2008 Madrid AMS 'Battle of the Boards' pick 'em contest

steven · Tennis legend

RE: 2008 Madrid AMS 'Battle of the Boards' pick 'em contest

steven · Tennis legend

MONDAY REPORT

Here's the 'syndicated' report for Monday - full results can be found at http://www.britishtennis.net/pickem/competitions.html

There were six R1 matches on Monday to add to the two that were completed on Sunday, with lucky loser Bolelli's defeat of Almagro the only real upset, in the sense that neither the bookies nor the majority picked him to win.

TEAMS

Tennis4you ended the day where they started, in 1st place, though they did lose their lead at one point to TAT, who finished the day up 4 places in 2nd, with the Dammitaires completing the top three. The Feddies were 2nd after day 1, but dropped 4 places to 6th on day 2.

The only other big movers were AM.com, up 4 from last to 7th, and Team CC, down 3 to 10th - indeed all of the top 4 teams in the overall rankings are in the bottom half of the Madrid table at this point, and usual R1 specialists MTF are bringing up the rear!

INDIVIDUALS

We started day 2 with 71 entrants in 1st= and the number of entrants on 100% reduced gradually throughout the day until we were left with 6 on 8/8 - Superbrat (CC), Count Zero (BT), Allan (AM), IntnstyAngle (TA), Scotty (TA) & Shabba (IN) - well done to them! The two entrants with wolfish names spent most of day in the top groups too, but their dream of being on top ready to howl at the full moon due on Tuesday was snuffed out when Robredo beat Seppi.

The biggest climbers, up 126 to 7=, were the entrants who scored 100% on day 2 but not on day 1, i.e. wunderkind (TA), kickserve (TY) & TATKrutin (TA), while the biggest fallers were 11 entrants who dropped 140 places to 141= after getting just 3/6 on day 2. Far more people dropped than moved up on day 2, simply because so many of us started the day in 1=! Only swissgirl (IN), with 2/6 on day 2 to add to 1/2 on day 1, is currently in the gorillas' cage, though 8 more are at the cage door.

TUESDAY PREVIEW

Tuesday is the busiest day of the tournament, with the remaining 8 R1 matches and 5 R2 matches due to take place. Pivotal R1 matches for lots of us could be Kohli (picked by 68%) v Chucky Moya and Youzhny (73%) v Nieminen, while (Q) Ginepri aka Safin (85%) v Llodra will be important too, especially to those who had Dinara's lower-ranked brother going deep into the draw.

Meanwhile, the first of the R2 matches, Verdasco v Cilic has us split 57%-42%, and another R2 match due to be played tomorrow, Blake-Simon, splits 72%-19%.

steven · Tennis legend

TUESDAY REPORT

8 R1 matches and 5 R2 matches were played on Tuesday, so 18 points were up for grabs, though a number of upsets early on in the day meant that 16 was the maximum anyone actually scored. Detailed results can be found at http://www.britishtennis.net/competitions.html

TEAMS

The lead changed hands a few times during the day, but TAT, up 1 to 1st, were top of the pile in the end. JM.org, up 2 to 2nd, lead R2, while the Dammitaires, still 3rd, ended up with the top score in R1.

Monday's leaders T4Y dropped 3 to 4th but are still in contention, while AM.com, up 2 to 5th, BT.net, up 3 to 6th, and MTF, up 4 to 7th, are all rising fast.

The Ducklings, down 4 to 8th, Rusedski.co.uk, down 1 to 9th, and the Feddies, down 5 to last, are on the slide, while no. 1 team Team CC are still stuck in 10th.

INDIVIDUALS - TOP 10

Two of yesterday's top scorers with 16/18 share the lead - luvs10s (TA) & WallaceEMann (GR) both rising 6 to 1=, with esther (JM), up 4 to 3rd, completing the top three a point behind the leaders. She equal top scored in R1 with 14/16 together with world no. 2 Flintstone (IN), up 51 to 21=, and Allan (AM), down 20 to 21=.

