New haircut? yea he got THEE glow now
Low key, Carlos could be the best thing to happen to Novak from a fan perspective.
In my opinion, the biggest reason he's never been embraced is because he never had a challenger and he's been running unopposed for over a decade.
Fed had four Slams when Nadal popped up. It took a few years for Rafa to get over the hump outside of Roland Garros but he had the torch by 2008 and had that dominant stretch from 2008-2010. The normal tennis succession from Fed to Nadal.
After that stretch, Novak really broke through in 2011 and has had an iron grip on the sport since then while every fresh face since Andy Murray has proven to be a fraud.
With Fed and Nadal, their runs were supplanted but they were still in the mix and able to get to the mountain top occasionally (excluding the French). They always had lingering health issues as well so it was endearing to fans when they won Slams.
Novak's been an unbreakable machine since 2011 besides that brief spell for a year or two when he was having injury issues himself. He hasn't had to fend anybody off until now.
If Alcaraz beats him in New York, there's gonna be a lot of support for Novak in Australia next year. People will want to see him win again before it's truly over.
