is out there displaying macho ism and thinks he is entertaining the fans. Yes I can see madmax is highly entertained for one. ATP should impose a heavier fine/punishment than at present which is completely laughable. What if splinters catch someone’s eye for example and causes serious damage? Maybe then the ATP will sit up and take notice.

November 7th, 2014 at 6:33 am

Its like the oscars. Each member vote for 5 actors, then the 5 actors with most votes are nominated. After that, each member now can vote for only one actor.
In this case, each ATP player vote for 4 peers. The 4 most voted are nominated and then each player choose 1. Easy, no?

November 7th, 2014 at 7:04 am

And maybe, behind the doors (locker room), Federer is a gentleman, who also happened to be well respected by his peers.

November 7th, 2014 at 7:07 am

If you’re playing bad, it’s the racquet’s fault. This is common knowledge.

November 7th, 2014 at 8:12 am

The price of success!!
The funnies and childish aspect is the ones who dismissed it like if I/my favorite is not winning it doesn’t matter.

Has to be a conspiracy behind it. 65%ofall voters are wrong (no democracy) and most of the tennis players who vote themselves to nominee and than to choose won are wromg as well. It has to be!!

The only part I agree is since Fed has the most matches played and probably have played against almost every other player on tour the chance that his success interfer is big. For example a qualifier who have faced Fed before in a big stage and walked with him in locker room will know him better than Dimiwtrov who has less than 100-200 matches played. So in this regard his popularity play a factor and tis particular p,ayer is more inclined to vote towards Fed than Dimi.

But if he was the arrogant beast some portrays him he would not be winning by majority. Fact!

Agree that Kei is the most exemplar player on court. But he has less macth played than most. When you consider the amount of matches Fed played more than 1100, Nadal more than 800, Djokovic more than 700 is ease to evaluate that Fed behaved better statiscally than the other two most acomooished players of today. If we start listing all things they did bad Djoko and Nadal have more cons than Fed (retiring mid match, inumerous suspiscious time outs, incidents with audience, injurys drama, etc…). I think this outweight the: “be quiet”, “smashing racquet at the net” (which Djoko did inumerous times”, AO time out and some arguing with umpire as they all had done at some point, more than once in tense matches.

So if we give a simple evaluation by the number of matches played and number of times there were some “bad sportmanship” incident I think is clear Fed had fewer than Nadal and Djoko hence he success with this awards and the other two hardly getting nominated. And I bet 2010 when Nadal won it was by a close margin against Federer after Nadal’s tremendous year.

I know its an empirical aproach but to me makes sense.

November 7th, 2014 at 8:26 am

Makes sense to me too,Federer won it fair and square and good for him,not an issue for me one way or the other,i congratulated him on the win and i still do,strange that some people are getting their knickers twist over it though….

November 7th, 2014 at 8:52 am

@ Wog Boy
“… sorry, it is like Eurovison song contest voting, particularly fan favorite, joke!”

Nope. Sorry, you miss the core of my remark. Taken alone, it might be considered as such a joke made by stupid and biased fans (btw, like placing Dimitrov ahead of Novak, lol). But in combination with the specialists’ (players’) opinion such a long-term coincidence means something more than a joke, no?

You could argue: to what extent can we rely on the players’ opinion, as well? Are all those young men who are, softly speaking, only moderately educated and very specifically experienced, are they wise enough, especially as compared to a seasoned fan/individual of, say, 50+ y.o.? What do those freaks know about real life?!

But then we’d dig too deep. Better to remind once more that Novak will undoubtedly and deservedly become the year #1 again just in several days (Dimitrov, lol!…). Life’s good.

November 7th, 2014 at 8:56 am

Sportsmanship is more than just behavior on the court during matches. It also has to do with the overall treatment of the sport, and I think this is why Fed wins so often. He has proven to be a wonderful ambassador for tennis, helping newcomers to the sport, assisting the growth of the sport in emerging markets (e.g., playing doubles with a Chinese player in Shanghai last year), and working with tournament staff members. If you read Jon Wertheim’s Tennis Mailbag columns, you’ll see a lot of stories of how Federer has reached out to tournament staff, made himself available to the media, approached up and coming players and offered advice, etc.

November 7th, 2014 at 10:25 am

“Federer won it fair and square …..” LOL
That’s the part a few million others including myself are suspicious about. I personally don’t think there is any sort of valid voting system.

November 7th, 2014 at 10:27 am

In other sports, best sportsmanship is not overtly a popularity contest the way it is in tennis nor directly correlated to the top players but is so in tennis for some reason.

But even in the Top 10, I wouldn’t put any of the Top 4 as showin the best sportsmanship. Of the top 4, for me, that honour would go to Djokovic by a significant Margin.

