How much power do crowds have in tennis? At their most partisan, they can be a massive nuisance for the player not enjoying the support. Imagine over 10,000 people screaming in delirious joy not after your opponent wins the match, but after you merely miss a first serve. Even if you knew that the crowd’s preferences were largely due to the nationality of your opponent, something beyond either player’s control, the cheers must be loud enough to provoke that pesky thought of why don’t they like me?
The influence of a crowd has its limits, of course. On an episode of Tennis Channel’s The Ten, Jim Courier describes what it was like to end Jimmy Connors’ against-the-odds run to the U.S. Open semifinals in 1991. Courier noted that despite the crowd being hugely in favor of Connors, his opponent lacked physical reserves after his arduous route to the last four, a factor that was at least as important as crowd support. The fans also can’t negate a suspect backhand or a serve that’s prone to double-faulting.
In other words, crowds cannot work magic on a matchup. But they can simultaneously influence one player positively and the other negatively, giving one a bit of extra energy and belief that translates into improbable winners and athletic gets under the right circumstances and filling the other’s head with doubt.
No player is immune to this — today, Daniil Medvedev, the world number two, clashed with 103rd-ranked Hugo Gaston in the quarterfinals of the Paris Masters. Game-wise, the only thing Gaston clearly does better than Medvedev is hit good drop shots. A player obviously can’t reliably be carried to wins on the back of a drop shot; they can be devastating, but when they become predictable, it’s often game over for the user. So on paper, this is a very lopsided matchup. But Gaston had the crowd in his favor, so much so that at times his arms might as well have been a volume control on the entire stadium. He made matters worse for Medvedev by playing thrilling tennis that got the crowd all the more invested — a casual drop shot winner here, some great defense there.
So despite a big deficit in game, Gaston managed to get to break point on Medvedev’s serve at 4-all in the first set, at which point the world number two slammed his first serve into the net. The crowd screamed as if they’d all been told they could have a free drink, or perhaps a car. When Medvedev missed his second serve as well, the cheers were even louder. No one can be positive that the crowd extracted this error, but Medvedev is not a player who typically double faults on big points against a player ranked 101 spots lower than him. Jason Goodall, calling the match for Tennis Channel, even said “the crowd bring the double fault from Medvedev,” as the players walked to change ends.
Medvedev managed to win the first set anyway following a bizarre series of events — he appeared to have lost his game completely after bungling two backhand returns at the start of the 5-4 game, but hit back down 40-love, saving two set points with his trademark scrambling defense. Nerves then appeared to strike Gaston, whose drop shots started missing the mark for the first time in the match, and he went on to lose serve.
Despite some spectacular drop volleys in the tiebreak from Gaston, Medvedev edged it 9-7. Some of the air went out of the match after that — Gaston, who had to go through qualifying to get into the main draw, might have lost some spring in his legs. He might have been a bit down after failing to convert three set points on serve. Or his game might have just regressed closer to its typical level, which is lower than Medvedev’s. Whichever the case, Medvedev went up 4-0 in the second set, and though Gaston made an admirable push, getting as close as narrowly missing a return winner at deuce when Medvedev served for the match at 5-4, it was clear the result would only fall one way.
A quick aside: Medvedev double faulted on his first match point, to which the crowd reacted with unbridled joy. Gaston urged them on before the next point, and they took several seconds to fall to the requisite level of quiet for play to continue even as Medvedev toed the line. Though not against the rules, this is far more questionable than anything Frances Tiafoe did in Vienna.
Crowds can be a piercing weapon for a player to have at their side. Carlos Alcaraz seemed completely blindsided last night as the Parisian fans threw their support behind Gaston even as he was down 5-0 in the second set, and Alcaraz lost seven games in a row to lose the match — and not because Gaston was playing out of his mind, either.
But at the end of the day, players are still playing tennis regardless of how loud the atmosphere is and who it is partial to, and more often than not, the better tennis player winds up victorious.