Rome Masters 'Battle of the Boards' pick 'em 2009

steven · Tennis legend

RE: Rome Masters 'Battle of the Boards' pick 'em 2009

steven · Tennis legend

ROME MASTERS 1000 BOTB - DAY 1 'SYNDICATED' REPORT

For detailed results, please see http://www.britishtennis.net/competitions.html - these will be updated throughout the day for the rest of the week. For player nickname help, please see http://www.andymurray.com/forum/showthread.php?t=253

Last year, Rome BOTB had less entrants than Miami, but this year it has broken the record for the number of entrants (281, up 9% on Miami 2009, up 71% on Rome 2008) and the number of full teams (14) for a Masters BOTB, so many thanks to all of you who to the time to enter!

Only 8 matches managed to finish today before the rain came down. The biggest upsets were Flake capitulating against (Q) Crivoi (picked by just 15%) and Chela getting thrashed by C Rochus (23%), while in the matches where each player was picked by at least 30%, Tricky (57%) beat Hanescu, (Q) Monaco (67%) saw off Muppetman and Montanes (70%) gave wild card Potato Starchy a light mashing as the Italian struggled to cope in the crisp wind when the chips were down.

Terrible puns aside, this looks like being an good BOTB, with the potential to cause more changes at the top of both the team and individual year-round rankings than we have had for some time.

TEAMS

With the help of one of their members who is on 100%, JM.org lead at the end of day 1. No. 1s Team CC have made a strong start in 2nd ahead of Tennisopolis, another team which (like the early leaders from the Murray B team *duck*) is not often seen at the top. The next three places are filled by the rest of the top four teams in the overall rankings, piling the pressure on the world no. 1s, who have not finished in the top three since Wimby 2008 and could do with matching their exceptional performances in the second quarter last year.

At the other end of the table, the Ducklings, like their hero, appear to have not really turned up and are down in last place, while Match Point, a small team that includes the individual world no. 1 and no. 3, has had a somewhat embarrassing debut in the teams league, languishing in 13th.

INDIVIDUALS

The average score was 4.99, so if you got 5 points, you're in the middle (81st-192nd), if you got more then you are well into the top 100 and if you got less, you are in the bottom 100 and in the gorillas' cage or at the cage door.

Two entrants managed not to put a foot wrong on day 1 and thus lead on 8/8 - they are world no. 213 Jack Buxton (BT) (who is very happy that the rain stopped Youzhny from serving for the match!) and world no. 526 rondun (JM), who have 20 entrants just one point behind them including two, GoGo (AM) & hfwardhouse (AM), who are in the top 10 in the overall rankings.

At the other end of the table, world no. 1 Ashley Harkleroad's ***** (MP) is one of 16 players in 265=, but he is being kept off the bottom by AO 'bronze medallist' Hev (IN), who is currently the 'lanterne rouge' with just 2/8.

WINNER PICKS

200 entrants (78%) picked Rafa to win the Rome Masters, with 25 going for Linda (*) (including 11/15 from RF.com, though for as many as 4/15 Lindies to pick Rafa to win a tournament, even on clay, is unheard of - only 3/33 did that at RG last year), 23 for Muzza (including 15/50 from AM.com), 11 for Nole (just 1/3 from his site and although more picked Linda to win, Nole was picked to reach the Final by 136 to Linda's 98), 1 for Potty (a Dammitaire) and only one for anyone outside the top 5, another Dammitaire going for the head GEM himself.

Other finalist picks include Pics (22), Stani (10), 'dasco (4), the Undertaker (2) and Robredo & Simple (1 each), and there are of course lots of additional finalist picks for each of the top 5.

Those picking Rafa to win include all 33 TAT entrants and all 9 T4Y entrants, while the Dammitaires' rather dubious-looking plan to avoid finishing last for the third BOTB in a row seems to involve picking a wider range of winners than any other team, with three of them going for Nole, two for Rafa and one each for Linda, Dammit & Potty!

(*) from Linda "I'm dropping so fast, I feel a bit like Fed" (AM)

Look out for RANDOM MUSINGS from the last three days before play starts tomorrow. (already compiled, so no quote begging allowed LOL)

jamatthews · Strong Club Player

eblunt wrote:

I know it's possibly a bit early to be defeatist, but my whole entry is in tatters already.

Apart from the 'chose the seed to get maximum WPSLR in rd2' selections I'm 100% wrong so far.

God I hate this stupid festering competition.

