2008 US Open 'Battle of the Boards' Pick 'em Contest

Silver · County player

RE: 2008 US Open 'Battle of the Boards' Pick 'em Contest

The Hoose · Satellite level

Nobody had Muller getting that far.

murrayman650 · ATP level

24 points in the round brillant

steven · Tennis legend

The results have now been updated to the end of day 10 at http://www.britishtennis.net/competitions.html - no change in the top 10, though there are plenty of changes lower down. With so few matches for people to write about, the daily reports are getting a bit too close to each other on most boards, so I'm going to give the report a miss today and do a single report on the QFs after the other two have been played.

Count Zero · Tennis legend

well as much as i am happ .y andy won, in doing so he dropped me way down. now ineed fed to win the whole thing or sheddie will get me

steven · Tennis legend

If Rafa reaches the Final, then yes you'd need Fed to beat him there, but a Muzza v Feddie Final would keep you on top too whatever the result.

Count Zero · Tennis legend

come on andy then! (and fed)

steven · Tennis legend

DAYS 10 & 11 'SYNDICATED' REPORT

For detailed results, please see http://www.britishtennis.net/competitions.html

The US Open is often the most 'predictable' of the slams, and the semi-final line-up suggests that it has been again, though those of us following the results over the first week could claim we know better!

With the (soon to be official) top four players in the world having made it to the semis, there are three titanic battles in prospect in the last three matches, though it's a pity that ex-Hurricane Hanna seems destined to make it more of a lottery than it should be by playing havoc with the schedule this weekend and intensifying the windy conditions that have already been causing some problems.

TEAMS LEAGUE

There was little movement at the top or bottom of the teams league, with BT.net staying on top, but TAT in 2nd and AM.com in 3rd put a little more pressure on them by finishing 1st and 2nd in the QFs respectively and JM.org, 3rd in the QFs, pulled away from the bottom three teams and are now clear of the stragglers in 10th.

There were some changes in mid-table, with the Dammitaires, second worst scorers in the QFs, dropping 2 to 7th, allowing the top two in the overall team race before the USO, Team CC, now 5th, and Rusedski.co.uk, now 6th, to move up a place, with the former now hot on the heels of 4th placed T4Y, who dropped out of contention with the top three during the QFs. Meanwhile MTF, up 1 to 8th with the 4th best score in the QFs, overtook BBC 606, down 1 to 9th.

Having picked up about 3 points on the Feddies, the lowest-scoring team during the QFs thanks to a lot of wishful thinking about Rafa and/or Nole having been removed from the mix by the SFs, last-placed Tennisopolis.com have a real chance of climbing off the bottom of the table, especially if Nole reaches the Final.

It is worth pointing out that the Fans are once again beating the Actives, indeed they are mashing them having won every single round so far!

INDIVIDUALS

All of the top five before the QFs got all of the semi-finalists correct, the first time that has happened, and indeed the only entrant in the pre-QFs top 10 not to do so was Claire Bear (AM), down 12 to 18th after 'only' getting 3/4 right.

So, by the time the SFs start, christian (BT) will have been the end of day leader every day for over a week, an unprecedented achievement since the days when these comps were limited to BT members if I remember right! The rest of the top five are all within one semi-final winner of him though.

ON THE RISE

Almost 200 entrants equal top-scored in the QFs by getting all four semi-finalists correct, so being the fastest riser depended on getting 4/4 QF winners and being near the middle of the table where there was the most scope for overtaking. A handful of entrants gained 70 or more places - tennisfan78 (TY), up 70 to 207, NorthernLights (JM), up 70 to 220th, driftin02 (TN), up 70 to 222nd, Michael (AM), up 70 to 232nd, Edberg's Brother (TN), up 71 to 238th, and morct (TA), up 71 to 256th.

ON THE SLIDE

If you started the QFs inside the top 300, getting just one semi-finalist wrong was enough to see you move down rather than up and many of those who got two wrong dropped around 100 places or more.

However, with only US bot Homer not getting any of the QF winners correct, it was those who got only 1/4 correct who dropped the most, with the three worst-affected being Strokel (RF), down 151 from 17th to 168th, Tom (TN), down 170 to 308th, and x5daisy (RF), down 167 to 334th, all down more than 150 places - this pick 'em is turning out to be almost as brutal as the real SFs promise to be!

OUTLOOK

Unprecedentedly, over 80% of entrants still have both of their finalists alive going into the semis, including all of the top 80 (and it might be all of the top 100+ if one entrant had not failed to make a pick for one of the semis and the Final), and despite the limited amount of movement over the QFs, there is so much variation over who is going to win the semis and the Final that this promises to be the most exciting end to one of these contests yet.