For fun, I would rank the current top 10 based on 2014 as follows:

1. Cilic
2. Nishikori
3. Raonic
4. Berdych
5. Djokovic
6. Ferrer
7. Federer
8. Nadal
9. Murray
10. Wawrinka

But even in the No. 11-20 players, I’d put Lopez, Bautista Agut, Anderson and Robredo above all but the Top 2 or 3 above.

November 7th, 2014 at 10:30 am

felipe can you show me where you found that info, i.e, that it’s like the oscars? thanks.

madmax, i thought the video was funny. :)

November 7th, 2014 at 11:21 am

RZ,
You nailed it. There is a lot of ignorance displayed here about this award. Notice no one is complaining about the other awards given out either.
Like I said earlier, if Rafa had won it 10 times, we’d have this thread littered with Vamos heads saying how it is the most important award on the entire planet.
Feds deserved every accolade he has.
On another note was surprised to see Andy get the humanitarian award. Didn’t know he was so involved in those things. Congrats to him and am glad they give out this award.

November 7th, 2014 at 11:30 am

mew

November 7th, 2014 at 11:41 am

Another key point is that the Sportmanship award is decided by ATP players. If it was a media or fan favorite award, you could say it’s a popularity contest. But I think we need to respect the decision of the ATP players who have voted for Fed. As his peers, they are in the best position to know whether he deserves the award and clearly they think he does.

November 7th, 2014 at 11:47 am

There seems to be some misinterpratation here.

Federer won the Fan Favorite award with 65% of the votes. That’s fan voted. You go on the ATP site and it’s just a poll. And you can pretty much vote a million times if you clear your browser history over and over.

The Sportsmanship award is voted by the players. I don’t know how it works. But that Nadal fans think it’s rigged is simply hilarious. Just like the draws at the French are rigged for Nadal.

November 7th, 2014 at 12:01 pm

@Elina

I couldn’t place Ferrer in the running period! He pushed an official and hit a ball at a crying baby….no he wouldn’t have made my top ten list. I love to watch him play and like his after match interviews, but a tad high tempered, maybe a Spanish thing?? Regardless of how much we love certain players they all have their flaws I suppose.

I remember the Baggy incident. It was funny. He was putting on a show, nothing more nothing less. He wanted to have a crowd reaction. I really don’t think he was really mad……the grin said it all. I loved to watch him play too…..fun!

November 7th, 2014 at 12:08 pm

Ben Pronin. “Just like the draws at the French are rigged for Nadal” Lol Lol
Now don’t be silly. The French don’t like Nadal remember??

November 7th, 2014 at 12:11 pm

@Skeezer……your post at 2:02 didn’t mention Rafa, you said if Nole had won for the last 10 years?? I guess you are correcting that….I was shocked you said Nole and not Rafa, so you meant Rafa from the get go?? Not to worry, Skeez, being the old wise woman I am, I read between the lines…..I knew what you meant!! LOL. Okey Dokey??

November 7th, 2014 at 12:15 pm

Cilic celebrated his USO win with the notorious fascist singer who promotes the atrocities of the WWII and who’s forbidden to perform in some of the major cities of Croatia, not to mention Austria, Switzerland…

http://www.wiesenthal.com/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=lsKWLbPJLnF&b=4442245&ct=5851329#.VFz8-vnF-cg

After that, this is what he had to say: #proud

http://www.tennis-x.com/xblog/2014-09-17/17100.php

Btw, congrats to the winners. Although we, idividually, may not agree with all the winners, not one of them got it undeservedly.

November 7th, 2014 at 12:20 pm

Okie. I posted a nice vid of Rafa on his thread. Have you seen it?

November 7th, 2014 at 12:21 pm

Why is the word “rigged” a big deal? That word is used over and over on this forum as to tournament seedings. If rigging is possible regarding tournaments, why not awards, the Oscars, dancing with the stars? It’s possible…..but not probable…..but I guess it all makes for a good discussion……the beat goes on…..

November 7th, 2014 at 12:22 pm

@Giles…..no I haven’t….Will scroll up and find it. I love nice vids of Rafa….as I love watching the tennis matches I have recorded…over and over!! Lol…..you understand, no???

November 7th, 2014 at 12:35 pm

@Giles…..scrolled up the only one I found was Fed telling Novak’s family to shut up. Maybe on another thread or they pulled it? What was it about? It’s possible I’ve seen it……not much about Rafa gets past me!! Lol

November 7th, 2014 at 12:44 pm

http://www.tennis-x.com/xblog/2014-11-05/17595.php
Okie. I said Rafa thread. Lol

November 7th, 2014 at 12:52 pm

@Giles…..sorry….I just reread your above post and you said his thread…..I read it “this” thread. I goofed again. I’m with you now…..Will go to his thread. Ignore above posts please! Thanks.

November 7th, 2014 at 1:05 pm

@Giles…..Eureka…..I found it, very good. Thanks for posting. Try to make it easier for me to find next time. Granny is slower than molasses!! Lol Just kidding, of course. My rapid scanning of posts gets me into lots of trouble on here. Get called out about it from time to time…..Oh well…..I’m not perfect!!

