I found that my old articles are still relevant, so I just translated one in English, one that fits with actuality perfectly. Sorry for my old readers ("the happy few", to quote Stendhal), for this rehash.
"Drang nach Osten" had a different meaning for Germany and for Austria-Hungary: for the Two-Headed Empire, it was the means for accessing the oil sources of Turkey, which included, at that epoch, most of the Middle East. For the Reich, it meant expanding its "living space" at the detriment of the Slavic subhumans: a conquest of the East and its resources. The consequence of this ideology was tens of millions of deaths - Russians, Poles, Serbs, Czechs, Slovaks… During a savage, outrageous war, against the population itself, the greatest genocide since the invasion of northern India by Muslims. This ideology was never condemned: we must never forget that the German military effort, during the two wars, had been financed in large part by the United States, which had, both in 1919 and in 1945, done everything to protect the interests of their biggest economic partner… And their biggest debtor.
This systemic xenophobia directed towards the East and South, according to which the Slavs are subhuman, the “Russians” the villains and the Balkans a powder keg of backward and savage peoples (a British invention) - was distorted and lasted after the Second World War, for the needs of the war against the working class (Let us not forget that social gains were only possible because of the existence of the Soviet Union, which set an example for unions and communist parties.), and to maintain animosity against the USSR, whose mineral wealth attracted the greed of Western capitalists.
The world of tennis being only a microcosm, one can see the abuse of this prejudice for the purposes of marketing in the formation of public opinion: it was directed against Lendl, against Navratilova, and today more than ever, against Djokovic. But never has this been done so systematically as now, when the financial stakes are the greatest, for two reasons, which deserve to be developed separately.
The first has to do with Nike, IMG, and the way IMG controls player income. From the 90s, IMG and Adidas had managed to monopolize the tennis market. While in the days of competition from many sportswear companies, racket manufacturers, many players were properly sponsored, we had seen a big change take place: the best were earning more and more, and all the others, less and less. There was, moreover, no need to pay a lot of players: with the two or three big stars having to play all the important - and televised - tournaments, the media promotion could be centered on them. Federer's dominance, joined by Nadal in a publicity stunt, had made things easier and brought to fruition a process that had accelerated in the early days of modern ATP.
Because you have to understand what ATP is today. While at the time of Philippe Chatrier the ITF maintained, as best it could, the balance between the association of players and the interests of tournaments, the counter-revolution "on a parking lot" of 1988 allowed tournament organizers a monumental hold-up : in exchange for empty promises they dismissed the ITF and monopolized the circuit. I say empty promises because the players, the promised money - and that's what it was about, as always - they would never see it. Quite the opposite: events like the EEC championship in Antwerp, where the purse was proportionally much higher than that of Roland Garros, e.g., would become impossible. The ATP will do everything to protect the masters tournaments and their income. But not only the masters, but also, very quickly, an agency and a few sponsors who were heavily involved in the ossification of positions of strength and weakness within the circuit.
Today, when Novak threatens not only these conditions of exploitative slavery of players, but also the “Federer industry”, he unleashes a propaganda worthy of Joseph Goebbels against him, especially after the foundation of the PTPA. It is characterized by the following elements:
1. Conceal its successes and hide its importance. Although itis difficult to do, the press does its best. For example, in English-language articles there is hardly any mention of his non-calendar grand slam - the only one to be won on three different surfaces, nor of his crushing record against Federer and Nadal since 2011, players he has completely dominated. It's been seven years since he lost to Federer in a slam, almost six years since he was beaten by Nadal in the best of five sets. Since 2012, the Swiss has only been able to win major tournaments when Novak was injured.
2. Convince the audience that he is not popular: hide (and, of late, criminalize) the huge number of his fans, and insist that he is hungry for "love", which is just one way of saying that he is not liked. By forcefully repeating that he is very influential among players, turn him into a sinister and devious "capo dei tutti capi", a figure emerging from the shadows, that threatens to destroy the world of tennis. We are right in the world of Marvel.
This is all false: from my own experience, and with as much evidence as journalists, I can say that Novak is the most popular player among the new generation of fans - a place he has carved out for himself with improbable victories, won despite unfavorable draws, difficult playing conditions, and all the little cheap shots that are the fort of Caujolle, Tiley and company. And if he is respected by the players, who know what to expect, it is because he deserved it not only by his action in their favor, but because he also shared their bitter bread.
Our decadent civilization is adept at building and believing in an alternate reality: for example, you become a woman just by wanting to be (well, it's true that I'm a Jedi). The correlative is that, when we do not discern reality from fiction, truth from lies, it is impossible to distinguish between good and evil. The essence of the message no longer has any weight, only its form is important. Hey, that reminds me of my French journalists who keep repeating, when it comes to our players, "I want to believe". But the illusion still stems from repeating the same lies. Unfortunately, I am afraid that this illusion, like the cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, the solemn temples, shall dissolve, yeah, and leave not a rack behind.
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