ROLAND GARROS BOTB - DAY 1 'SYNDICATED' REPORT

394 people (plus 6 robot players) and 14 teams with 5 or more entrants are taking part in the BOTB for RG. This is 16% more entrants then there were for RG 2008 but, almost certainly due to the Sunday start, a bit less than for the last two slams.

Day 1 saw 16 matches played (25% of R1) and most of us did OK. The only result that the vast majority got wrong was Ouanna beating Granollers, but there were a lot of matches where we split quite evenly and there were no less than five matches which went the distance, so it is not surprising that they were tough to pick!

Detailed results can be found at http://www.britishtennis.net/competitions.html and from now on they will be updated regularly each day.

TEAMS

The Ducklings are in the lead at the end of day 1. It remains to be seen how they will be affected by three of them picking their hero to win the title despite him not having won a match at RG since 2005, but having said that, 82% of us have picked him to reach R4 here for the first time in 8 attempts, nearly half of us have picked him to reach the QFs and he is the only player whom nobody has picked to lose in R1. (*)

(*) This obviously raises supicions that Marcos Daniel's mum may have entered, though even I would have considered him a good bet as a qualifier to win a R1 match had he not been paired with Rafa.

Former world no. 1s Team CC, in 2nd place, have made a good start to their fight to regain the top spot, though they have lots of points to defend here and at Wimbledon, so for them it's mainly a case of trying to keep scoring well to give themselves a chance of challenging for the top spot in the overall rankings again later in the year.

BBC 606 got the best unadjusted score of the day and they complete the top three once the statistical adjustment for team size is taken into account - by the way, if you were not sure why that adjustment is necessary, a quick look at the team standings in the Bracket Challenge (where the smallest teams of 1 or 2 players monopolise the top and bottom of the table) should make it clear!

There are early signs that new world no. 1s TAT may be imitating the average top French player facing a lower-ranked opponent on Court Philippe Chatrier, i.e. cracking spectacularly under the weight of expectation, but I imagine they won't stay in 2nd last (or world no. 2s AM.com in 3rd last) for too long. The real shock is that frequent R1 winners MTF are in last place - the fact that this occurred on a day 1 when Billy the Bookie did not top the Bots is of course pure coincidence ...

INDIVIDUALS

I believe the longest anyone has maintained a 100% record from the start of one of these competitions is 15 matches. If that is correct and if the Gulbis match was the last men's match to finish, then three people equalled that record here - BillBaker (TN), Anthony (AR) & newbie Garland (TM), who ended the day sharing 1st place with JM1138 (BT) and Shizzard (IN) on 15/16.

None of those entrants are in the top 150 of the overall rankings, but the 28 entrants who are just one point adrift are headed by world no. 5 miffy (AM) and the world no. 27 minnie me (JM), the young entrant who has astonished the rest of us by managing top 10 finishes in the last two contests! Is there no stopping her?

Just two entrants did not quite manage to score 50% on day 1 and are thus in the gorillas' cage - Puschkin (RG) and gaitan36 (TN), but there's a long way to go!

WINNER PICKS

73% Rafa (#)
20% Fed
4% Nole
2% Muzza
1% Duckboy

... plus one each for Hewitt & Monfils.

(#) including all of two big teams, TAT and BT.net, and even three of the Feddies ...

Other players picked by at least one entrant to reach the Final are Potty (picked by 8 to get there), Verdasco (4), Tsonga (4), Kolya (2), Robredo (1) and, believe it or not, Gil (1), while Stani, Montanes, F-loppy, Count Duckula, Gaudio, Cilic, Safin, Youzhny, Muller, Kendrick, Odesnik, Baggy, Fish, Ljubo, Stakh and most of all Gonzo (picked by over 100 to reach the semis) are all seen by at least one entrant as likely to reach the last four.

(for a nicknames guide, see http://www.andymurray.com/forum/showthread.php?t=253)

AND FINALLY ...

On most of the boards, people seem to be saying that this has been one of the toughest tournaments to pick ever and tinamarie (TA) seems to sum up the impossible decisions that had to be made in the top half of Q4: "I made my picks, saw all the 'Roddick/Monfils to the quarters'-posts here and was too embarassed to share I had Melzer. Go Jürgen!!" - why she is embarrassed for not picking someone who hasn't been past R3 in 7 attempts or someone whose participation in RG is still doubtful, I'm not sure!

Meanwhile, mmmmm8 (TA) is the latest in a long line of young women to be sucked into doing something she will hopefully live to regret by a Transylvanian-looking Count's mysterious charms: "Just checked, in addition to Melzer, I apparently picked Stepanek over Murray!"

Imoen (BT), who was as usual a huge help with getting all your entries processed at the weekend, is a bit more immune to a Russian who also tends to be big hit with the girls: "Never ever trust Safin to win two matches in a row is my motto and it's served me well."

She also offered some more wise counsel: "I hate to be the one to break it to you but this is a pick 'em tournament, nothing is 100% certain. Actually, that's a lie it is 100% certain that normally dependable players will mess up just to spite you; random unknowns playing one another will muck around in a 5 set classic that completely passes by normal people but gives every pickem player half a dozen heart attacks; and at least one GEM will do his best to ruin your day. And I wouldn't have it any other way!" Nor would I!