The other two entrants who scored 16/18 on Tuesday, Tim G (BT) and Boarder35m (MT), both up 68, are among seven other entrants a point behind the leaders in 4=, just outside the top 3 on tiebreak. The others are SarahEva (JM), Fitz (JM), Scotty (TA), Iqqi4Rogi (RF) and pick 'em debutant Sandy (AM), all up 3.

ON THE RISE

The biggest risers yesterday by some distance were SLess (CC), Lizzim (AM) and RobH (BT), all up 93 to 48= after scoring 14/18.

ON THE SLIDE

Two players managed to drop more than 100 places despite scoring 50% yesterday - they were hfwardhouse (AM), down 119 to 126=, and Beunhaasje (RN), down 123 to 130=.

The lowest human scorers got a point less than that, i.e. 8/18. Two of them, scooter (RN), down 35 to 176th, and Daniel/Belgarath1981 (RF), down 36 to 177=, join Malteaser (BT), down 7 to 177=, on the same points as, perhaps surprisingly, the ATP Race bot - Racy and the gorillas scored just 7/18 yesterday.perhaps surprisingly, the ATP Race bot - both of those Bots scored just 7/18 yesterday.

OUTLOOK

From the WP SLR column, it is clear that plenty of people had all 16 of their R2 winners still in contention at the end of R1 (one way of ensuring this was to pick only seeds to win in R2 of course!), though all but half a dozen lost at least one of their R2 winners in the first five R2 matches, the losses of Flake and Nando "I dream of Ana" Verdasco (well, according to the more scurrilous tennis mags anyway!) being costly for many. Gucci (VB), down 58 to 130=, lost four R2 winners in R1.

A dozen entrants, including 9 of the top 10, are still on 100% in R2 (5/5) - the lowest-placed of them, Eddie (AM), up 33 to 39th, has already scored as many points as he did in the whole of R1!

WEDNESDAY PREVIEW

With the rest of R2 (11 matches) due to be played today, 22 points are up for grabs, making Wednesday neither the day with the most matches (that was Tuesday with 13) nor the day with the most points on offer (that'll be Thursday with 24), but one of the most important days of the tournament from a pick 'em point of view nonetheless!

Swing matches today include Gonzo v Monfils (53-47), Ivo v Sod (60-40), Kolya v Ginepri/ex-Safin (66-32), Numpty v Berdbrain (77-23, you just know this match is going to be a nightmare to follow for everyone, don't you!) and Pics v Floppy (77-22), a remarkable split given that Floppy leads the H2H 4-2, including 4-1 away from clay, a straight sets win here last year and a straight sets win in Dubai, the only time they have met this year - though I fully expect that research to backfire on me as usual!

-- Edited by steven at 11:10, 2008-10-15

wolf · Tennis legend

It's times like this (10th in the table) when you wish you hadn't done stupid picks later on like Del Potro beating Federer!

johnnylad · Tennis legend

Is there no Skippy because there were no Aussies in the main draw?

steven · Tennis legend

Skippy only picks for the AO.

The Hoose · Satellite level

steven wrote:

Skippy only picks for the AO.

... and appears at the bottom of the results table this time round because he is on holiday in Madrid.

steven · Tennis legend

That's quickly solved

"Juego, set, partido Lopez" - just when I was wondering whether it was worth bothering to do any research any more, it suddenly seems worth it.

It wasn't fun realising that the player I'd picked to win wis the one with the girly yellow ribbon in his hair but Floppy now has a 5-2 record against Pics, 5-1 excluding clay, has won his last three matches against him in straight sets including (now) wins in consecutive years at this tournament. Yet only 22% went for him to win.

Unfortunately I went for Stani to beat him in the next round and he's looking a bit shaky, but you can't have everything!

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

Really happy with my position at the moment, although I'm playing an all or nothing strategy with Nalby as the winner - if he wins, then I'll take the title, but if he loses to either Del Potro, Federer, Murray, Nadal in the next 4 rounds, then it's all over really.