November 7th, 2014 at 1:36 pm

@Okie. I wanted to and did post it on the Rafa thread otherwise I would have been accused of hijacking Fed’s thread. Lol

November 7th, 2014 at 1:50 pm

Questions:

1. What did Rafael Nadal do 2010 that led him to winning the SE Award which he seemingly failed to do prior to then and post 2010?

2. What did RF not do in 2010 which he has done in previous years and since then to win this award? Where did his Sportsmanship dip in order to not win the award in 2010?

A lot seems to be said:

Allegations, conspiracy theories etc but hardly anyone seems to be musing these simple questions that I feel arise rather blatantly when looking at that particular award.

It’s supposedly a award given regarding conduct, behaviour on tour. Yet no one seems to be forthcoming with a reasoned assessment on the above raised questions on this particular front.

Just the usual defensive behaviour from some in the face of perfectly reasoned questions being asked by others.

November 7th, 2014 at 2:05 pm

“1. What did Rafael Nadal do 2010 that led him to winning the SE Award which he seemingly failed to do prior to then and post 2010?”
Ask the Players.
“2. What did RF not do in 2010 which he has done in previous years and since then to win this award? Where did his Sportsmanship dip in order to not win the award in 2010?”
Ask the Players.

Any other outstanding questions?

November 7th, 2014 at 2:14 pm

@Giles 1:50

True dat!! Lol

November 7th, 2014 at 2:14 pm

In 2010, Nadal won three slams and finished No. 1 which will make most players the most… sportsmanlike.

That’s about what it takes to surpass Roger’s popul… I mean sportsmanship!

November 7th, 2014 at 2:30 pm

In 2010, Nadal won three slams and finished No. 1 which will make most players the most… sportsmanlike.

That’s about what it takes to surpass Roger’s popul… I mean sportsmanship!

November 7th, 2014 at 2:30 pm

@elina,
I thought Nole did the same and more in 2011 and didn’t get it, right?
Obviously this award doesn’t depend on what you you do on the court, it is subjective, mater of lobbying, having big sponsors (uniqlo can’t match nike), corporate world running the show, and of course whether you are boy from east or west, one Kafelnikov can’t get into the hall of fame, though he will be among the nominees next year, and we have no names in there. It would be different thing if he took British offer (after DC match with UK) to swap the countries.

November 7th, 2014 at 3:06 pm

^^ ” It would be different thing if he took British offer (after DC match with UK) to swap the countries.” Nole, not Kafelnikov.

November 7th, 2014 at 3:09 pm

Wog Boy, all very good points indeed.

November 7th, 2014 at 3:45 pm

Funny, I thought the pklayers vote for this award, not sponsors.

November 7th, 2014 at 4:35 pm

How many players do we have from the west and how many from the east that vote? This world is still very divided place as much as we like to look through rose coloured glasses. Trust me, I lived half of my life in the east and the other half in the west and I am not a spring chicken.

Nole won “Laureus World Sports Award for Sportsman of the Year” for his results in 2011 and yet he couldn’t win “Sportsman of the Year” in 2011, enough said…about objectivity. For the first one results matters, for the second one results didn’t matter but what I said in my 3:06pm post.
Now tell me, what Federer did better then Nole or Rafa in 2011, 2012, 2013 and so far in 2014, and yet he won this award every single year.
How can I respect tennis award that doesn’t take into account tennis results?

November 7th, 2014 at 5:13 pm

which award are you taking about wog boy? sportsmanship one of fan one? the fan one is just a button and you can vote once for each email you have according to someone above (ben i think? ). it’s still perplexing that grigor is ahead of nole and murray to me in this category, given that they have way more fans on Facebook, as i noted, and i am sure that many of their fans would vote for them.

as for the sportsmanship award, i just wish there was some way we could know who nominates the players that the rest then have to vote for.

felipe said above that it’s like the oscars.

but i read elsewhere that it’s actually the powers-that-be in the ATP who choose 3 or 4 players, put the names on a card, and then the rest of the players have to vote openly (i.e., they sign their names, it’s not a closed ballot) for whom they choose. so yes, they vote, but only from the pre-selected possibles.

i don’t know if either of these theories is even true and as skeezer suggested i tried to research it but could find nothing at ATP, wiki, or wherever on the process.

November 7th, 2014 at 5:25 pm

*or fan one (not of)

November 7th, 2014 at 5:26 pm

wog boy, according to the atp page the sportsmanship award is not based on results; these are the quoted criteria:

“The player who, throughout the year, conducted himself at the highest level of professionalism and integrity, who competed with his fellow players with the utmost spirit of fairness and who promoted the game through his off-court activities.”

November 7th, 2014 at 5:29 pm

^ based on that the nominees this year were

marin cilic
grigor dimitrov
kei nishikori
and federer

all i really want to know is how they come up with this list of nominees. that’s all.

