2009 Roland Garros 'Battle of the Boards' pick 'em contest

The Hoose · Satellite level

RE: 2009 Roland Garros 'Battle of the Boards' pick 'em contest

murrayman650 · ATP level

Anyone pick Muzza to win

mjd · Challenger qualifying

murrayman650 wrote:

Anyone pick Muzza to win

Eight did but no one on here.

Portsey · Intermediate Club Player

Actually, could Gaitan become the only correct predictor (in going for A-Rod) of the winner, and finish bottom at the same time? That would be an impressive accolade!

Portsey · Intermediate Club Player

Well, well, well, i couldn't see anything other than a 3 set Haas win there but Fed steals a break from 40-15 down and holds on for the 3rd set. How will Haas react? He's extremely hard-headed, maybe won't affect him, but he was very close to a major upset there.

Drew · Jun 1, 2009

Fed 2-0 up in the 4th...cmon Tommy !!!

-- Edited by Drew on Monday 1st of June 2009 12:47:56 PM

Portsey · Intermediate Club Player

Keep going Fed. You are my Luke Skywalker, and therefore, my only hope.....

The Hoose · Satellite level

Fed was very lucky that Haas choked or he would have gone the way of Rafa and Novak, whose misfortune was that their opponents kept their heads remarkably well.

steven · Tennis legend

Fed was lucky he played PH Chokieu last round too, he's living very dangerously.

steven · Tennis legend

RG BOTB R4 'SYNDICATED' REPORT

'La grande déception' (le Monf's 'injury') continued to take no prisoners as the GEM (picked by 37% to reach the QFs) made Duckboy (48%) quack today, bringing to an end a round that saw one of the biggest grand slam shocks ever and at one point looked like putting paid to both of the top two seeds.

Detailed results can be found at http://www.britishtennis.net/Competitions.html

TEAMS

R2 winners Rusedski.co.uk continue to lead the teams league and are now sure to get the 500 ranking points for the team KO because they are the only 'proper' team to have made it to the Final after edging out R1 winners BT.net (up 1 to 2nd in the league during R4) by just 0.22. The filler team of Assorted Individuals beat the Dammitaires in the other team KO SF - the latter also dropped 3 to 12th over the course of the round.

BBC 606 won R4 and moved up 3 to 3rd, while AM.com and Team CC stayed in 4th and 5th respectively to complete a top 5 full of predominantly GB teams, as R3 winners the Ducklings dropped 4 to 6th, most of that drop coming after their hero was beaten by Monfils. The Feddies, up 1 to 9th, and world no. 1s TAT, up 2 to 10th, were the other teams that moved during the round.

The line-up for the team KO finals, which will be played over the QFs, SFs and Final of RG is:

FINAL: (5) Rusedski.co.uk are tied with (7) Assorted Individuals 0-0
3-4: (1) BritishTennis.net are tied with (14) RichardGasquet.net 0-0
5-6: (8) Centre Court Forum are tied with (11) LleytonHewitt.biz 0-0
7-8: (4) AndyMurray.com are tied with (2) TalkAboutTennis 0-0
9-10: (16) Tennisopolis.com are tied with (10) BBC 606 boards 0-0
11-12: (12) AndyRoddick.com are tied with (6) Other Boards 0-0
13-14: (13) RogerFederer.com are tied with (3) Tennis4you.com 0-0
15-16: (9) JamieMurray.org are tied with (15) MensTennisForums 0-0

TOP 10

The lead changed hands a few times over the course of R4, but getting 5/8 winners correct helped Roy (GR) & David Thompson (AM) to both rise 2 to 1=, overtaking DR4Life (AM), who dropped 2 to 3rd after getting 4/8.

Oploskoffie (TA), up 13 to 4th, joined the top 10 after equal top scoring for R4 with 6/8, while 5/8 was enough for zephblabs (TA), up 2 to 5th, and Claire Thompson (JM), up 2 to 6th, to move up within the top 10 and for Orn (AM), up 4 to 7th, Christian (BT), up 6 to 8th, Shabba (IN), up 7 to 9th, and Grundon (BT), up 9 to 10th, to join it.