We are split almost down the middle over who is going to reach the Final from the bottom half, with 48% going for Nole, 45% for Fed and only 7% not going for either (and hence destined for a big drop whatever happens), while in the top half, we split 73% for Rafa and 14% for Muzza, with 13% going for neither and needing a Scot in the Final to limit the damage. The bookies think Rafa has a 79% chance of beating Muzza, i.e. that Andy has around a 1 in 5 chance of the upset, and that Fed has a 55% chance of beating Nole.

Champion picks for the remaining four players are:

39% for Rafa (the bookies give him a 46% chance, just under 1 in 2)
33% for Fed (skewed a little by the massed ranks of RF.com nearly all going for him - the bookies give him a 30% chance, just under 1 in 3)
19% for Nole (the bookies give him a 16% chance, around 1 in 6)
4% for Muzza (the bookies give him an 8% chance, around 1 in 12)

Just 5% of entrants didn't go for one of these players to win the title.

TEAM KO FINALS - after 4 of 7 matches

FINAL: (9) RafaelNadalFans lead (10) Other Boards 19-16.33
3-4: (6) AndyMurray.com lead (5) Tennis4you.com 17.7-15.88
5-6: (2) TalkAboutTennis lead (1) BritishTennis.net 18.19-17.14
7-8: (13) Assorted Individuals lead (3) RichardGasquet.net 15.31-14.17
9-10: (7) Centre Court Forum lead (16) Tennisopolis.com 16.54-15.04
11-12: (12) Rusedski.co.uk lead (14) RogerFederer.com 16.94-12.03
13-14: (4) MensTennisForums lead (15) AndyRoddick.com 17-11.79
15-16: (8) JamieMurray.org lead (11) BBC 606 boards 17.5-16.67

-- Edited by steven at 08:08, 2008-09-05

-- Edited by steven at 08:15, 2008-09-05

wolf · Tennis legend

Is it just me or have the individual results not been updated after the Djoker v Duckboy match?

I'm still down as 50= with only 15 points scored instead of 20 for the QF stage!

-- Edited by wolf at 12:22, 2008-09-05

steven · Tennis legend

The upload looked like it was working but obviously didn't. I should be able to re-upload sometime in the next hour.

steven · Tennis legend

SEMI-FINALS 'SYNDICATED' REPORT

There are a lot of entrants, mainly Brits, who are deliriously happy right now that their pick 'em chances have been smashed to smithereens - and I'm one of them!

While the Final can still cause lots of movement in the tables, we already have unassailable leaders in the teams league and the individual - well done to BritishTennis.net and to MC (MT), who has somehow managed to open up an 11 point lead over the best of the other 455 entrants! 2nd place, and virtually all of the other places, are still up for grabs in both competitions.

Detailed results (N.B. the changes in what is usually the "Today" column are for the semi-finals as a whole) can be found at http://www.britishtennis.net/competitions.html as usual.

TEAMS LEAGUE

There was remarkably little movement in the teams league over the semis, with the top 6 remaining unchanged, BBC 606, up 2 to 7th, and the Dammitaires, down 2 to 9th after failing to score at all in the semis, swapping places, and the Feddies, up 1 to 11th after top scoring in the semis by far, overtaking the Ducklings, down 1 to 12th.

As mentioned above, BT.net's lead is now unassailable, but 2nd placed TAT will drop to 3rd whoever wins the Final. AM.com (who did well in the SF round but didn't score huge even though their man came through unexpectedly because relatively few of them picked Fed to reach the Final as well) will finish 2nd if Muzza wins the title, but T4Y will do so (their best-ever finish) if Fed wins, a result which would also see the team from his site leap into the top half of the table right at the death and Tennisopolis escape from last place.

The two teams battling for 2nd place in the league are also fighting it out in the team KO 3rd place playoff so with both teams in the team KO Final being composite teams that can't score ranking points, the result of the USO Final will also determine whether AM.com or T4Y grab the 500 team ranking points available in that competition!

INDIVIDUALS

By getting both finalists correct, Canadian MC (MT), up 1 to 2nd, has snatched 1st place from long-time leader christian (BT) and now has an unassailable 11 point lead, having finished 1st= in all of the last four rounds! It looks like MT's crucial picks, as well as getting all of the semi-finalists and finalists correct, were del Potro to reach the QFs, and Querrey, Monfils & Andreev to reach the last 16.

goldfish (BT) up 1 to 3rd, completes the current top three but, like the 2nd placed entrant, can't score in the Final. She replaces team-mate Dusty Dick (BT), down 2 to 5th after failing to score in the semis, while Graphite Machete (TN), up 3 to 4th, who styles himself as a tennis racket (I assume that's what the name means) seems to have won one racket as well in the Tennisopolis site's "comp within this comp"!