November 7th, 2014 at 5:31 pm

Marketing comes into play with such awards. Take the fan award for example: Fed campaigned for it tweeting about it reminding his fans to vote. Anything wrong with that? Of course not. Not in a million years. Rafa, nole to my knowledge did not. Now one can never say with certainty in these mattters but its widely accepted that after Fed, rafa is the most popular player on the tour. From a business standpoint even Miami Masters director stated fedal are the biggest draw in the game, when they withdraw $$$ go down the drain. Now this is understandable as they are the 2 most successful players on tour. But even this Nadal fans cedes that nole probably would finish at least 2nd in the fan poll purely considering his support in China. I mean goodness’s sake: at least ahead of grigor with that voting block. So it does raises so.e questions: what comprises of the voting block? How mmuch focused, gained from each corner of the world? How much does marketing/ advertising come into play? Are some players and their management more proactive in such matters in terms of campaigning than others? Etc. These are- I feel- rather valid questions to ask regarding such matters and hardly offensive in any manner so I see no cause for one to see as such and definitely not be defensive about it. I’ll end with this example: the Oscars. The biggest popularity contest on the planet. Many on face value actually believe the notion. That the best performance always wins, artistic merit is what reigns in the end. But in reality: that’s complete BS. Many industry insiders actually admit that the individuals who campaign the most, have their studio advertise them heavily to voting blocks, play the game of promotion (being charming etc) tend to win even if their performance is mediocre. Ditto politics: your mandate matters less and less now in comparison to how much $$$$$ you got to throw at the contest to buy votes via various means of promotion. So it would hardly be a surprise that these poll’s- undeniably a popularity contest like others just mentioned- actually play out along the same lines. Far more stranger things have happened folks so I would not dismiss such reasonable notions mentioned by some as ‘oh that’s hater talk’. Let’s face it: it’s easier to dismiss thinking that could possibly be true and expose a facade than actually be brave and accept it head on in a reasonable manner and see if it holds any merit to it.

November 7th, 2014 at 5:39 pm

very true about the oscars; they don’t call them “campaigns” for nothing.

i think the day before the last day of voting nole’s website posted a reminder to vote, or else a fan on there did, because that’s why i voted for nole, and also jack sock and popsicle. :) but nole himself did not tweet, Facebook or anything as far as i saw.

November 7th, 2014 at 5:50 pm

jane, sportsmanship one, not fan one, though at the end of the day they both come to popularity contest, either fan or players, that was my point and we all know Nole can’t win that one, he can win the ones on the court and that is what matters to me.

BTW, I read the same about how the players are chosen, and we are going back to what I said, sponsors, lobbying, corporate world rules of engagement etc;)

November 7th, 2014 at 5:51 pm

I did actually like Cilic,till i saw that picture of him on stage shaking hands with a Neo Nazi,i dont know if Cilic supports this kind of propaganda,but he surely must condone if he actually says proud as it says in Danicas thread,a fine role model indeed,ive completely changed my opinion of this guy,i hope he gets whitewashed,and never wins another GS ever again,racism has no place in sport pftt disgusting….

November 7th, 2014 at 5:55 pm

““The player who, throughout the year, conducted himself at the highest level of professionalism and integrity, who competed with his fellow players with the utmost spirit of fairness and who promoted the game through his off-court activities.”

Thanks jane, in which criteria did Nole fail in 2011?

November 7th, 2014 at 5:55 pm

jane, Jack Sock is a good choice, I really like the bloke, I hope he goes far as tennis player but stays the person he is so far.

November 7th, 2014 at 5:58 pm

HC,

It is true, Cilic even posted a picture with that dude Tompson, together on stage, few days after he was criticized with hash tag #PROUD.

November 7th, 2014 at 6:09 pm

Wogboy thanks for the info,and i stand by my post more than ever,as you know i dont care about race and religion,but i cannot stand rascism or prejudice,niether have any place in our sport….

November 7th, 2014 at 6:22 pm

You guys funny.
What a tea tempest. Damned Roger and his awards, really.
Take it easy. And better don’t drag geopolitics, etc, to every trifle you aren’t satisfied with. Doesn’t work and even sounds a bit hypocritical sometimes.

November 7th, 2014 at 6:39 pm

“he can win the ones on the court and that is what matters to me.”

let’s hope so wog boy!! nole needs 3 wins at the WTF to clinch #1. so here’s hoping he can get them.

that’s my point, wog boy, about the nominations. clearly nole fits those criteria, and maybe i am mistaken, but personally i think rafa, nole and andy have all done a helluva lot more to promote the sport of tennis than kei, grigor or cilic have. so i take issue mostly with the nominations and the unknown way they occur more than i do with the winner. you know?

November 7th, 2014 at 6:39 pm

Geopolitics are here and exist in every segment of the life, in every part of the world, whether you like it or not, but, surely, it is eaisier to put the head in the sand.