ON THE RISE

Apart from the entrant now in 4th place, four other entrants managed to score 6/8 in R4 - bfp (SG), up 56 to 11th and now top out of those who picked Fed to win the title (*), and wolf (BT), up 57 to 13th, are knocking on the door of the top 10, while EdLavis (BB), up 98 to 29th, and Jack (BT), up 151 to 88th, both joined the top 100 and were the two biggest risers of the round.

(*) The top entrants out of those who picked other players who are still in to win the titles are Muzza - jaydu (AM) in 62nd and Monfils - Shizzard (IN) in 233rd, who clearly knew something we didn't!

DODGY DROPPERS

gaitan36 (TN) is now certain to end up as the lanterne rouge after failing to pick any of the winners in R4 - he is 9 points behind the gorillas and 29 points behind Donna Hammond (TN), who also has no semi-finalists left in. However, the biggest faller of the round was Van Sias (TN), one of the 7 entrants who got 1/8 in R4, who fell 167 to 331st.

OUTLOOK

Over 300 of us have lost our winner pick and a similar number (including all of the top 10 except one ) have two semi-finalists left, but 27 entrants still have three semi-finalists left in. They range from Timmadigan (CC) in 12th and wolf (BT) in 13th all the way down to Jambondusoleil (AM) in 347th and Simon (MT) in 383rd. Three entrants including the bottom two (see above) have nobody left and about 50 have just one player they can still score for.

QFs SCHEDULE

Play starts at 14.00 CET = 12 GMT / 13 UK / 08 US Eastern:

SL 1: (10) Davydenko 1% v (23) Sod 0% (97% went for Rafa)
PC 2: (3) Muzza 55% v (12) Gonzo 29%
Wed.: (5) Potty 10% v (16) Robredo 1% (86% went for Nole)
Wed.: (2) Fed 95% v (11) le Monf 2%

Silver · County player

Tell you what, one word: URGH.

And another: URRRRRGH.

Final word: PFFFFT.

Drew · Jun 3, 2009

Well upto 80...only DELBOY left for me...eat ur heart out Mr Lee!

steven · Tennis legend

RG BOTB QFs 'SYNDICATED' REPORT

QF wins for Fed (picked by 95% to reach the semis, 55% to reach the Final and 20% to win), Gonzo (29%), Potty (10% then 2%) and Sod (nobody) have left us with a top half semi that nobody can score for and the results of this BOTB very much dependent on whether Fed (who has now lost just 1 out of 40 matches against the other five players who were still in the draw at the start of today) wins 0, 1 or 2 more matches.

Detailed results can be found at http://www.britishtennis.net/Competitions.html

TEAMS and OUTLOOK

In a reshuffle of the top three at the end of R4, the second best performance in the QFs saw R1 winners BT.net regain 1st place. They will win the teams league unless Fed wins the title, in which case they will drop to 4th.

BBC 606 also gained one place after winning their second round in a row with an average of 2 picks correct in the QFs - they also have the highest raw average for RG as a whole before the team size adjustment is taken into account. They will stay in 2nd place whatever happens from now on.

A first really weak round for R2 winners Rusedski.co.uk saw them slip 2 places to 3rd. They will stay there if Potty beats Fed but will finish 5th if Fed reaches the Final. However, they are still odds on to be the new no. 1 team in the overall rankings after RG.

Team CC, up 1 to 4th, can gain one more place if Fed wins the title and T4Y rose 3 to 5th but will only hold onto a top 5 place if Potty beats Fed. Not surprisingly, the Feddies, up 3 to 6th, also gained ground - they will come 1st if Fed wins the title, 3rd if he is the runner-up and 7th if he loses to Potty.

Predictably, AM.com, down 4 to 8th, and R3 winners the Ducklings, down 4 to 10th, suffered most from neither Andy managing to make it to the SFs. The Muzzas have almost as wide a range of possible finishes as the Feddies - they will go back up 2 to 6th if Potty reaches the Final, but will drop to 10th if Fed does and to 11th if he wins the title.

