[Golovinjured.]

TennisForum Bandwagon Player of the Month

This is a wonderful MTF new TennisForum tradition for a player all of a sudden gains a legion of fans or have a over a very short period of time, through either a big win or a big performance in an event. The multitude of threads about the same player and the usually over a very short period of time proclaiming greatness or future greatness, to winning Slams without losing a game.

Once they have gained them, then when the results to wane usually in a very short period of time then they go to the status overrated or disappear just as quickly. Yes, there are true fans of these players and they know who they are for the most part.

If they do well on faster surfaces then clowns have a dig at their lack of claycourt skills (Sharapova), then if they do well on clay, they are derided as claycourt specialists, even if they do well on other surfaces (Cornet).

When the year is up, all 12 recipients will contest the annual prize of TennisForum Bandwagon Player of the year. A prestigious honour I'm sure the lucky player will cherish along with all future Wimbledon titles and Gold Medals.


TennisForum Bandwagon Player of the Month (January): Jelena Dokic

The first recipient is the queen of WTA comebacks Jelena "SHOO" Dokic. After her run at the Australian Open, an avalanche of Dokic avatars, sig dedications and "Will Dokic return to the TOP 10/win a slam" threads imploded onto General Messages. In spite of playing relatively well, she did only beat a post-injured Paszek, a still slumping Chakvetadze, moonballing Wozniacki, and a larger than life Kleybanova. Cute story, though, but why all the hype? This three set goddess is far and above the Bandwagon Player of the Month.


Honourable Mentions

Elena 'Undefeated in '09' Dementieva
The tour sucks now/without Sharapova (the post-Australian Open final rant)

 

[volta]

Dementieva was close :lol:

 

[Golovinjured.]

Yeah I've added honourable mentions.

 

[SM]

Well she deserved alot of praise because of where she was in her life and career being ranked #180 yes ebats THREE top 20 players, and almost beats the # 3! Thats a great achievement for the beginning of her comeback!

 

[bad_angel_109]

nice idea for a thread :lol: altho i do agree the tour does now suck w/o masha, im hoping she makes a come back at RG dokic, lol. she's cool. for next yr's AO the aussies will def be out in force to support our 'golden girl' once again, bit of pressure imo, e.g. casey's run of good fortune and playing well last year and she lost to hantuchova earlier this year in the first round. i was there haha

i wonder who the next 'bandwagon' player will be. will u be judging on a quarterly/prior to and during GS basis? as for elena, she was soo close, i was hoping for an all russian semi, that would've been good, too bad sveta lost (altho i already knew serena would take out the AO.

 

[V-MAC]

I think Azarenka deserves a mention too coz who knows what might have happened if she had not been ill in AO

 

[cn ireland]

To be honest Dokic deserved all the praise she received on here!

And as a long time Dokic fan, the more people that support her the better!

 

[WhatTheDeuce]

Let's see if this thread keeps being made every month...

 

[Lord Choc Ice]

It's kind of silly, this whole idea. I mean, how can you ever become a fan of a player without jumping on a bandwagon at some point (ie. sitting up and taking notice when they do well at a tournament or put up a brave fight against a tough opponent)? Unless they're from you're country and you like them inherently because of that (like Erakovic with me), it seems the only way you can become a fan of a player is by jumping on some sort of bandwagon.

 

[Noctis]

I Jump into her Bag not bandwagon

 

[Golovinjured.]

Let's see if this thread keeps being made every month...

LOL. I'll do my best.

It's kind of silly, this whole idea. I mean, how can you ever become a fan of a player without jumping on a bandwagon at some point (ie. sitting up and taking notice when they do well at a tournament or put up a brave fight against a tough opponent)? Unless they're from you're country and you like them inherently because of that (like Erakovic with me), it seems the only way you can become a fan of a player is by jumping on some sort of bandwagon.

Sorry but I don't agree. In some instances, yes. As a whole? No.

For example, Jelena Dokic was one of the most popular players of the tour back before the 'unfortunate incident'. Even lingering around the TOP 200 this past year, people knew she was there, and they knew her game, yet most weren't fans. Then her Australian Open run brought her many more fans on the forum, a forum that largely would have remembered the Dokic of old.

The idea is about choosing a player whose fanbase explodes after a particular event, and then watching the new 'fans' slip away when things go a little sour. I know I've done it plenty of times.

 

[DragonFlame]

Jelena Dokic :worship: It´s just too awesome she´s back. I hope this time it´s for real though, no wonder she got so many fans in such a short period of time.

 

[serenus_2k8]

It's kind of silly, this whole idea. I mean, how can you ever become a fan of a player without jumping on a bandwagon at some point (ie. sitting up and taking notice when they do well at a tournament or put up a brave fight against a tough opponent)? Unless they're from you're country and you like them inherently because of that (like Erakovic with me), it seems the only way you can become a fan of a player is by jumping on some sort of bandwagon.

I agree tbh. I think the difference is whether or not the fans stay fans, or whether its just riding the wave of good fortune, in which case it is bandwagoning. I think that the great thing about tennis is the fact you can pick up new faves due to a standout performance, since most tennis fans know a fair bit about most players anyways so its not like theyre just blindly hopping on the bandwagon after all :shrug:

Lets see how her 'fans' feel after a few crap matches, dissapointing losses or a slump/

 

[Golovinjured.]

I agree tbh. I think the difference is whether or not the fans stay fans, or whether its just riding the wave of good fortune, in which case it is bandwagoning. I think that the great thing about tennis is the fact you can pick up new faves due to a standout performance, since most tennis fans know a fair bit about most players anyways so its not like theyre just blindly hopping on the bandwagon after all :shrug:

Lets see how her 'fans' feel after a few crap matches, dissapointing losses or a slump/

Well, that's exactly what the thread is about. :shrug:
Just a few instances. I remember the fanbases of Jie Zheng, Tamarine Tanasugarn and Nathalie Dechy all rise just after Wimbledon. Especially Dechy after her loss to Ivanovic. Yet weeks later, most of her new fans had gone elsewhere and poor Nathalie was left out in the cold. :tears: