2009 Wimbledon 'Battle of the Boards' pick 'em contest

LINK3 · Newbie

2009 Wimbledon 'Battle of the Boards' pick 'em contest

goldfish · Futures qualifying

Thank you Ferrero - a little dignity saved.

Portsey · Intermediate Club Player

Portsey: So it's 2-2 final set, who do you want to win?
Better Half: Oooh, i don't know, who's playing?
Portsey: Juan Carlos Ferrero and Fernando Gonzalez......
Better Half: Ahh they sound exotic, "Hu-an Carloshh or Gonzalethhhh"
Portsey: C'mon it's 3-3 now.
Better Half: I don't know, let me take a closer look at them, ahh Fernando does seem quite fun, and Ferrero is too serious, i think he needs to smile more.
Portsey: Right, so you're going for Gonzalez then?
Better Half: No, Ferrero.
Portsey: O-kay, so you like the moodier one, i guess due to his determination and focus? His last stand, it seems, in the face of a Chilean onslaught, his ability to return after inju.......
Better Half: No, because he looks like a pirate.

How do you reply to that??

steven · Tennis legend

WIMBLEDON BOTB - DAY 6 'SYNDICATED' REPORT

The last 10 matches in R3 finished on Saturday, with Berdbrain (picked by 31%) overcoming a 0-8 H2H against Kolya (60%) - indeed, when you have an 8-0 H2H against someone, you probably don't expect to win four games less than Alex Bogdanovic won against him two rounds earlier!

An even bigger upset came late in the day when the Mosquito (JCF, 6%) came from a set down to beat Gonzo (79%) in five. Gonzo looked like he was on top for most of the 5th set but returned to his starring role in the Muppet Show in the final game.

Count Duckula (52%) beat Pics Ferrer (46%) in the biggest BOTB match of the day, while Cmawn (24%), Stani (58%) & Haas (63%) were other winners who were missed by more than 1/3 of the entrants.

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

TEAMS

The top three are unchanged, with AM.com just 0.19 ahead of the Feddies and Team CC just over 2 points further behind. The Hewitts are now really starting to benefit from their hero surviving two rounds longer than expected and have moved up 5 places to 4th with BBC 606 completing the top 5.

Two more teams moved up more than one place - T4Y leapt 3 to 8th, while BT.net rose 2 to 11th - they actually won R3 but have still not quite made it into the top 10.

Three teams fell more than one place on Saturday - JM.org, down 2 to 6th, early leaders the Ducklings, down 2 to 9th, and Tennisopolis, who dropped 6 to 12th as Radek the Count Duckula's win left some nasty red marks on their necks.

TOP 10

Hewitt's win helped Jtdrum10 (TA), up 9 to 1st after getting 7/10 correct on day 6, knock team-mate Jessie181 (TA) off the top spot for the first time since Tuesday. The long-time leader regained the top spot again when Simon won, but dropped to 2nd again after the last match of the day.

Only 1 point separates the top two and there are four entrants a point further back - SLess (CC), up 13 to 3rd, T01 (CC) & Joe/Lonestar2289 (IN), both up 19 to 4=, and Omegadoom (TA), up 64 to 4=. The latter equal top-scored for the day with 8/10 correct, as did Borovnia (TY), up 88 to 7th.

Kirkus (TA), up 33 to 8th, makes it four TATers in the top 8 (yet still the team is only 10th, shooting up when Radek won then dropping back sharply when Hewitt and Gonzo won), while the top 10 is completed by Roy (GR), up 2 to 9th, and eddie (AM), down 7 to 10th.

ON THE RISE

Two entrants, also TATers (it's a pity for them that they have 18 team members outside the top 300 too!) ended up as the joint R3 winners with 13/16 correct - Oploskoffie (TA), up 146 to 42nd, and dryrunguy (TA), up 176 to 90th, making him the fastest riser of the day.

