I just hope the French crowd will be more fair and proportionate in supporting other players next year now that Roger has won and they saw their dreams come true!!!

sisterofnight12...i have a hunch that the support for roger in paris will not be any less after this victory...i think it just might be more....but i do get where you are coming from ....

I'm inclined to agree with fedexfan. Moreover, Roger is a gracious winner and loser, and that just increases his popularity.

Fedexfan, thanks for posting the Soderling interview and for all your supportive, intelligent posts.

Can't blame the crowd for loving Federer and wanting to cheer the history-making , record-breaking Swiss.

Federer did not stand there and pound his chest proclaiming himself the best. He was relieved to have the pressure off, and brush away the questions and hype about his inability to win RG.

You are the BEST Roger Federer and we Love YOU!

fedexfan,don't get me wrong...well,first I wanna congratulate roger for his well-deserved victory! I just wanted to express my dislike about French crowd.It's not only about this year but each year,I feel more and more that French crowd is one of the worst in Grand Slams.I've always thought that US crowd was a bit noisy but at least they don't disrespect other players as much as the French do...

Food for thought - opinions of those whose opinions we value (need we say more?):
http://www.tennis.com/tournaments/2009/frenchopen/frenchopen. aspx?id=177450

...and a few pics you've probably already seen!
http://tinyurl.com/or35o9
http://tinyurl.com/pm4tjp
http://ti nyurl.com/o6lwfq

Federer showed a lot of grace and class in acknowledging the fact that had Nadal surviveed to the final that his ambition may again have been "derailed". Pure class, definitely not the best clay courter ever but certainly the best all round tennis player we've seen as well as being a gentleman and a sportsman.

sadly part of being a sportsman is to face antipathy from sections of the crowd that are rooting against you. Its part and parcel of competitive sports. We should be glad that tennis only has it to a very small degree and that on the whole the fans are civil and appreciative of the display put on by the players

sisterofknight12, Fed is beloved in ALL of the major slam venues because he is a class act through and through of and on the court-the same reason why most of the other greats in tennis history like Laver, Borg, McEnroe, Sampras...and all Fed's contemporaries genuinely like & respect Fed.It is sad that rafa & his camp, & his fans have to resort to blaming the French Open crowd (w/c had a sizeable number of internationals & not just french) for being a factor in rafa's loss.Unfortunately, the boorish stunt pulled by that caped spaniard during the finals represents the kind of values and way of thinking that seems to characterize too many rafa fans.

KTDF: Rafa and his camp never blamed the RR crowd for being a factor in Rafa's loss.
Journalists obviously noticed the booing, and when both Rafa and Toni were asked
about it, naturally felt sad that the public didn't show more support for the
4-time RR champion. Rafa has earned some measure of respect, and he was given
very little, far less than at other venues, or it would not be an Issue. Is a well known
fact that the French don't like Spaniards, so it wasn't their imagination.

Who told you the wacko was a Spaniard? Did you notice that he was wearing socks
with the flag of SWITZERLAND on them? He was most likely a drunk Fed fan.

Your values and way of thinking seem to include lying, insulting and pre-judging,
you're not doing Fed fans any favors by counting yourself among them.

OK, Correction:
The guy IS a Spaniard - sorry KTDF- But certainly NOT a Rafa fan.
He calls himself "Jimmy Jump" and seeks fame by jumping on to
sports events.

He IS a FED fan. He hates Nadal, That's why he wears the Swiss flag socks.

As he was being taken away he was heard saying that he had wanted to
pay homage to Federer and make a gesture against dethroned Spanish
champion Rafael Nadal, who is known to be a fan of Barcelona's arch-rivals
Real Madrid.

grafight...have you got that article re: jimmy Jump?

Hey, there is simply no point getting into "He's a Rafa fan" vs "No, he's a Fed fan". James Jump esq. is neither; he's a meddlesome self-publicist at best. Happily for tennis and for tennis history fans, yesterday's antics cannot compare with Günter Parche, except in one respect: there is no more blaming Rafa or Roger for Jimmy Jump's antics than there was blaming Steffi Graf for Parche's stabbing of Monica Seles.