November 7th, 2014 at 6:47 pm

Wogboy yeah exactly,lets all just ignore it and pretend that it doesnt exist,that way it will all just go away,if only….

November 7th, 2014 at 6:53 pm

So easy to say if one isnt on the recieving end….

November 7th, 2014 at 6:54 pm

@Wog Boy
OK. If you feel yourself a better citizen – my pleasure!
#yourshidingheadinthesand

November 7th, 2014 at 7:03 pm

It is amazing that most people here seem to take a very narrow perspective of sportsmanship to mean seemingly random incidents of racket smashing, disputing calls or responding to audience taunting by asking them to “be quiet.”

My guess is that ATP players in voting for Federer year after year take a much broader view of sportsmanship to mean the following:

1. Never resorting to delaying tactics to throw the opponent off rhythm. Only once Federer admittedly used the bathroom break because of the sun glare bothering him, which is not the same asdeliberately takeng the break to take away the opponent’s momentum)
2. Never complaining or throwing tantrums about court conditions (remember Blue Madrid?). He plays on regardless of the court surface, weather or scheduling
3. Never ever resorting to court-side coaching (Fed never appears to look in the direction of his box either)
4. Never a time delay while serving
5. Never ever defaulting midway during a match because of a perceived injury
6. Never taking a medical timeout (except once in 2013 when he had back trouble)
7. Always on time for scheduled media interviews even while juggling a full family life with four young kids
8. As ATP players council president, putting lower-ranked players’ needs above personal needs (pushing for more prize money for the non-elite and one-year ranking format to help position them better)
9. Respecting tradition and history

I do believe Federer is the ultimate purist in today’s tennis. More than any other player on the tour today, he plays within the rules, has genuine rapport with everyone in the locker room, never shirks from his responsibilities to the media, treats all players, elite or otherwise, with respect, and says candidly whatever is on his mind as opposed to what is deemed politically correct.

The peers appeciate that, which is why he is their pick every time.

November 7th, 2014 at 8:31 pm

^ so close yet so far! You were doing a great job of extolling your fav until this ill advised misstep: “which is why he is their pick every time.” Err…. No he isn’t. Atleast not in 2010, when they voted for a player whose guilty of some of those points you have mentioned which render Fed a good pick and the 2010 pick of the players a poor one, a villain of the sport known as Rafael Nadal. Which brings me back to my question that many of the defenders of this award are avoiding: why was Fed not the pick in 2010 as apparently he’s their pick ‘all the time’? And what did the evil that is known as Nadal do to win that year? So far: no one seems to have an answer.

November 7th, 2014 at 8:49 pm

I think most of the people who vote are young hence Grigor’s voting. He is handsome, date Maria who is one of the most popular female players and is hyped to be the next Federer. Same as Kei, who is the name of Asia Market together with Nole (Uniqlo).

Even tough Nadal and Nole have more facebook fans, we have to select who are the voting fans, the massive art of them.

November 7th, 2014 at 10:10 pm

Wot Boy

“Thanks jane, in which criteria did Nole fail in 2011?”

Maybe by beating the hell out of everybody for a streak that took everybody by surprise and kind of annoyed most of the players:-) I bet Fed, Rafa, Andy, Ferrer, Bellucci and all the other who almost beat him and still lost were pissed the f*&^ of at him. LOL

I know, Fed did the same in a few years as well, but the way Djoko did I can see ore players not happy with him at all.

November 7th, 2014 at 10:15 pm

Re; 8:49
Why answer a ridiculous question? You already asked the question before and nobody wanted to answer?. Besides, you answered it for yourself. Move on.

November 7th, 2014 at 10:17 pm

Brando,
When I said “…every time,” I meant figuratively not literally. AS for why “they” did not pick him in 2010, you should ask “them” not the fans or non-fans here. He appears to be genuinely liked by his peers. Recently, Nishikori said Federer was his favorite player on and off the court. Greg Rudeski talked about his unmistakable professionalism in a recent 3-minute video. Blake some years ago said that he was deeply moved to get a get well card from federer while while recovering from a life-threatening injury. Roddick has gone on record to say that Federer is simply too nice a guy to hate. And just last week, Djokovic said Federer was the first to congratulate him on the birth of his son, and that he (djokovic) spent some time getting advice from Federer on how to travel with the family.

Has it ever occured to you all that maybe, just maybe, players have a comfort level with Federer that is unique and which comes from how federer plays the game in the right spirit — without complaining, without resorting to non-gamesmanship, without making the other guy feel small, and always leading by example.

Lastly, the fact that Nadal won the award in 2010, and that Berdych did not vote for federer that year, actually reinforces the legitimacy of the award. So please…stop claiming that it is no more than a “popularity” award, which it is not. Ironically, it makes the non-fans look even more so like the sore loser that they love to accuse Federer of being.