Along with them and the two entrants in the top 10 mentioned above, nine more people equal top scored on Saturday with 8/10. They were jack.hl.ng (CC), up 99 to 12th, murray magic (AM), up 120 to 23rd, t12j23r90 (AM), up 138 to 41st, Portsey (BT), up 153 to 68th, DavidC (BT), up 170 to 84th, ghandi (GR), up 168 to 125th, LUKE CROLL (GR), up 174 to 157=, Lugburz (TY), up 166 to 178th, and -David-- (LH), up 105 to 311th.

DODGY DROPPERS

Donna Hammond (TN) got just 1/10 correct on day 6 and 3/16 for R3 as a whole and is now 8 points adrift in the 'lanterne rouge' position, though still 9 points ahead of some starving gorillas.

Three more entrants got just 2/10 on Saturday - biggest faller of the day Chris Carringer (TN), down 192 to 346th, shortbreadsue (AM), down 161 to 385th, and LadyTigress (JM), down 103 to 419th, with around 20 entrants who scored 3/10 dropping 100-150 places too.

TEAM KO

By some strange coincidence, the three of the semi-finalists from last year's Wimbledon team KO have made it to the semi-finals again. Last year they were joined by a composite filler team of Rafael Nadal fans and now they are once again joined by the team of the no. 2 seed!

(1) RogerFederer.com 28.11 beat (8) LleytonHewitt.biz 28.00 - so close!
(4) AndyMurray.com 27.42 beat (5) JamieMurray.org 25.62

(6) Centre Court Forum 27.87 beat (3) BBC 606 boards 27.00
(10) Rusedski.co.uk 27.52 beat (2) AndyRoddick.com 25.74

Those on both teams in SF1 may well be hoping that it will be a curtain-raiser for next weekend ...

SF1: (1) RogerFederer.com v (4) AndyMurray.com
SF2: (6) Centre Court Forum v (10) Rusedski.co.uk

For more details, including the final scores in the 9/16th QFs and the line-up for the 5/16th SFs, please go to the link near the top of this post.

OUTLOOK

The top 10 have between 5-7 of their quarter-finalist picks still standing at the end of R3, but six entrants have all of their R4 winners still alive - they are GoGo (AM) & jack.hl.ng (CC) in 12=, Drew (BT) in 116=, Hawkeye (AM) in 137=, kinley31 (BT) in 252= and greatunclebulgaria (AM), who is all the way down in 360th but perhaps the favourite to be the fastest riser on Monday!

QUOTES OF THE DAY - coming in a few minutes

steven · Tennis legend

QUOTES OF ROUND 3

WimbledonAce (AM, but posting on CC) after Count Duckula's injury: "Can't believe Step is playing on 1 leg and still doing well!"

tlimvvo2max (CC) "Wawrinka 5-3 up on Levine in first set ... who have I got for this one? Marat." Oops!

beaujarkko (TA) "Radek and we have some kinda crazy thing goin' on, for sure, and he comes through for us again." (isn't that "Radek and us?!")

eblunt (BT) from Friday ... "Doesn't BOTB just get you. Just when I was composing my "I'm never playing this damn thing ever again" flounce message, having dropped 140 places for what appeared to be no reason whatsover (although in reality might have been because I have a totally irrational dislike of Troiki and never pick him ..... ), then suddenly the clouds clear again. Having mistakenly thought I had Potty thru to the quarters, I suddenly found out I had him out in the next round. Add to that Big Ivo finally coming good (standard back against the King GEM, Tsonga policy) and suddenly I'm max points so far for this round and I've got all my last 8 still standing. I've saved my flounce mail as a draft though. I'll be completely down in the dumps again by 9pm tonight once Cilic has blown a 2 set lead and bottled or something ...."

mjd (BT) "Looks like I will meet eblunt on my way down - my banker Tsonga and possibly now Haas? will fail me today." - well I suppose trusting a French tennis player with your money is about as sensible as trusting any other banker these days ...