Mine's already ruined before the tournament started, because I've put my faith in a GEM. Looking forward to making 100 whnging posts about GEMs being useless.

steven · Tennis legend

I'll use that one tomorrow. wink

RANDOM MUSINGS from the last three days

Before entries closed, Portsey (TB) was in a bit of trouble: "My fiancee, in realising my dedication on a warm sunday afternoon to BT pick 'em has just shaken her head in despair and said "I don't understand why you do it!" I try to get her to play but she takes the high ground ...", while at the same time goldfish (BT) knows how to get the most out of BOTB: "I shall enjoy the next few hours when the entry is done and I can still imagine that I've made some reasoned choices."

Lex (CC) wonders if he's gone too far this time: "I printed my predictions out this time, does that mean I'm addicted?"

He certainly doesn't have it as bad as Nevets (CC): "I got really obsessed with BOTB during Paris/Madrid last year and I actually got genuinely angry when Verdasco beat Robredo and during my sleep once, I pictured the BOTB predictions sheets with the pink/blue shading! Thankfully I have less time on my hands these days ..."

Anything he can do, WimbledonAce (CC) can do better (or maybe worse): "Lol think I become more obsessed each tourny. You should have seen how excited I was about just doing the pickem spreadsheet, never mind the highlighting! I actually scheduled a slot for it yesterday to make sure I had utmost concentration! When there is no BOTB I get quite depressed" Awwwww ...

Moving on to day 1 itself, Rondun (JM)'s 8/8 shows that he is on the ball this time, as does a harsh but accurate response in the middle of Flake's self-destruction against Crivoi:

Ace (AM): "COME ON Crivoi dont let me down!!"
Rondun (JM): "What's Crivoi got to do with the outcome of this match?"

Later, ASE (AM) said what we were all thinking: "Gosh, Ashley Harkleroad's ***** is last. There is hope for us all!" He's almost last, ASE, almost last.

Finally, TAT are getting a bit worked up over putting all their eggs in one basket, having all picked Rafa to win:

dryrunguy: "I guess this means Rafa will break his knee in practice tomorrow."
mmmm8: "He'd probably still win Rome."

Talk of Rafa soon turned to talk of piggies, and TAT eventually proved that Numpty missing a tournament doesn't stop him from being fair game on a BOTB thread:

Drop-shot: "Don't you have any of those Hannibal-like pigs on your farm?"
dryrunguy: "Not any more... I found a nice home for them... In Argentina. I tried to train them to go after Juan Martin Del Potro types... But last I heard, they're stalking David Nalbandian... I guess they're cannibals."

Play starts at 11 GMT/12 UK on the main two courts today but an hour earlier on the outside courts.

Smidster · Challenger level

Or not as the rain has its way again.

Forecast doesn't look great for the rest of the week either (BBC predicting heavy rain showers until Saturday)

Silver · County player

This'll be an interesting tournament if it gets washed out... Can they play this one indoors?

steven · Tennis legend

ROME MASTERS 1000 BOTB - DAY 2 'SYNDICATED' REPORT

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

R1 still hasn't finished (despite Gonzo & Chardy playing until after 1 am local time - Gonzo is expected to play R2 on Wednesday afternoon too!) but a lot of catching up was done after a wet start and there are now only three R1 matches left, with Barcelona finalist and PEM Pics Ferrer (picked by 97% of us) a set down to PHM (the deputy head GEM), Count Duckula (96%) serving to stay in the 1st set against Serra and the Tsonga (72%) v Dammit GEMfest yet to start.

For player nickname help, please see http://www.andymurray.com/forum/showthread.php?t=253

MUPPETS OF THE DAY

3rd place: Berdbrain (89%) for blowing a one set lead against the Germorussian. (*)
2nd place: Safin (13%) for blowing a set and double break lead against Robredo.
1st place: AlmUgro (87%) for contriving to lose to Gumby Gulbis - did they play in the dark? (*)

(*) Zverev's dad played pro tennis for Russia; Mug is 1st because lots of us picked him to win R2 as well.

TEAMS

JM.org lost their lead during the day but ended it back on top, their excellent R1 score couteracting the effect of a certain serial gorilla-botherer picking Nole to lose the only R2 match that was played today.

Rusedski.co.uk ended the day up 2 in 2nd after leading for a while, world no. 1s Team CC dropped a place but are still in the top 3 and BT.net shot up 5 places to 4th, thanks to their four entrants in the top 15.