November 7th, 2014 at 10:21 pm

Brando,

To answer your query:
in 2010 Nadal had a redemption year after his struggles in 2009 with injury that many predicted he would have, his knees. Back them he wasn’t involved in let’s say, the circus drama that is his injuries nowadays.

he had a Federer like year winning 3 major consecutive in 3 different surfaces which made most players and fan and all tennis community be in awe with him. That year he finally established himself away form the “clay one surface wonder”.

That year he was in evidence, having all the accoladed and that inspired players and fans.

I remember one quote from Blake saying he wanted to see Fed complete career Slams and even Haas. It’s like the player, some of them knows their limitations and project in other players what they wanted to achieve and or just feel good when a fellow player they admire achieve an amount of success.

This is how I see it and it goes along with what many are saying here as if the Sportsmanship awards is kind of a popularity contest, hence Nadal won both awards in the same year, because he was the star and most popular in that year. The year of his maturity as an all time great.

Djoko in 2011, although some consider an even greater year, was different, it has a sense of defiance of the ongoing status quo and it was kind of a breakthrough year with very peculiar aspects. And also Djoko didn’t have back them the same appeal of Fedal, still don’t have even with him year after year establishing himself and creating his own records. By mid next year he could already be a greater #1 than Nadal in the records books.

Just my take!

November 7th, 2014 at 10:25 pm

@Daniel @10:15pm

Good one:)

November 7th, 2014 at 10:59 pm

To further NK’s point: I think that cognitive bias is a huge factor in most of our subconscious and conscious decision making. If you factor that in, it makes sense to examine your decisions from the opposite side, to try to imagine an opposite bias, looking at the same facts.

In this case, fans who don’t like Federer look at this award and assume that, since Fed is a bad person, the award is bogus. I think it would be valuable to step back and say, what could it mean that Fed won this award, voted on by his peers, so many times? Could it be that, in person, he actually is a good guy who has earned the respect of those he has, for the most part, thrashed for ten years? Could it be that he presents himself in a way that infuriates some? As many of us do…
Could it be that Rafa and Fed both winning this award does not mean that one of those was valid and the other not, but that both are generally regarded as honourable by their rivals?

November 7th, 2014 at 11:02 pm

Problem is here is there is a difference between being popular by your peers and a being great sportsmen by your peers. yge definition of popularity is not neccessarily a great sportsmen. If your a competitor, getting votes by your peers as the best sportsmen is a great sign of respect and honor, no doubt to the individual competitive a very very coveted award.
—
Re; 2011 Nole
He had a great …. Wait .. Super human year and deserved player of the year and all that… but … Was he a good sportsmen? Was this still the year when he was ripping iff hus shirts after a match and dropping his jaw? Just sayin…. What were his fellow players thinkin in their vote? It wasn’t how well he was during in his matches, This is not the criteria.

November 7th, 2014 at 11:14 pm

I just can’t let it go, can I?

And the nominees are:

marin cilic
grigor dimitrov
kei nishikori
and federer

Marin Cilic: tested positive, lied about knee injury while awaiting verdict.
Grigor Dimitrov: Represented by Federer’s management company-conflict of interest (Roger is still active player), Serena’s and Marija’s toy boy.
Kei Nishikori: no comment
Roger Federer: no comment

What kind of credibility ATP board members have to recomend these players (first two) for sportsmanship award?

Just give it to Roger, please:)

November 7th, 2014 at 11:29 pm

@wog boy
Have you asked Nole who he voted for for the Edberg award this year? Betcha a Fosters it was Fed ;-).

November 7th, 2014 at 11:42 pm

‘no more than a “popularity” award, which it is not’:

LMFAO, best tell that to your own fellow fans bud seeing as when asked to explain why Nadal won in 2010 or why Nole has not won till date all they can offer is…………popularity based reasons.

LOL.

Me personally:

I could not give a —- about this award. Rafa won it in 2010: big wow, I’m so over the moon that he managed to win this popularity contest that’s ultimately footnote of irrelevance in the end.

A meek award that nobody cares about prior to or post it’s mention in the Tennis world.

This thread though: LOL, all it here is a simple case of some folks musing over the award, it’s legitimacy, procedure of awarding etc.No harm no foul. Heck: most of those folks- including I- even congratulated Fed for it.

But what happens? A bunch of fanatics get their undies in a twist and think it’s a shot at their idol when actually its a valid take at the function of this award.

It’s comical how butthurt some fans get when others make some valid points about certain topics in the game and immediately they infer it as a shot at their precious fav. Get a grip I say!

Utterly ridiculous to engage with posters who operate from such basic mindset: oh, they are musing over the function of the SE Award- must be because they hate Federer.

What infantile thinking.

To avoid more children crying foul over this matter I’ll just target my favourite in this regard:

Rafael Nadal.

So Rafa won the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award in 2010. Great. I think he’s a great sportsman. Doesn’t need a award to prove it, but he got one.

So what is this Stefan Edberg Award?

”There is an annual ATP Sportsman of the Year award and a player is elected by other players to choose who seemed to have the best sportsmanship based on their attitude and respect for the game, opponents, the umpire, and the crowd. It’s when players can stand tall and be proud of their effort after being defeated, and not taunting or bragging in the faces of the opponent after a win. ”

So that right there is the criteria for which candidates are measured to and the winner of the award has to meet.

It has NO MENTION of performance, results but clearly an infant can gauge it’s a CONDUCT CENTERED award.

Rafa winning in 2010 then surely must have seen him seen him adhere to the players code of conduct in a exemplary manner better than all considering that he won this- supposedly- prestigious award.

Yet as a fan of his even I know that:

That’s a complete BS conclusion to make. Rafa’s a great Sportsman, all agree on that, but in terms of conduct there are a consistently great number of operators on tour.

IVO KARLOVIC, DAVID FERRER, KEI NISHIKORI, MARIN CILIC etc are only just a few that one can immediately name who meet the criteria of:

‘attitude and respect for the game, opponents, the umpire, and the crowd. It’s when players can stand tall and be proud of their effort after being defeated, and not taunting or bragging in the faces of the opponent after a win’

Better than Rafa. Hands down, no questions asked: his fans would likely cede to that point.

Yet: none of those guys have ever won, and more to it: some have been nowhere near the ballot paper even to vote for!

So why?

Can anyone objectively say Rafa’s conduct was superior to their’s in 2010? Absolutely not. Okay. So that mean’s it’s a matter of subjectivity- an area of where personal bias, favouritism, prejudice etc and all whole load of emotions, feelings towards other personnel can naturally come into play.

Yet: Can anyone genuinely say subjectively that Rafa’s conduct is superior to theirs? Again: of course not. Nowhere close to definitively atleast.

Yet you see guy’s like Nadal win, and Federer (first mention here for the sensitive posters) winning with the others not even getting a sniff. Oh: these 2 just happen to be the 2 most successful players on tour, with their success by extension leading to a quite obvious popularity on tour.

LMAO, let’s face it:

This has less to do with behaviour, conduct and more to do with sheer popularity on tour. When guy’s like Nadal come out on top in such polls- granted he’s a great sportsman, as widely acknowledged- then you know it’s a joke poll since even he’ll admit that there are better behaved personnel on tour.

ROGER FEDERER won in 2011 right? Well am I being naive in thinking that when he beat NOVAK DJOKOVIC in the 2011 French Open SF, when he famously waved his finger post match in a manner that led to many Djokovic fans- as many others even interpreted it as such- as a very graceless bit of behaviour, dare I say, arrogant even. Either way, on how earth did that moment satisfy this element of the award criteria:

‘and not taunting or bragging in the faces of the opponent after a win’.

LMFAO:

No way did it do so! And that was a popular, publicized and well noted moment that all are aware of. But apparently- according to this award- Fed behaved superior to all in 2011.

Okay. By the way:

Was it not in the USO 2011 SF post match that he famously, again to much publicity, belittled NOVAK DJOKOVIC’S famous match points down play. Dismissing it as something a child would do.

Again another display of ”not taunting or bragging in the faces of the opponent after a win” by Fed there right? LOL, sure if you set the standard of behaviour to a pathetic low for your favourite then yeah I guess.

ULTIMATELY:

This award should be renamed as THE STEFAN EDBERG POPULARITY AWARD. Since there is plenty evidence out there that in this subjective of polls, the recipient for some years have been far from the most well behaved, best conduct displayed players on tour.

It’s a farce. A blatant one that sees the most popular, successful players on tour winning an award that should be going to others who genuinely deserve it but are nowhere near it since ultimately they are nowhere near as popular as these 2.

I’d say the same if my second fav Andy Murray (far too petulant on court at times) or another great champion I admire Novak Djokovic (I won’t say what, but even his fans will cede he’s a great sportsman, but conduct wise a few others top him to) were to win such a popularity contest that sees the big names winning but the genuine, worthy individuals who merit such distinctions more than them being nowhere near the winners poll due to the crime of being less successful, popular and powerful than them.

BOTTOM LINE:

IF this award was credible, it would go to the genuinely worthy personnel whose exemplary behaviour truly meets the stated criteria regardless of how successful, popular they are since that’s a irrelevant point in such a matter. Quite clearly it’s not. It’s going to the most successful, popular individuals even when there are numerous, blatantly obvious examples that exist which showcase their behaviour, conduct to be far from the best in certain years.

Apologies for the long post!

November 7th, 2014 at 11:55 pm

Brando,
BOTTOM LINE;
Lets all pause for a sec and thank Rafael Nadal for helping validate Corics’ award.
You may resume “play”.

November 8th, 2014 at 12:01 am

Re:11:55 post
“Rafa’s a great Sportsman, all agree on that,”
Whack job.
These posts need screening. Big time.