Another long but good one from the same board:
"Portsey (BT): So it's 2-2 final set, who do you want to win?
Better Half: Oooh, i don't know, who's playing?
Portsey: Juan Carlos Ferrero and Fernando Gonzalez......
Better Half: Ahh they sound exotic, "Hu-an Carloshh or Gonzalethhhh"
Portsey: C'mon it's 3-3 now.
Better Half: I don't know, let me take a closer look at them, ahh Fernando does seem quite fun, and Ferrero is too serious, i think he needs to smile more.
Portsey: Right, so you're going for Gonzalez then?
Better Half: No, Ferrero.
Portsey: O-kay, so you like the moodier one, i guess due to his determination and focus? His last stand, it seems, in the face of a Chilean onslaught, his ability to return after inju.......
Better Half: No, because he looks like a pirate.
How do you reply to that??"

Finally, Roy (GR) spares no expense in celebrating his return to the BOTB top 10: "...Rock on Tommy!!!!!! I had a little side bet on him at Ladbrokes for this round as well. I can afford an ice cream this afternoon now." Steady on, Roy! I wonder what he'll do if he gets back in the top 3, I wonder - two scoops and a James Flake?

Count Zero · Tennis legend

wehay i'm top100

funny i had diner with someone tonight who'd give a lot to swap for that...

Edit: and i've been carrying two pinkies in flake and dima from the 1st rd.

-- Edited by Count Zero on Saturday 27th of June 2009 10:07:55 PM

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

I hadn't expected this to be a great tournament but to be down in 434th place is a bit worse than I was thinking I'd be.

But like my ranked player at the start of the tournament, Nicolas Massu, I'm in it for the long haul and think that I can bring myself back from the brink to have a decent result (and just like Massu as well, I'm kind of living off one good event where I picked Nalbandian to reach the final back in Madrid 07...)

At least I've got 6 players left to cheer on, but then most people will have Federer, Murray, Roddick, Djokovic and Haas, and a fair few have Hewitt, so I can't really go too far up the rankings...

wolf · Tennis legend

ForeverDelayed wrote:

At least I've got 6 players left to cheer on, but then most people will have Federer, Murray, Roddick, Djokovic and Haas, and a fair few have Hewitt, so I can't really go too far up the rankings...

Oh you haven't seen some of the dross we're down there with - they've all probably picked Oscar Hernandez to win the title.

steven · Tennis legend

Perhaps the 'mystery' player should enter BOTB - finishing in the top 100 might give him the confidence that he can make that other top 100 too. wink

(clutching at straws)

Any info on whether the doubles thing really was just a smokescreen?

Drew · Jun 28, 2009

My life is complete...I have made one of Steven's reports in a positive way (Ie not being mentioned for biggest drop of the day etc..)

OUTLOOK

The top 10 have between 5-7 of their quarter-finalist picks still standing at the end of R3, but six entrants have all of their R4 winners still alive - they are GoGo (AM) & jack.hl.ng (CC) in 12=, Drew (BT) in 116=, Hawkeye (AM) in 137=, kinley31 (BT) in 252= and greatunclebulgaria (AM), who is all the way down in 360th but perhaps the favourite to be the fastest riser on Monday!

I wasnt sure what the WPSLR column was...until today !

So what does it mean to have all my QF picks left....probably means I have more to see getting beat knowing my luck

So all I need is Murray, Federer, Hewitt, Roddick, Haas, Nole, Simon and Verdasco to win to gain a clean sweep.

I am hopful for 7/8 but think Evo 'The Gun' Karlovic will beat Verdasco.

steven · Tennis legend

MIDDLE SUNDAY QUOTES OF THE DAY OFF (or is that "off quotes of the day"?)

Team CC may be in the top three in the league and in the team KO SFs, but they're still not happy:

Big Al (CC) "I picked Davy and Ferrer, both lost as usual. Of course if Id picked Berdy, he'd have lost no doubt " That's why we call Berdbrain a muppet, Al, keep up!