Jump has form, he has "previous"; Parche came out of nowhere (and long may he remain there). Jump affected at least one player's concentration for a few minutes; Parche, without a doubt, altered tennis history.

Graf lost to any number of players once Seles came along, such was the psychological effect of her presence in the draw on the great German. [Credit to the Swiss on this point - he continues to lose only to My Guy and not just any old journeyman.] After Parche, she immediately set about reasserting her old dominance, collecting the next four slams on offer from RG 93 to AO 04.

The incident of 1993 not only permitted Fräulein Forehand to pull away from Seles; critically, it enabled her to surpass Martina and Chris in singles slams. They shared 36 titles thanks to a compelling rivalry that kept a lot of focus on women's tennis. Graf and Seles amassed a total of 31 titles but Parche sure skewed the stats nicely in his heroine's favour, 22 to 9.

Even if Jimmy Jump's unwelcome intrusion had turned the match yesterday, I'd have defended Rafa against anybody who spilt their paranoia onto these pages about any possible involvement or responsibilty on his part for what happened. Seles was hard done by Teutonic due process, but she never even considered suing her great rival - and rightly not.

Onward and upward to SW19. See you at Wimbledon - I hope!

Gorofafo, great comment! I sure hope Jimmy "jump" gets enough of a punishment to make him reconsider his career as a professional jerk. And no, we shouldn't identify him as a FED or Rafa fan, because he isn't anyone's fan but himself.
I just quoted what he said, but don't believe a word. I am a Rafa fan and as far as I know TRUE Rafa fans would respect Rafa's view on Federer: He is the greatest, most complete player in the world. He was rooting for him to win Roland Garros and so was I. Congrats Roger!

It was a scary moment when this jimmy jerk jump jumped on the court...
I just didn't know what the hell was going on, I was so afraid that he would hurt Federer...
I'm a Nadal fan but nobody likes to see something like this.
I know it's hard to stop these freaks from doing what they do but security at RG sucked big time. I mean, how long did it take them to get the guy?

I believe that among us roger and rafa fans it is the exceptions who see things black and white, who hate the other player or the other fans, exagerate and what not. It's just that they post quite a few comments so you might think they are 'typical' fans.

I am VERY happy for Federer, that he's achieved his career and 14th slam. After being undefeated at now 5 French Opens by anyone who is not Rafa he well and truly deserved this trophy.

I would say this even if I was not a Fed fan at all, makes no difference. In my case I am more of a Nadal fan because the first time I saw either of them play that's where my heart went more, but liked them both from the start. Not unlike the way some are more cats people others more dogs people - not a bad analogy in that article - neither is more 'right'.

It was very moving to watch Rogalio play the last games yesterday and his utter joy and happiness after.

i wouldn't agree pressure is off, his monster-ego will lay out a new agenda fairly soon.

Thank you, chlorostoma! You are right, and most Fed fans also pull for Rafa when it's not RF v RN. Some people are just haters, and they know who they are. I am choosing not to lower myself to their level. Ignoring....the haters!

Now, about this Jimmy Jump person. I haven't read the article nor seen a link. I find it very hard to believe that he was only trying to self promote. That was a major distraction for both Roger and Robin. I hope he gets prosecuted to the fullest extent of French law. And speaking of French - how lax was security? Do they not have security posted courtside (but out of sight)? I'm pretty sure I've seen security at the US Open courtside. This is a wakeup call to all slams - get your act together and do your jobs! This guy could've had a knife for goodness sake.

"I believe I now know what he's talking about,....He is as he became once, a great victorious legend I am ever to have the fortune to dream of. But he was a very handsome young, young man in the earliest days. I saw some photos last weekend on Fox/el on a show which contains Tennis Goss for about half hours now on Sat....The same with Rafael. Also one handsome legend. as I'm sure they all were"..