And after seeing his match today, I'm reasonably confident that he can repeat his title from last year, as long as he doesn't have any brain lapses...

steven · Tennis legend

WEDNESDAY REPORT

Has anyone else noticed that some people seem to have done very well with the early matches on both days and others with the late matches on both days? Wednesday was a day of relatively few shocks, but another intriguing day in the competition nonetheless, and after all that moaning from the people who had picked Safin to go deep after he withdrew, I think the rest of us could be forgiven for saying it was unfair to us, because we saw sense and picked against the Russian because we thought there was no way he would have done as well as Ginepri has! LOL

TEAMS

AM.com had a fab day on Wednesday - they climbed 4 to 1st early in the day and held on to win R2 and finish the day still in the lead. Yesterday's top three all dropped a place, so TAT are now 2nd, JM.org 3rd and the Dammitaires (with the best raw score, but with only 5 in their team their raw score was always likely to end up at one extreme or the other, that's why the team size adjustment was introduced in the first place) in 4th.

BT.net rose one place to complete the top 5, while early leaders T4Y, down 2 to 6th, are now right in the middle. The other significant move came from the Feddies, up 3 to 8th, leaving Team CC in their unfamiliar role holding the 'lanterne rouge' again.

INDIVIDUALS - TOP 10

Two entrants from the leading team managed to get a stunning 11/11 picks correct on Wednesday and they can be found at the top of the table - Allan (AM), up 20 to 1st, and GoGo (AM), up 21 to 2=. Allan was one of the R1 winners too, while GoGo top scored for R2 as a whole (15/16 correct) together with Tim G (BT), up 2 to 2nd, and RedCabbage (BT), up 15 to 4th.

aedra1119 (TA), up 18 to 5th, completes the top five, while four players are tied for 6th - yesterday's leaders luvs10s (TA) & WallaceEMann (GR), plus mintsauce (AM), up 5, and boumboum (RG), up 34, while the lupine pair are back in the top dozen after their night spent howling at the full moon, with Wolfey (IN), up 38 to 10th, just ahead in the intra-pack battle.

ON THE RISE

Scoring 10/11 on Wednesday was enough to make a big advance up the table wherever you started the day. The five biggest risers among them (all up over 80 places) included randy van heusden (IN), up 92 to 56=, plus four from the Murray boards - Sound (AM), up 86 to 40=, Keith Nunn (AM), up 92 to 56=, and Minnie me (JM) & LadyTigress (JM), both up 85 to 72=.

ON THE SLIDE

With just 5/11 picks correct on Wednesday, the biggest faller was phillycheesesteaks , down 116 to 127=, but the lowest scorer of the day was Dallas (TY), down 27 to last after getting just 4/11 correct.

HOW THE MIGHTY HAVE FALLEN

All of those who were in the top 8 in the overall rankings before Madrid are taking part in this competition, which is great, but they're having a tough time at the moment - Wendy (AM) WR 3, down 16 to 64=, is the only one of them in the top half of the table and ASE (AM) WR 6, up 4 to 94=, is the only other top tenner in the top 100 here, while nobody in the top 50 overall is in the top 25 here! World no. 2 Flintstone (IN), down 92 to 113rd, did manage a 2nd place today, but that was in the competition to find the fastest faller!

OUTLOOK

No less than 14 entrants still have all eight of their quarter-finalists surviving as we go into R3. They include four of the top 5 and six more who are within one R3 win of the lead, but they also include four entrants currently outside the top 50 who could figure among the fastest risers if all goes well for them tomorrow - LadyTigress (JM) in 72=, Kirkus (TA) in 94=, mmm8 (TA) in 126th and BalaK (AM) in 149=.

All but one of the top 70 have at least six QF-ist picks left in and everyone has at least four players they could score for on Thursday.

THURSDAY PREVIEW

The matches involving the big four tomorrow are unlikely to make much immediate difference to any of us, though they will be death or glory matches for the few who dared to pick against them. The full rundown is:

10.00 UK, Central: Ginepri 19% v Simon 6% (top picks were Flake & Kolya with 37% each)
N/B 11.30 UK, Central: Del Potro 50% v Numpty 38%
N/B 12.30 UK, Alcala: Murray 98% v Cilic 0%
N/B 13.00 UK, Central: Stani 46% v Floppy 7%
N/B 14.00 UK, Alcala: Duckboy 72% v Monfils 15%
N/B 15.00 UK, Central: Rafa 94% v Dammit 3%
N/B 19.00 UK, Central: Fed 97% v Tsonga 3%
After Fed on Central: Nole 98% v Ivo 2%