Apart from tiphaniie (RG), down 4 to 9th, the rest of the top 10 are all from the same team - dssl973/Ma$terpiec£ (AM), up 38 to 6th, is the top-placed entrant with Muzza as his winner, with hfwardhouse (AM), up 12 to 10th, the only other entrant with Muzza to win who is currently in the top 80. miffy (AM), up 7 to 7th, and Claire Bear (AM), up 10 to 8th, complete the top ten.

ON THE RISE

Around 30 players (less than 7%) got both finalists correct. Of those, the three biggest risers were Gwigs (TN), up 129 to 193rd, mwoods (TA), up 123 to 177th and melissab (RF), up 123 to 144th. Many of the others who got both finalists correct went up over 100 places too.

ON THE SLIDE

Over 200 entrants failed to pick either finalist, including 7 of the post-QF top 10, three of whom managed to hold onto top 10 spots regardless! Those in mid-table who failed to score tended to drop about 50 places, with Lainey (TN), down 55 to 295th just edging the fastest faller spot from Sound (AM), down 54 to 293rd, liam_valid (CC), down 54 to 291st, DJ (IN), down 54 to 168th and Jack Buxton (IN), down 54 to 165th.

TEAM KO FINALS - based on QFs, SFs & Final - after 6 of 7 matches

FINAL: (9) RafaelNadalFans lead (10) Other Boards 21.4-19.13
3-4: (6) AndyMurray.com lead (5) Tennis4you.com 20.62-20.12
5-6: (2) TalkAboutTennis lead (1) BritishTennis.net 20.69-20.4
7-8: (13) Assorted Individuals lead (3) RichardGasquet.net 17.81-14.17
9-10: (7) Centre Court Forum lead (16) Tennisopolis.com 20-19.22
11-12: (12) Rusedski.co.uk lead (14) RogerFederer.com 19.61-18.78
13-14: (4) MensTennisForums lead (15) AndyRoddick.com 19.8-15.21
15-16: (8) JamieMurray.org lead (11) BBC 606 boards 20.93-20.67

Count Zero · Tennis legend

steven wrote:

... but a Muzza v Feddie Final would keep you on top too whatever the result.

steven · Tennis legend

steven · Tennis legend

2008 US OPEN 'BATTLE OF THE BOARDS' PICK 'EM CONTEST - final 'syndicated' report

So, the biggest 'Battle of the Boards' yet comes to an end, and what a BOTB it's been! Full detailed results can be found at http://www.britishtennis.net/competitions.html and the updated Hall of Fame at http://www.britishtennis.net/pickem/hallfame.htm?n=1 - the overall rankings will be updated later this week and I will post again when they are available.

TEAMS LEAGUE

Winning Rounds 3 & 4 helped to give the 35-strong BritishTennis.net team a clear lead that they did not relinquish, ending up winning by nearly 5 points - they came top on unadjusted averages and average picks correct too, as they completed a commanding victory to improve on their 3rd place finish last year.

Fed's win lifted 17-player team Tennis4you.com up 2 to 2nd, giving them their first-ever top three finish, ahead of the QF-winning 36-strong TAT team, down 1 to 3rd, who managed to hold off the leaders in the overall team race Team CC, up 1 to 4th on Monday, as AM.com dropped 2 to 5th.

Fed's 13th grand slam title produced a late surge by the Feddies, who roared up 5 places to 6th after winning their second round in a row. Whether the two RF team members who picked Nole instead of "Rogi" will ever feel able to show their faces on his forum again remains to be seen ...

Overall no. 2 team Rusedski.co.uk dropped 2 to 8th, so it was a bad day for the boards of both GB's slam finalists from the last 30 years. All of the other teams moved down 1, mainly thanks to the Feddie surge, but 132-strong Tennisopolis managed to lift themselves one place off the bottom right at the end, sending the Ducklings down there in their place.

INDIVIDUALS

Not surprisingly, the fnal top 10 was dominated by some of the 1/3 of entrants who picked Fed to retain the title.

Congratulations to MC (MT), 58th ranked before this pick 'em, who kept the US Open title in MTF's hands (amalyn (MT), 124th this year, won it last year) by coming top or equal top in each of the last five rounds! He became the second Canadian to win one of these contests after BalaK (AM) who triumphed in Rome AMS earlier this year.

The winner finished an astounding 13 points ahead, giving him over 100 ranking points more for the USO than first-time picker Graphite Machete (TN) from the USA, up 2 to 2nd, who seems to have nabbed the Tennisopolis racket prize.