TEAM KO FINALS - after 4 of 7 matches:

FINAL: (7) Assorted Individuals lead (5) Rusedski.co.uk 6.84-6.05
3-4: (1) BritishTennis.net lead (14) RichardGasquet.net 8.1-5.56
5-6: (8) Centre Court Forum lead (11) LleytonHewitt.biz 7.6-6
7-8: (2) TalkAboutTennis lead (4) AndyMurray.com 7.74-6.07
9-10: (10) BBC 606 boards lead (16) Tennisopolis.com 10-5.67
11-12: (6) Other Boards lead (12) AndyRoddick.com 6.67-4.09
13-14: (13) RogerFederer.com are tied with (3) Tennis4you.com 7.5-7.5
15-16: (15) MensTennisForums lead (9) JamieMurray.org 7.39-5.38

TOP 10 and OUTLOOK

With 2/4 semi-finalists correct, Roy (GR) managed to go from joint leader to outright leader and will win the title if Potty beats Fed but will drop out of the top three otherwise.

Just a point behind him is SoraOblivion62 (TA), up 15 to 2nd, one of 9 entrants who equal top scored in the QFs with 3/4 correct, all of them getting everyone but the Sod. She cannot now finish lower than 2nd and will win the title if Fed reaches the Final but fails to win it.

Shabba (IN), up 6 to 3rd, will stay there if Potty beats Fed or will move up to 2nd if Fed is the runner-up but will drop out of the top three if Fed wins the title.

The second entrant with 3/4 QF winners correct is EdLavis (BB), up 25 to 4th - he can scrape into the top three, but only if Fed is the runner-up.

David Thompson (AM), down 4 to 5th, DR4Life (AM), down 3 to 6th and Oploskoffie (TA), down 3 to 7th, all fell a bit after getting just 1/4 correct and the first and last of those three will only stay in the top 10 if Fed gets no further. Timmadigan (CC), up 4 to 8th, 3/4 scorer Chloe F (RF), up 29 to 9th, and wolf (BT), up 3 to 10th, complete the top 10.

The only entrants not currently in the top 10 who can finish in the top 3 are tennisfan78 (TY), up 7 to 13th, who will win the title if Fed does and michael9191 (TN), up 11 to 21st, who will finish 3rd in that case. Plenty of top 10/20/50/100 places with lots of ranking points on offer are still up for grabs though!

ON THE RISE

The other six entrants who got 3/4 semi-finalists correct were GVGirl (TA), up 53 to 19th, Daniel/Belgarath1981 (RF), up 91 to 43rd, Johnnylad (BT), up 120 to 65th, RedCabbage (BT), up 134 to 149th, Arab (RF), up 137 to 159th making him the biggest riser of the round, and Black Knight (RF), up 134 to 176th.

DODGY DROPPERS

14 entrants failed to score in the QFs, with mariela (AR), down 115 to 260th, and gully (TN), down 110 to 283rd, the biggest fallers, if only because the others were already close to the bottom.

Another entrant who drew a blank in the QFs was serial gorilla botherer sallydaisy (JM), down 12 to 383rd - she does not need to worry about being a bit too late to save the gorillas from starvation again though, since gaitan36 (TN) will not be escaping their clutches any time soon!

AND FINALLY ...

I'll be back tomorrow with some quotes from the QFs to tide you over until the semis on Friday.

steven · Tennis legend

RG BOTB REST DAY 'SYNDICATED' REPORT

No men's singles matches today, so it gives me a chance to catch up on some quotes from the QFs, making this ...

A tale of current and former world no. 1s

Let's start with a few quotes from the world team no. 1s, at least until Sunday:

Drop-shot (TA) "TAT should be dubbed TATanic: on our maiden voyage as number one, we sank to the abyss. Alas, Soderling was our iceberg."

JTContinental (TA) "I haven't checked this thread for a few days, and now I wish I hadn't. I hate the French Open."

dryrunguy (TA) "Why do you all insist on bumping this thread? Everytime it pops up in the RPB (recent posts?) it feels like I've just received an email from my ex-wife."