Player nickname decoder: http://www.andymurray.com/forum/showthread.php?t=253

I never thought I'd say this, but "Vamos Daveeeeeeeeeed!!" LOL

john · Top national player

Ooooh, I'm up in 11th with the highlight of my day being Monfils beating Duckboy. I have 6 quarter finalists left

TimG · Junior player

Wow i completly forgot about this looked at it today and sumhow i am 2nd hell yer

steven · Tennis legend

THURSDAY REPORT

I was really looking forward to today, thinking I might get half a dozen through to the QFs ... and then it turned into Terrible Thursday!

Three of the four winners picked by more than 90% of us got the job done but of the other top picks, Nole 98% lost to Ivo 2%; Stani 46% lost to Floppy 7%; Ginepri 19% lost to Simon 6%; Duckboy 72% lost to Monfils 15% ... and to rub salt into the wounds of those of us who had gone with Daveeeeeed, last year's winner Numpty 38% got thrashed by the entrants' favourite (though not the bookies' favourite) Potty 50%.

You can view full details of the carnage at http://www.britishtennis.net/competitions.html

TEAMS

The day started out well for the Murray teams, but they were overhauled later on by TAT, up 1 to 1st. AM.com dropped 1 to 2nd and JM.org finished the day where they started it, in 3rd place. BT.net moved up 1 to 4th, swapping places with the Dammitaires. The only other change was MTF dropping 2 to last, allowing the teams ranked 1 and 2 overall to climb off the bottom of the Madrid table.

INDIVIDUALS - TOP 10

With two of Wednesday's top three getting just 3/8 correct on Thursday and dropping out of the top 10, getting 5/8 correct was enough for GoGo (AM) to move up 1 to 1st and open up a two point lead, for aedra1119 (TA) to move up 3 to 2nd and for WallaceEMann (GR), the one tennis official playing in this competition, to move up 3 to 3rd. They are followed by the outright winner of R3 (with 6/8 correct) Suliso (TA), up 36 to 4th.

The top four can hear plenty of howling at their heels, with lupine double act Wolfey, up 5 to 5th, and Wolf (BT), up 5 to 6=, naturally leading the chasing pack! Also up 5 to 6= are Claire Morris (AM), SarahEva (JM) & Sandy (AM), while RedCabbage (BT), down 6 to 10th, completes the top ten.

ON THE RISE

eddie (AM), up 63 to 56th, and Johnnylad (BT), up 63 to 66th, were Thursday's fastest risers, with CRF (RF), up 62 to 89th, and ptmcmahon (TA), up 58 to 94th, also moving up more than 50 places. They all got 5/8 correct.

ON THE SLIDE

Just 2/8 correct saw francky (RG) slide 88 places to 110th. He started the year by finishing 2nd at the AO, but was one of very few entrants who picked Dammit to beat Rafa today. What with his Dammit v Numpty Final now done for and only one of his semi-finalists (Monfils) left, poor francky seems to have rather lost that silver medal touch!

ycpg (MT), down 87 to 115th, also suffered a loss of more than 50 places, as did esther (JM), down 69 to 143rd, but the lowest scorer of the day was CanadianWXMan (IN), down 19 to second last, who only got Muzza through to the QFs and has lost all of his semi-finalists, who were Dammit, Nole, Duckboy & Numpty.

FEATURE - HAVE TEAM CC LOST THEIR TOUCH?

The Rogis of the pick 'em world are getting a bit Feddie up:

Err Blue...: "That's it. I'm NEVER putting my faith in Donut Dave ever again! Why didn't someone tell me what I was letting myself in for?"

WimbledonAce: "Did Djoko win? <had him in the Final> I cant bear to look anymore!"

SLess: "I felt for Djoko - you could feel his frustration. Not as bad as those, like me and WA, who had him doing quite well in BOTB!"