Scotland's Claire Bear (AM), up 5 to 3rd, may have relinquished her Cincy title a few weeks ago, but having now finished 3rd out of 456 entrants here, she can truly consider herself the "Queen of hard" (ooer!), so very well done to her and to the top two as well.

The other places in the top 5 were also taken by entrants who picked Fed to win, Eva (RF) from Estonia, up 7 to 4th, and another first-timer, billxxx (TN), up 7 to 5th.

Two Rafa-to-win pickers held on in the top 10 - long-time leader Christian (BT), down 4 to 6th (he shared getting the most individual picks correct, 98/127, with the eventual winner), and goldfish (BT), down 4 to 7th. Three more Fed-to-win pickers complete the top 10 - s0mil (TY), up 5 to 8th, Marko Mitic (TY), up 7 to 9th, and Akhenaten (BT), up 10 to 10th.

The highest-placed entrant out of those in the pre-USO top 20 was Dusty Dick (BT), down 6 to 11th, while dssl973/Ma$terpiec£ (AM), down 6 to 12th, was the highest placed entrant who picked losing finalist Andy Murray to win.

The highest placed pre-USO top 10 player was Flintstone (IN), down 17 to 38=.

ON THE RISE

Five entrants rose 77 places as a result of the Final - David Carter (BT), up to 224th, Speedy (BB), up to 225th, x5daisy (RF), up to 228th, walo (RF), up to 243rd, and TheLogo (TY), up to 244th.

ON THE SLIDE

There was tight competition for 'most in need of a parachute' on the final day, with cazza99 (AM), down 37 to 192nd, just edging it! The bottom five in the final table (8 of the bottom 10 in fact) were all newbies from Tennisopolis, so I guess a bit of experience of these comps can help!

ROBOTS

With a good performance in the middle rounds, Billy the bookie finished top of the Bots, about equal with the 23rd best human, with the ranking and ATP race bots following on behind him.

Average Joe proved that the consensus of 456 heads gives a better than average result, while the US Open Series bot (whose accuracy was hampered by losing lots of contenders to the Olympics) finished just below halfway and the American bot finished below the last human, if still above the gorillas, who went hungry.

GROUPS

After going behind during the QFs, the kids overtook the adults right at the end to lead the series 5-3 in 2008, though they trail 6-7 all-time.

They may have lost the SF and Final rounds, but male entrants beat female entrants by more than three points after winning the first five rounds. Males lead 6-2 this year, 9-4 all-time, though the '2' for females this year were both slams, the AO and Wimby, so slams were split 2-2 with all the AMS events in 2008 so far being won by the men.

It was a similar story in fans v actives, with fans also winning by just over 3 points - they lead the series 8-0 in 2008 (!), 10-3 all-time.

TEAM KO FINALS

FINAL: (9) RafaelNadalFans beat (10) Other Boards 21.4-20.53
3-4: (5) Tennis4you.com beat (6) AndyMurray.com 23.41-21
5-6: (1) BritishTennis.net beat (2) TalkAboutTennis 22.2-21.67
7-8: (13) Assorted Individuals beat (3) RichardGasquet.net 19.71-14.17
9-10: (7) Centre Court Forum beat (16) Tennisopolis.com 22.96-22.24
11-12: (14) RogerFederer.com beat (12) Rusedski.co.uk 25.34-20.39
13-14: (4) MensTennisForums beat (15) AndyRoddick.com 21.2-17.21
15-16: (11) BBC 606 boards beat (8) JamieMurray.org 23-22.43

Not one of the 13 teams with 5+ entrants finished in the same place in the KO among those 13 teams as they did in the league. You have to feel for JM.org who ended up last in the team KO despite scoring more than any other losing team in the final round!

OVERALL RANKINGS

Unfortunately, I won't be able to find the time to do these immediately, but they will be published later this week and I will post again when they are available.

I can tell you that there is very little change in the team race, but the four teams behind Team CC have bunched up to an incredible extent, leaving the race for the year-end top spot wide open!

THANKS, and the NEXT BOTB

Thank you for taking part in the US Open BOTB, I hope you had fun. Give yourself a BIG pat on the back if you finished in the top 100, or even the top half in such a tough comp! Thanks also to Bethan for getting all those entries into the system in the first place!

The next BOTB pick 'em will be Madrid AMS, with entries likely to open on 10 or 11 October, when the race will really be on for year-end no. 1 among both the individuals and the teams!

goldfish · Futures qualifying

Thanks Steven and Bethan for another great competition. An amazing amount of work that is much appreciated.