List of nicknames of tennis stars
Look at the artistic and beautiful performances of Federer and Henin. Tennis may be the most elegant sport in the world, but for American sports fans Saying that is another matter entirely. According to the United States Tennis Association, the emergence of more and more international players with long and strangely pronounced names is an important factor that dampens the enthusiasm of fans. Therefore, they specially give American-style nicknames to the stars.
Tennis' status in the United States continues to decline. Although this trend was once interrupted by the emergence of the Williams sisters, it reached a peak at the 2004 US Open. Because no American appeared in the final, last fall's US Open title drama set a record for the lowest ratings: the men's singles final between Federer and Hewitt had a 2.5 rating, while the women's singles between Kuznetsova and Dementi Yeva's Russian Civil War is only 2.2. Both men and women were less than 1/2 of the ratings of the 2002 US Open finals of the Williams sisters. The ratings at that time reached 5.2. However, even in comparison with the attention of this final, tennis can only barely Get half the attention of NASCAR racing. This year's Daytona 500 event achieved a ratings of 10.9, almost four times that of last year's US Open men's singles final.
What dampens the enthusiasm of American fans is not only the dissatisfaction of local American players, but also the disappearance of "bad boys" like McEnroe and Connors. In the view of the USTA, players from non-English speaking countries also It plays a big role - as they become more dominant in the sport, Americans don't even know how to pronounce the names of the best tennis players in the world.
In order to regain those fans who have been attracted by golf, modified car racing or other sports, the United States Tennis Association began to package 10 North American hard court events into a unified US Open series last year, vigorously Publicity star. This year, all venues were painted a striking blue and more than $3 million was spent on publicity. What's even more amazing is that in order to attract fans, they gave nicknames to almost all the stars who are expected to win the championship.
This may be the largest naming movement in history
The United States Tennis Association calls its initiative "the most popular reality show this summer." Since it is a show, the show The big and small roles required a "nickname" that was different from their real names, thus the largest "name-giving and title-banning" campaign in the history of tennis occurred: 35 male and female players were lucky enough to be selected by the USTA Marketing Department. The star of this tennis "reality series" (in which the American doubles stars Bryan Brothers share a role).
In this drama, Federer plays the role of the boss. His performance this year and the prospect of defending the US Open title are enough for him to hold on. Agassi is the undisputed legend (The Legend). If the legend can continue to the finals, the TV ratings may increase exponentially. Nadal stars as the Boy Wonder. Although his most magical surface is the clay court in Europe, the Miami Masters runner-up can definitely be magical again this summer. Safin is also the always unpredictable Mr. Unpredictable. His performance is not restricted by the director and he can freely choose between being eliminated in the first round and winning the US Open championship. Hewitt plays The Rebel this time. From the tender groom on the honeymoon to the fiery rebel on the field, it is a huge test for the Australian's acting skills. Finally, for Roddick, Rocket Man illustrates the huge expectations Americans have for him. He will compete with Blake, Dent the Bomber and Fish the Bachelor. With his help, he shouldered the heavy responsibility of winning the U.S. summer box office championship.
Just a little imagination, okay?
To be honest, the imagination of the marketing executives of the United States Tennis Association cannot be complimented. Maybe they can go to Hollywood screenwriters or editors of some Chinese websites. Catching a pen is a better choice.
It’s not easy to come up with so many nice words at once, but since you don’t want to agree on a conventional nickname, you have to come up with something new. The most typical one is Agassi's "legend". After Sampras retired, this word has almost become a fixed modifier for the veteran. Of course, Henman has also been known as The Good Guy for many years. .
In this naming movement, Americans’ patriotic enthusiasm has also been fully displayed, especially in the case of women. The swaggering Serena Williams has become the leading diva (The Diva), and her sister Venus Williams has become the leading diva because of her recent warmth. The Bourdain champion wore the aura of The Goddess, and even Davenport, who had always been low-key, was named the Top Gun. In short, the heroes or the most powerful are Americans. Of course, there are exceptions. Ljubicic, who single-handedly eliminated the United States in the first round of the Davis Cup, earned the reputation of The Terminator.
The nicknames of some other players even make them dumbfounded. Haas, who is respected by the organizers as The Stud, is the defending champion of the Mercedes-Benz Cup in Los Angeles last week. When asked about this question after losing to the Belgian Marise in the second round, Haas said he did not know. Whether you are "worthy" of this honorary title, "you have to ask" the person who named it. However, the German believes that his nickname is not the worst: "I can accept it. If compared with some other nicknames, I would rather use this." Venus resisted the somewhat exaggerated official nickname of "Goddess". Reached the finals of the Bank of the West Classic of the US Open Series. That’s not how nicknames came about. In the golden age of tennis, a well-known or popular nickname was probably blurted out by a commentator without thinking, or a reporter’s sudden inspiration. The result was often very natural, appropriate or expressive. , such as: McEnroe's "Bad Boy", Becker's "Boom Boom" (describing the sound of his powerful serve) and Sampras' "Pistol Pete".
For the sake of market demand, the US Tennis Association "wholesale" so many nicknames at once, the traces of far-fetched and contrived are very obvious. "Tennis is very much a star sport," said Donald Dell, a senior sports marketing manager who has also served as the U.S. Open Series. "The biggest thing is creating new stars." The captain of the Weiss Cup team, he is responsible for this series of actions in the US Open series. Maybe the US Open series can really become "the most important thing in tennis in the past 50 years" as he said, but fans Do you really talk about Nadal as a "wonder boy" and Kuznetsova as a "gladiator"?