Err Blue...: "I've lost one of my finalists as well <Puts fist through door in anger>"

OUTLOOK

A lot of entrants have three semi-finalists left in but nobody has all four, Nole's loss putting paid to that. The current top 20 include 7 who picked Rafa to win the title, 6 who picked Muzza and 5 who picked Fed, so while tomorrow may not see much movement in the table (see the pick %s below), this competition could get very exciting again for most of the entrants on Saturday if they all make it through to the semis!

FRIDAY PREVIEW

OoP (all on Pista Central) with pick %s, all times UK time, i.e. GMT+1:

13.00 - Muzza 84% v Monfils 3%
15.00 - Fed 80% v Potty 10%
19.00 - Rafa 93% v Floppy 0%
Foll/by - Ivo 0% v Simon 0% - the first "stress-free" match of the tournament ...

Fed v Potty is the swing match of the day, and it's not often I say that about a match which splits 80-10!

john · Top national player

Eek, I'm up in 6th. Bit dizzy up here

Unfortunately I have Nole making the final so unless Simon beats Nadal tomorrow, I'm toast

steven · Tennis legend

FRIDAY REPORT

'Normal service' was resumed on Friday, with the three of the big four who were still left in the tournament all winning in straight sets and Simon winning a close match with Big Ivo join them. If you were in the top 10 at the start of the day and didn't the first three matches correct, you weren't in the top 10 at the end of the day - pick 'em can be brutal! You can view the detailed results, etc, at http://www.britishtennis.net/competitions.html

TEAMS

Andy's win helped to propel AM.com back up 1 into 1st place ahead of TAT, down 1 to 2nd. The next two teams, BT.net, up 1 to 3rd, and JM.org, down 1 to 4th, also swapped places.

The Feddies are the only team who all picked the same Champion (erm, I wonder who that was ...), which means that they all had him reaching the semis too, helping them to win the QF round and climb 3 to 5th.

In the bottom half of the table, the top two teams in the overall rankings continued their slow climb out of Madrid oblivion, Rusedski.co.uk moving up 2 to 7th and Team CC up 1 to 9th. The Dammitaires and the Ducklings continued to suffer from their heroes' early demise, both dropping 3 places to 8th and 10th respectively, while T4Y are still stuck in the middle of the table and MTF are still stuck at the bottom.

INDIVIDUALS - TOP 10

The top three all got 3/4 correct, so GoGo (AM) still has a two point lead, aedra1119 (TA) is still 2nd (but picked Nole to win the title) and WallaceEMann (GR) is still 3rd.

Half of those who started Friday in the top 10 (including the R3 winner) got 2/4 today and dropped out of the top 10. This allowed Wolfey (IN) and first-time picker Sandy (AM) to climb one place into 4th and 5th respectively, while John (BT), up 5 to 6th, joint R1 winner Allan (AM), up 5 to 7th, joint R2 winner Tim G (BT), up 7 to 8th, and kickserve (TY) & Bruce (GR), both up 7 to 9=, have moved up into the top 10 to replace those dropping out of it.

ON THE RISE

With over 100 entrants managing to pick Rafa, Fed & Muzza to reach the QFs, nobody rocketed up the table on Friday. DR4Life (AM) and Robxon (BT) were the equal fastest risers, up 21 to 133=.

ON THE SLIDE

Those who did not get 3/4 correct on Friday nearly all suffered double digit drops, but the biggest drops were suffered by 3 of the 7 entrants who did not even get 2/4 correct - 1/4 saw Tenez (CC) drop 62 to 152nd and doublelix (AR) drop 58 to 153rd, while francky (RG) drew a complete blank and dropped 59 to 169th.

HOW THE MIGHTY HAVE FALLEN, PART II

ASE (AM) is now the highest-placed entrant in this pick 'em from the pre-Madrid overall top 8, but he is down in 72= and won't get a counting score from this tournament as things stand at the moment.

Apart from him and world no. 1 Ashley Harkleroad's ***** (IN) in 78th, the rest of the overall top 8 are all outside the top 100 in Madrid, and poor world no. 2 Flintstone (IN) is now down to 165th with neither finalist left and must be relieved that the main chasers aren't likely to get counting scores either!

I'll post a preview of the weekend around the time matches are due to start on Saturday.