Nelslus (TA) "WELL, at last we're gonna get SOMETHING from all of this..... in Steven's next edition of Ye Compleat Guide to Battle of the Boards (British people talk AND spell funny that way)- there's now a photo of all of us under the BOTB section for 'Doggy Droppers.'" (no, it's not a typo!)

Charlie02123 (TA) "I love that since we plummeted down the standings this thread just devolved into s*x jokes and discussions of children's books." Two topics of conversation that fit together perfectly ... or, er, not ...

A world no. 1 who has had a disastrous RG by his standards was having a few Uncle Toni moments on Tuesday:

AH'sB (MP) "Prediction: Soderling will romp to the final before suddenly remembering he's a choking clay court clown against Federer. And it's nice to see that the one man with the balls to beat Federer (#) is currently fluffing numerous break point opportunities before losing the opening set against Gonzalez. Like I said, this tournament has been perfectly set up for a Federer win, expect Monfils to retire at 6-0, 6-0, 5-0, 40-0 up in the QF then Del Potro to be disqualified for s***ging (*) Fed's mum at the change of ends while up by a similar scoreline."

(#) he means Muzza ... (*) the missing letters are 'nog' - what were you thinking?!

The world no. 4 has had a bit of a 'mare too, though she's still well on top of me, and when she gets 'annoyed', nobody is safe:

Pebs (MP) "I do believe Monfs just got broken to love... if he really needs his *rse whipping I would gladly do that for him - no need to let Fed do it!" She would too!

A former world no. 1 finds that every cloud has a very dark grey lining:

ASE (AM) "It has been a long time since I had enough hope in this pick'em to care about who wins matches for pick'em purposes. So I am in the fortunate position of being able to cheer for players because I like them. Except of those left, there isn't anyone I would put in the 'like' column any more. I was kinda hoping that Monfils would win. But now I am left with one 'irritated by', one 'dislike' two 'couldn't care one way or the other' and one on my 'naughty boy list'." (guesses as to which one is which on a postcard please)

Someone on the former world no. 1 team is happy though:

SLess (CC) "I can honestly say, that if Fed wins, I'll be screeching with joy and will organise - effective immediately - the once mentioned GOAT party. I'll bring in goats, serve goat, create goat ****tails, and have Box of Goats playing. You are all invited."

Meanwhile, one of her team-mates thinks that putting Mirka through all this in her nth month of pregnancy is just part of a cunning plan:

tlimvvo2max (CC) "Roger is planning a GS-winning dynasty - wants the kid to be conditioned to deal with high levels of stress hormones even in the womb."

Getting serious for a moment, Linda (AM) (another former BOTB world no. 1) may have come across the real explanation of the 'outdoor clay is the new indoor carpet' phenomenon: "In the Spanish thread they're saying that Emilio Sanchez Vicario attended one of those meetings with an international org which rules tournaments and that RG asked to change the balls for faster ones because they were fed up with Argentinians and Spaniards winning the whole thing." Superb idea, just one flaw - they didn't tell us before we did our picks!

Finally, DJ (MP)'s dad sums up the tournament perfectly: "I was chatting to my dad last night about the FO and his first question was 'Who the hell are all these guys left in the tournament? Why have i never heard of them?' But he has also decided that he wants Monfils to beat Fed - apparently for two reasons. Firstly he seems to have watched Monfils a bit and quite likes him. secondly 'cos "otherwise Fed will win the tournament and he'll just end up crying."

And with that, I'm off to have a good weep ... but I'll see you again tomorrow when if JMDP goes 2 sets up on Fed, they'll think it's all over ... and if he goes 3 sets up, Roland Garros BOTB will be!

P.S. Muzza fans who have had their BOTB wrecked by GEMs like former clay court clown Tsonga and the artist formerly known as Gael Injured might like to be reminded that since his loss to JWT at the AO last year, Muzza has beaten the last 14 GEMs he's taken to the court against! (thanks to Drew on BT.net for prompting me to check out this stat!)

steven · Tennis legend

LOL - even AM.com doesn't censor ****tails!