The fastest risers on a relatively good day for the Americans were the Ducklings, up 7 from last to 7th, while the biggest fallers by far were Tennisopolis, down 11 from 3rd to their customary position propping up the table.

INDIVIDUALS

One of our youngest entrants, Minnie me (JM), is out on her own in 1st place (up 22) after top scoring with an amazing 14/15 points on day 2. What's more, she finished in the top 10 in Miami too (lifting her into the top 100 in the overall rankings), so there is little doubt who is in the best form at the moment!

RedCabbage (BT), up 21 to 2nd, is a point behind, with jm-fan (JM), up 20 to 3rd, giving the team currently on top in the teams league two of the top three individuals. 12 players three points off the lead complete the top 15, with luvs10s (TA), up 19 to 4=, the only one of the overall top 50 among them. World no. 9 GoGo (AM), down 13 to 16=, is the best of the overall top 10.

The average score in R1 so far is almost exactly 12 (13.96 if you include the R2 result) and there are currently 28 entrants (c. 10%) in the gorillas' cage, including the world no. 1.

ON THE RISE

Two entrants rose over 150 places on day 2 - doublelix (AR), up 177 to 16=, and Rusedski149 (GR), up 209 to 56=. Their scores of 12/15 were only bettered by the top two, though four more of the top 15 also got 12 points on day 2.

DODGY DROPPERS

He may have had a perfect day 1, but rondun (JM)'s pick 'em started to go sour as soon as Youzhny won the one game he needed to complete his match. With a score of just 5/15 on day 2, he plummeted 178 places to 179=. That's why it's always a good idea to enjoy being at the top while it lasts!

Four entrants dropped even further though - MT (MC) also scored 5/15 and fell 217 to 220=, while 6/16 was not enough to prevent fah51 (CC), jazz burks (TN) and djlovesyou (BT) from falling 197 to 220=. Hev (IN), the only entrant to finish the day where she started it, scored 7/15 on day 2 but is still a point adrift at the bottom.

QUOTES

I've got masses of to choose from today (the AM.com Rome pick 'em thread alone is already over 800 posts!), so the best ones will appear sometime on Wednesday (hopefully) - also, the first results update on Wednesday may not occur until about 15.00 GMT / 16.00 BST. I'll post on the AM.com thread (linked to from the main results table) once tomorrow's updates start.

Silver · County player

This day gives me a real reason to HATE this game, HATE tennis and HATE clay.

Or all three! That may be a first.

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

I'm not quite sure how I'm in second place...

The Knight · Challenger qualifying

steven wrote:

MUPPETS OF THE DAY

1st place: AlmUgro (87%) for contriving to lose to Gumby Gulbis - did they play in the dark? (*)

soooo true

johnnylad · Tennis legend

Another great comp Steven.

Matched only by my inCOMPetence.

I do take offence at being labelled with the GEM flag though.

Is there a problem with the flags generally or is it some joke I missed whilst away from the board?

steven · Tennis legend

It was Excel's stupid way of incorporating images into web pages coupled with (I assume) a failed upload of the flags directory. Quite funny though

Smidster · Challenger level

I will enjoy 5th while I am there - As it can only go downhill from now.

goldfish · Futures qualifying

Not so - you are already up to 4th! Enjoy the moment.

Sadly my results are inversely proportional to my research - the more I do, the less I score. Definitely will be wearing a blindfold for the next pickem.

steven · Tennis legend

ROME MASTERS 1000 BOTB - DAY 3 'SYNDICATED' REPORT

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

The tournament is now back on schedule after the remaining matches in R1 and all of R2 were played on Wednesday. This gave Dammit Gasquet the chance to win two matches in a day - naturally, he did it on a day when most people didn't even expect him to win the first one, so the 28% of us who picked him to win a match did well out of it and the 10% who thought he would win both did very well, though it wasn't enough to get his team into the top 10.

MUPPETS OF THE DAY

3rd place: The Undertaker (picked by 99%) for losing to Melzer - it's not been a great week for the VDMs!
2nd place: Pics (94%), the PEM who lost to PHM, he clearly couldn't be bothered to play well for two weeks in a row.
1st place: Muzza (99%), who may have played well in Monaco but had a 'mare against him, his HEM (*) side making a (nowadays rare) guest appearance.