In fact, for most tennis stars, there are some nicknames or nicknames that have been "recognized". Federer is the Swiss Express. Firstly, it describes his speed in solving opponents. Secondly, it is homophonic with FedEx. However, on Federer’s personal website, fans call him Rogi. Ferrero's "Mosquito" and Hewitt's "Hare" are also very vivid. However, Ferrero himself prefers the nickname "King" because of his namesake and the King of Spain and his dominance on clay. . Henin also has the nickname "JUJU" and has been called it since he was a teenager. Although this nickname is a bit too personal, the four-time Grand Slam winner does not hate it. Of course there are also very offensive nicknames, such as Canas' "Willy" and Roddick's "Rod-Dick", but only hostile "fans" would call them such.
For Chinese fans, when naming their idols, they have fully tapped into the magical charm of Chinese characters and used rhetorical means such as homophony, escaping, skeuomorphism and synaesthesia. If you ask a "layman": What do milk powder and bean rice mean? The reaction was absolutely tongue-tied.
These two "foods" actually refer to the fans of Federer and Nadal. Federer was awarded a cow named Juliet for winning Wimbledon. Gradually, press releases in domestic newspapers referred to Federer as "cow", while Nadal From "Natto" to "Doudou", his fans are naturally "Bean Rice". As for Safin, in addition to the nickname of Tsar, he is also called "Hippo" and Roddick is called "Big PP" by fans. Readers can imagine for themselves. Finally, don't forget, if you hear a tennis star named "Pig", "it" is Haining. For the sake of bonuses, feel free to accept your grievances. US Open singles bonus table (equal pay for men and women, in US dollars) US Open performance guaranteed bonus plus US Open series points bonus.
First place in points (+100% Second place in points (+50%) Third place in points (+25%)
Champion 1.1 million 2.2 million 1.65 million 1.375 million
Runner up 550.11 million 825.068.75 Thousand
The semi-finals 270,540,405,337,500
The quarter-finals 135,270,202,500 168,750 If star nicknames are to attract fans and TV viewers, then the US Open The winner's bonus of up to 2.2 million US dollars is completely to "tempt" the masters to support as much as possible for the US Open series.
Originally, the US Open offered 1.1 million US dollars for the men's and women's singles champions. The prize money is already the most generous among the four major Opens, but what if it doubles again? You know, as of last week, only Federer and Nadal among all ATP players have a total prize money of more than 2 million US dollars this season, ranking first. After that, Roddick, Safin and Hewitt all had just over US$1 million. The previous highest single bonus was US$1.5 million for winning the Masters Cup at the end of the year. Federer won it for two consecutive years in 2003 and 2004. Been there.
The US Open's double bonus bounty started last year, but Hewitt and Davenport, who topped the men's and women's points rankings in last year's US Open series, fell short at the US Open: Hewitt Lost to Federer in the final, Davenport was eliminated in the semi-finals by eventual champion Kuznetsova. Before the start of this year's US Open series, Davenport thought the bonus system was a "wonderful idea": "Yes. The opportunity to double your winnings is amazing and I think every player is talking about it and excited about it."
Davenport may not have the same luck as last year, though. Last week, she participated in the Bank of the West Classic, the first event after losing to Venus Williams in the Wimbledon final, but when she fell behind Groenefeld 0-5 in the first set of the second round, she announced that she had withdrawn from the game due to a back injury. Unfortunately, this event is not included in the US Open series-for women's players, the Akula Classic starting this week is the beginning of the $2.2 million competition. It is also unfortunate that Serena Williams and... Sharapova, the two favorites at the US Open, both gave up the Akula Classic due to injuries, and Venus Williams and Haining will not appear in this WTA first-level event. It seems that they are lucky enough to win the US Open series. The female player may be the lucky one in the best physical condition.
The men's side is not much better. Federer has stated in the "Advertisement Letter" that he will not return until the Cincinnati Masters due to foot discomfort. , this leaves the Swiss with only 140 US Open series points at most. Among the other favorites, Hewitt is on his honeymoon, Roddick injured his right knee last week, and Nadal was injured while collecting the European clay court title. To the knees. However, Safin, who had surgery after Wimbledon, returned in time. He and Agassi, who had just switched to the Adidas camp, became the favorites to win US$2.2 million - the premise of course is to win the US Open crown by ranking first in the US Open series points.
Official title VS conventional nickname U.S. Open Series official nickname
Male player
The Legend of Agassi None
Ancic Young Gun (Young Gun) Little Ivan
Blake Harvard Guy (The Harvard Guy) None
Bryan Brothers Double Feature (Double Feature) None
p>Dente The Bomber None
Federer The Boss Swiss Express, Cow
Fish The Bachelor None
Haas Bullman (The Stud) None
Henman The Good Guy (The Good Guy) British Gentleman
Hewitt Rebel (The Rebel) Australian Hare
Kiefer The Gladiator None
Ljubicic The Terminator None
Moya The Hunk None
Nadal Boy Wonder Natto, Doudou
Nalbandian Warrior (The Warrior) None
Roddick Rocket Man Big Fart Fart
Safin Mr. Unpredictable (Mr. Unpredictable) Tsar, Hippopotamus
Sri Chapan Diplomat (The Diplomat) None
Female Contestant
The Challenger None
Miss Congeniality Fat Girl
Top Gun Big Girl Davenport , Elephant
Dementicheva Sweetheart (The Sweetheart) None
Hantuchova Cover Girl (The Cover Girl) long-legged beauty
Haining The Comeback Kid None
Kuznetsova Female Gladiator (The Contender) Braces Girl
Maurismo The Artiste (The Artiste) Maomao
Morik The Girl Next Door (The Girl Next Door) None
Myskina Herald (The Trailblazer) None
Navratilova Idol (The Icon) Female King Kong
Pierce Veteran (The Veteran) French Lady
Sharapova’s Dream Girl (The “It” Girl) None
Little The Diva None
The Goddess None
Zvonareva The Drama Queen None