As Nick Kyrgios pointed out, the players that ans like to boo are o en those who bring in the biggest crowds ALIX RAMSAY
Medvedevmay not like it but tennis needs a pantomime villain or two
L ove ’em or loathe ’em, we all need a in his back yard and with no cow to provide milk for the family. Cinderella without her wicked stepmother would simply be a pretty but otherwise anonymous housemaid. As for Peter Pan without Captain Hook, he would just be a suitable case for treatment: “Pete, you’re 47 now. You can’t fly and there are no such things as fairies. And do us all a favour: put some proper trousers on!” Tennis – particularly men’s tennis – has always had its pantomime villains. From the moment the sport became box office, there has always been at least one villain in the locker room cast. From Ilie Nastase and his sometimes hilarious, sometimes outrageous antics to John McEnroe and his volcanic temper and from Jimmy Connors and his street-fighter snarl to Andre Agassi and his rebel-without-a-cause attitude, they were all geniuses with a racket, but oh how we loved to loathe them. pantomime villain. Where would Jack, he of beanstalk fame, be without the evil giant? Just a young lad with an unfeasibly tall plant
Today’s established villain is Novak Djokovic, although he is being pushed hard by Daniil Medvedev, the man who briefly replaced him at the top of the world rankings. Poor Daniil: all he wants is to win major titles and be the best he can. But all he came away with after the Australian Open was a new position as Djokovic’s understudy: in the event the Serb is not available for booing purposes, Medvedev is pushed to the fore. And all because he had the temerity to challenge the sainted Rafael Nadal in the Melbourne final. But why do we need these anti-heroes? It all comes down to the yin and the yang, the sweet and the sour, the hot and the cold. It is all a matter of balance. Although it may sound like heresy, the last 17 years might have been just a tad dull had it not been for the rise and rise of Djokovic. Federer and Nadal endlessly playing each other in major finals – and being terribly nice about each other afterwards – could have become monotonous after a while. We needed the pesky Djokovic snapping at their heels. For so much of his career, the world No 1 has been desperate to be thought of like Federer and Nadal. The
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