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

Count Zero · Tennis legend

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

The Hoose · Satellite level

Good work by the British Tennis team

Silver · County player

Stomping stuff biggrin

What a competition that was smile

Huge thanks to all concerned cos that's a lot of work I'm sure! Can't believe how chuffed I am to come 34th! WOO!

Well done all biggrin

BT.NET FOR THE WIN!

-- Edited by Silver at 13:13, 2008-09-09

jamatthews · Strong Club Player

Can't complain about my position. I was expecting alot worse. I guess Andy really prevented me from being near the bottom.

DavidC · Tennis legend

Thanks again to Steven and Bethan - this board could use the facility to add thanks for each message as in AndyMurray.com for example

john · Top national player

292nd for me, disappointing effort lol

Thanks for the comp guys!

steven · Tennis legend

POST-2008 US OPEN BOTB RANKINGS - 'SYNDICATED' REPORT

In case you haven't noticed yet, the new overall rankings have now been posted. Over 100 people left the rankings after not playing any pick 'ems since last year's USO, but over 200 newbies took part in the USO this year, so overall the number of ranked players has gone up to over 800!

TEAMS

Perhaps surprisingly, there was very little change in the team rankings, with Team CC staying in 1st place despite a net gain of just 41 points, Rusedski.co.uk staying in 2nd despite neither of their USO scores being good enough to improve on their best 7, and AM.com staying in 3rd, despite a net gain of just 124.

However, when you look a bit closer at the change figures, you can see that CC still lead by less than 200 points, GR lead AM by just 61 points (c.f. nearly 200 before the USO) and AM lead 4th placed BT.net by just 42 points, down from over 300 thanks to BT winning the USO teams league.

In addition, TAT, up 2 to 4th, swapping places with MTF, down 2 to 6, added 792 points at the USO (both their scores counting in full because they only had five counting scores before) and instead of being nearly 400 points behind BT, around 700 behind AM and around 900 behind GR, they are now just 9, 51 and 112 points behind them respectively.

Hence, despite the lack of changes this time, it is all set up for a very exciting end to the Teams Race over the last two pick 'ems of the year, with any of the top five teams having a good chance of ending up on top, or at least in the year-end top three!

INDIVIDUALS - TOP 5

Ashley Harkleroad's ***** (IN) had his worst pick 'em yet (though 118th/456 and 2 x 444 ranking points would be pretty good for most of us!) but the Wimbledon Pick 'em Champion still managed to retain an overall lead of over 100 points.

This is because the rest of the pre-USO top five all dropped back, except Flintstone (IN), who so consistently scores over 500 ranking points in pick 'ems that while a place in the USO top 40 helped her move up 1 to 2nd, it didn't increase her best 7 scores by enough to enable her to challenge for the top slot.

Wendy (AM), down 1 to 3rd, had her worst finish since Madrid AMS 2007 at the USO, but she still managed to keep the top three 175 points clear of the rest. Fedex (GR), up 7 to 4th, climbed well into the top 10 after finishing in the top 30 at the USO, while miffy (AM) climbed 8 to 5th after finishing 21st.

REST OF THE TOP 10

Such was the carnage among many of those who had been in the top 10 before the USO that Richard Morris/ASE (AM), up 1 to 6th, and WimbledonAce (CC), up 2 to 7th, managed to move up despite weak USOs (WA finished 349th!) which did not add any points to their totals - neither of them were actually defending any points, which obviously helped.

Having missed the USO, linda (AM) dropped 4 places to 8th, but will be relieved to still be in the top 10, while a 7th place finish for goldfish (BT) at the USO lifts her up 10 and back into the top 10 in 9th.

Last but certainly not least, USO winner MC (MT) rockets up 48 places to 10th!

DROPPING OUT OF THE TOP 10

Conversely, last year's USO winner amalyn (MT), drops 17 to 22nd, 124th place this time leaving her well off what she achieved last year. Randall Six (IN), down 6 to 12th, cazza99 (AM), down 6 to 14th, and RoastLamb (AM), down 8 to 18th, also dropped out of the top 10 after not doing quite as well as at the USO last year.

ON THE RISE

Apart from the USO winner, the other big climber into the top 20 is hfwardhouse (AM), up 32 to 17th after a top 25 finish in the USO.

Climbing from outside the top 100 into the top 50 are wunderkind (TA), up 76 to 25th, Akhenaten (BT), up 94 to 31st after finishing 10th at the USO, FishFlaps (CC), up 91 to 42nd after finishing 16th at the USO, and Charlie02123 (TA), up 67 to 50th. Also worth a mention is Cincy runner-up dssl973/Ma$terpiec£ (AM), who followed up his 48 place rise after Cincy with a rise of another 45 places to 27th after finishing 12th at the USO - quite the expert at the summer US hard court swing! (in other words, he picked Muzza to win both Cincy and the USO!)

Joint highest climbers into the top 100 are luvs10s (T), up 96 to 73rd, and Drop-Shot (TA), up 96 to 88th. Because of the increase in the number of ranked players and the increase in the number getting to a full complement of 7 counting scores, in the lower echelons of the top 100, you needed to increase your points total by about 200 just to stay where you were.

13 players managed to rise over 100 places into the top 200, with bblola12 (RF), up 222 to 198th, rising the most. bill b (TN), up 319 to 260th, and BORRO2 (RF), up 328 to 275, both rose more than 300 places into the top 300, with the latter the fastest riser of all after finishing in the top 50 at the USO, a big improvement on a weak debut at Wimbledon.

HIGHEST NEW ENTRANTS

The highest new entrant is Graphite Machete (TN), in at 254th after taking the USO runner-up spot. Eight more players managed to enter the rankings in the top 300 after finishing in the top 30 or so at the USO.

ON THE SLIDE

Big fallers are less interesting than big risers because most players who fall hundreds of places do so because they haven't played any pick 'ems for ages and their few remaining scores are starting to drop off.

The biggest faller who didn't fall right out of the rankings is fleabitten (TN), down 537 to 801st after dropping his 2007 USO score left him with just 2x3 points from this year's AO!

For detailed final US Open BOTB results, an updated pick 'em Hall of Fame and new overall rankings, please see http://www.britishtennis.net/Competitions.html

john · Top national player

Up 6 places to 244, suppose that has to be considered a good tournament then lol

steven · Tennis legend

Yes, with over 200 new players added, and more recent 'converts' getting nearer to 7 counting scores all the time, even a tiny rise was pretty good at that level.