(*) Haggis eating malingerer - for this and other player nickname help, please see http://www.andymurray.com/forum/showthread.php?t=253

TEAMS

Tuesday's top two teams passed the lead back and forth between themselves for most of the day, but a late surge by world no. 3 team TAT, thanks to their deep love for Count Duckula, saw them rise 5 places to 1st at the end of the day. Team CC, up 1 to 2nd, are still making a spirited defence of their world no. 1 position, while R2 winners BBC 606 also had a very good day, moving up 6 to 3rd.

World no. 4 team Rusedski.co.uk dropped 2 to 4th and by the end of the day, JM.org (despite holding on to win R1) had dropped 4 to 5th, with T4Y, up 5 to 6th, hot on their heels. The other two predominantly British teams in the overall top 5 also had a bad day, BT.net dropping 5 to 9th and AM.com down 5 to 10th. Contrary to popular belief, these falls had nothing to do with Muzza's loss, since almost everyone had picked him to reach at least the QFs, though the AMs could do with Rafa going out before the Final if they are to have any hope of finishing in the top half.

The other big fallers were the Ducklings - having gone up 7 to 7th on day 2, they went all the way back down to last place on day 3!

INDIVIDUALS

Everyone lost at least one of their R2 winner picks in R1 except Tenez (CC) (up 55 to 1st) and he gradually moved up the table during the day until Dammit's second win enabled him to dislodge young Minnie Me (JM), who fell 1 to 2nd after leading all day until the penultimate match. She did however win R1 with 19/24, together with RedCabbage (BT), down 8 to 10th on the day.

The new leader's 13/16 in R2 was matched only by Pingponger (TA) and Madame (TA), who led their team's charge to the top of the table, both moving up 109 to 8=.

SLess (CC), up 13 to 3rd, made it into the top three, with kayce (AM), T.x (CC) & Smidster (BT), all up 12 to 4=, and Year of Rafa (IN), unchanged in 4=, completing the top 10.

hebegeebee (IN), up 87 to 30=, is the best placed of the overall top 10 and is also the highest-ranked player with no points to defend from MC or Rome 2008, thus putting him in a very strong position for an assault on the top three in his last chance to benefit from the points he got for winning RG last year.

ON THE RISE

Nobody matched the new leader's 27 points out of 33 on day 3 and only the other two joint top scorers in R2 scored 26/33. The three fastest risers all scored 24/33 - they were Randall Six (IN), francky (RG) and d_s (MT), all up 123 to 56=.

DODGY DROPPERS

The lowest scorer of the day was kinley31 (BT), down 27 to last place, who started and finished the day level with the gorillas, scoring 11/33 on day 3, two points less than anyone else. 13/33 meant that WimbledonAce (CC) & joyce28 (AR) both fell 154 to 271=, but the three biggest fallers of the day (scoring 15/33) were Keith Nunn (AM), down 193 to 209=, and WallaceEMann (GR) & Reeltime (AM), both down 182 to 238=.

OUTLOOK

Most people have already lost two or three quarter-finalists. The four entrants who have lost only one so far are meesohot (VB), up 26 to 30= on day 3, SoraOblivion (TA), up 61 to 56=, Matts the best! (IN), down 73 to 129=, and *get this* SallyDaisy (JM), up 28 to 191=!

Looking further ahead, two entrants have already lost both of their finalists - AllyB (AM) & memphis lady (AM) both thought Muzza and Pics would make it there. Conversely, the 9% who picked Gonzo to reach the semis could be onto a good thing - everyone else picked either Muzza or Kolya to win the second quarter of the draw.

QUOTES

I haven't had a chance to decide on a quote of day 3 yet (it was quite a quiet day, particularly on AM.com for reasons you can guess, and as you might understand when you've read the next bit, I'm a bit 'quoted out' for this week!) but a collaborative effort has produced the story of day 2 in 7 chapters - think of it as a special edition to mark a record day for BOTB posts and the only day Safin played in Rome this year - I wonder if there's a link ...

To whet your appetite:

Chapter 1 Celebrity culture
Chapter 2 Lets get back to the real competition, shall we?
Chapter 3 Is it a bird, is it a plane? No its Berdbrain, losing again!
Chapter 4 Theres on-ly one Ma-rat Sa-fin
Chapter 5 Is there something of the night about Radek?
Chapter 6 - Lex is still wondering if he might be addicted
Chapter 7 Some people will stop at nothing

For the full story of the day before last, please go to http://www.britishtennis.net/pickem/Rome%20story.htm though if you have a 'tasteful humour only' rule, you might be best to avoid it ... (don't worry, it's not that bad!

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