November 8th, 2014 at 12:05 am

@skeezer,
I think Nole was busy changing the nappies, I bet he didn’t cast his vote,
BTW, Fosters never really took off in Australia, though it is considered Australian beer you can hardly see anybody having a Fosters in the pub, but Guinness will do or Jameson (Irish whisky), next year, end of July I will be in Dublin, the only place you can drink real Guinness:)

November 8th, 2014 at 12:26 am

Guiness? You’re on! btw Nole will get a sportsmenship award next way before the “gamesmenship” one. ;)

November 8th, 2014 at 1:17 am

https://twitter.com/kishorerf/status/530976494999203840
Told you this lot is a cult!

November 8th, 2014 at 3:58 am

Funny it’s the fans here who declare who are better sportsmen on tour.

The players of the tour play against each other, interact with each other. They know what goes on inside the locker rooms not us. They know way better than the fans about the behaviours of their peers. They vote, nominate and they vote again the nominees to award one for the sportsman of the year. No matter how much fans claim that X is a better sportsman than Y, remember, the players who play the sports know them better than you do

November 8th, 2014 at 4:07 am

About the reasons why federer didn’t win the award in 2010, my thoughts are :

1. The toilet break in davydenko match at AO. Gamesmanship from federer, can’t deny, won’t deny

2. Comments after the berdy loss at wimby. Truth or not, looked to many that he was making excuses

3. After the loss against djokovic at USO, his words could be interpret in a way that he lost the match because of the tension of the short recovery time rather than djokovic’s great play

November 8th, 2014 at 4:15 am

What? Fed gamesmanship? Never!!
He’s a saint, no?

November 8th, 2014 at 5:00 am

@Sirius 4:15

You nailed it. I’m glad you let your fingers do the talking, I didn’t have the nerve to say the same thing. I have become a little gun shy lately to say anything against Fed. The good things I’ve said go unnoticed, but the negs cause a stir. It’s like the guy is perfect, and he ain’t! Love to watch him play his amazing game, but he has his flaws too.

November 8th, 2014 at 11:13 am

Okiegal i used to bite my virtual tongue,but because of that you get treated like a doormat,i believe in been fair,but ive lately began saying what i want and to hell with it,rather than just nodding my head and agreeing with everything just so you dont upset people,everyone else here says what they want without the need to apologize,so why shouldnt you or i?….

November 8th, 2014 at 11:21 am

Okiegal,

i believe nobody’s perfect. Why should federer be an exception? He’s human too, no?

November 8th, 2014 at 11:40 am

Sirius your a very fair poster….

November 8th, 2014 at 11:43 am

Alison,

I’m not sure if I am but I try to be. Here, I’ll quote rafa “I try my best” :)

November 8th, 2014 at 11:49 am

Change of subject butI have to say during Wimbledon earlier this year,there was myself,Okiegal,Metan and Brando(notice all are Rafa fans)that actually said i would prefer to see Roger win the title as he is the superior GC player whos game is better suited to grass than Novaks,i would like to turn that question around and ask,how many Fed fans would prefer Rafa to beat Novak at the FO,as even they would have to admit,all be it through gritted teeth that Rafa was a superior CC player,a show of hands,no didnt think so,because hell is likely to freeze over before a Fed fan is likely to admit that Rafa is more superior than Novak or any player?

November 8th, 2014 at 11:53 am

Alison,

I’ll be honest here. I don’t want Rafa to win any more slam final against any body (may be berdych could be an exception)! I, as a Fed fan, want Fed to stay ahead in the slam numbers! ;)

but i think that Rafa overall has been the best player on clay on the tour ever since he came. He is the best on this surface post 2000s that’s for sure. I

November 8th, 2014 at 12:08 pm

@Chick 11:21

I have noticed and good for you! My comment about Fed being a spoiled brat you’d have thought that was the first time anyone had ever thought that much less make a comment about it. I did regret it because I was accused of hating him and I don’t. I spoke my mind too and my oh my….did I stir it up. I’m a little more selective now days. But you’re right, Rafa has had very ugly, nasty things said about him too. Both fan bases are guilty of the mud slinging. I was wondering how long it would be before a non Rafa fan would say something about Rafa faking his appendicitis attack. Sure enuff I wasn’t disappointed….. a poster on another thread half way alluded to that fact. I was appalled. Oh well, Rafa can’t win.

Sirius is a fair poster, will agree on that point and that’s refreshing!!

November 8th, 2014 at 12:14 pm

Sirius thanks,but you didnt answer my question though,which ill repeat was,how many Fed fans would pull for Rafa at the FO,as even they would have to admit through gritted teeth that he is the superior CC,like Roger is on GC?

November 8th, 2014 at 1:43 pm

I don’t know. I didn’t that I can assure you.

Btw, I don’t see the reason why one has to pull for a player/team because he/it is/are superior than the opponent. As neutral fans, many like to pull for the underdog (relatively speaking) not the favorite.

November 8th, 2014 at 8:34 pm