(photo here with caption “Tony Finau, and ChiChi Rodriguez, two  athletes  with loads of likability.”)

The  U.S. Open has just been in town, converting Flushing Meadows Tennis Center into the epicenter of the sports world for two weeks. Everyone who is anyone was there to see the spectacle, including NFL quarterbacks Tom Brady and Aaron Rogers, screen stars Charlize Theron and Jon Hamm and rock ‘n’ roll megastar Justin Bieber. It’s the place to be and to be seen. And  what adds to the excitement of the U. S. Open is the magnificence of the play.

In the year 2023 all players, whether male or female, are infinitely fit, formidable and ferocious. This was on clear display in the men’s semifinals as fan favorite Carlos Alcaraz faced the grimacing Daniil “The Octopus.”

Their match not only displayed the power and finesse that the modern tennis player possesses, but it also demonstrated the way tennis is able to reveal the inner character of every player. In this matchup, for reasons that were obvious, the sellout crowd of 22,547 were in adoration of Carlos Alcaraz and they offered Daniil Medvedev sullen silence.

Why did the crowd show such love of Alcaraz? Maybe it’s his looks, his smile, his warmth, or his ranking as World #1.  Maybe the crowd showed such contempt for Medvedev due to Medvedev’s gangly appearance, awkward ground strokes, flat robotic-like affect or maybe they didn’t like his beard or receding hairline.

Does crowd support it matter?  The research on “home court advantage” is equivocal.  At times love from the hometown crowd can help and at times it can hurt if it produces too much pressure. It seems that in the game of tennis, when there are so many fans contained in one arena and focusing on just two men, the roar of the crowd does matter.  It is as if  an army of 22,547 led by one general, Carlos Alcaraz, was fighting  opponent, Daniil Medvedev.  Well, bravo for “The Octopus” since much to the crowd’s disappointment, Carlos lost, and Daniil Medvedev  won.

It is always of interest, especially to corporate sponsors, whether an athlete has charisma or crowd appeal. More crowd appeal means more people watch, which means more bang for the sponsor’s buck.

There is another sport that seems to traffic in crowd appeal and that’s golf. Since you can study the players’ faces as they play and walk, golf also reveals a player’s character under the steady gaze to the television camera. Kevin Kisner is not a fan favorite maybe because he never smiles and spits out chewing tobacco. This goes for Brooks Koepka as well.

There are some players who are able to an transcend their lack of likability but only if they are very good. Tiger Woods is an example of this. He is cool and distant and ungiving in interviews, but all is forgiven in his case since he single-handedly transformed the game of golf into the game of gold.

Indeed, the crowd is a fickle thing, best shown in the year’s U.S. Open finals where the once hated and now suddenly loved Novak Djokovic faced the unlikable Daniil Medvedev. Throughout the men’s finals, the crowd  cheered and roared when Novak Djokovic won points and largely ignored and remained silent when Medvedev won points.

Why did the crowd now love Novak “The Joker” Djokovic whereas in the past they booed him? Maybe they have grown fond of him since he has won a total of  24 grand slam titles. Maybe the crowd must pick sides and decided Djokovic  was a little less unlikable than Daniil “The Octopus.”

Life is cruel and so are crowds.   And in this case, despite fatigue and an aging body (Djokovic is 36 years old) he beat the youngster Daniil.  And that may be simply because Djokovic had behind him an army of 22,547 adoring fans that loved him, at least for one night.

Sport competition pits one man against another and yet there is always a loud, boisterous, interested crowd that will choose sides based upon things like smiles, looks, legacy, and displays of friendly warmth. In today’s game not only do you have to be fit, formidable and ferocious, but you have to smile as you play.

Tennis players and golfers are similar to world-class ballerinas on stage at the New York City Ballet. They must smile, be  graceful, never sweat and make it all look easy, but all the while inside their ballet shoes their toes are often bleeding.

I guess no one ever said it was easy being a champion. You must be fit, formidable, ferocious and also friendly. Isn’t that a tough combo?