WimbledonAce (AM/CC) "Well you could have done worse - I picked Mathieu to win that match " Now that's a tragedy, in the sense that, sorry WA, it's an absolutely tragic pick!

Lex (CC) "Welcome to the bungee jump of life that is known as BOTB! I sooooo deliberated over Hewitt, then decided he'd choke. And I've just dropped 30 places. Before BOTB I didn't give a ****. STEVEN!!!!!!!" You called?

dryrunguy (TA) "Radek really HAS been good to TAT. Perhaps we should give some thought to taking it easy on {the revolting, cradle-robbing worm} him?"

On BT.net, they are getting philosophical, possibly after drowning their sorrows ...

ForeverDelayed (BT) "I hadn't expected this to be a great tournament but to be down in 434th place is a bit worse than I was thinking I'd be. But like my ranked player at the start of the tournament, Nicolas Massu, I'm in it for the long haul and think that I can bring myself back from the brink to have a decent result (and just like Massu as well, I'm kind of living off one good event where I picked Nalbandian to reach the final back in Madrid 07...) At least I've got 6 players left to cheer on, but then most people will have Federer, Murray, Roddick, Djokovic and Haas, and a fair few have Hewitt, so I can't really go too far up the rankings..."

... and doing his best to console FD and to win friends in the lower reaches of the table:

wolf (BT) "Oh you haven't seen some of the dross we're down there with - they've all probably picked Oscar Hernandez to win the title." 'The Dross' eh - aren't they playing Glastonbury this year? (it does seem like some of the dross must have been high on drugs when they made their picks anyway!)

AT THE SCENE OF THE CRIMES

Pebs (MP), explaining why MP has been silent for a couple of days: "But we've been at Wimbledon - watching, in person, all our picks crash out... you should be grateful that you dont have mass murder from the Wimbledon site to report!!!!"

ASE (AM) "There are lots of positives about going to Wimbledon. One of them is not being around to watch your graceful slide down the pick'em standings. I can, however, confirm that the players are aware of pick'ems, though rather forgetful. I was fortunate enough to be on Court 1 on Friday, so saw the wonderful Haas/Cilic match. Cilic was showing decidedly muppet-like tendencies, if not choking. He cruised to 5-3 40-15 in the first set with no difficulties, and then choked big time. Ho hum."

The former world no. 1 continued: "Anyway, he managed to get to the fifth set, somehow. He broke, and then let Haas break back. Then at an appropriate time, I yelled out 'C'mon Marin, I need this for the pick'em'. He immediately responded with a break, and served for the match. Boy was I smug. So smug, I forgot to shout it out again, and Marin obviously forgot how important it was, and choked again. Sigh. Perhaps it was just as well that the match was held over to the Saturday, when I wasn't on no 1 court to see his ultimate demise. Baah, pick'ems."

Linda (AM), another former world no. 1, obviously forgot to shout out orders to players at all: "R.I.P. Mi... pick'em. I wish to complain that despite my catastrophic drop I was not mentioned in 'Dodgy Droppers'. I was at Wimbledon yesterday and sat and watched live two absolutely fantastic five-set thrillers. The only problem was that both of them went the opposite way to my pick."

They say you can't please all of the people all of the time, but it seems I can't please any of the people any of the time, because before Linda's comment above, someone else who was in the DD section (and wilL remain nameless Today) was having a mild tantrum because they were mentioned.

Oneminutetomidknight (AM) thought she should be thankful for small mercies: "Believe me, getting in 'quote of the day' is all the joy some of us are going to get in this bloomin' competition"

AllyB (AM) thought that she was protesting too much: "Call me cynical but this strikes me as a desperate attempt to get into 'quote of the day' in Monday's report." Call me cynical, but I think that's what AllyB was doing ... and I seem to have fallen for it!

Other people don't just want to be in QOTD, they want jam with it - rhubarb and ginger I assume:

tlimvvo2max (CC) "Down 88. Wish you got bonus points for making Quote of the Day..."

'fraid not, sorry! Roll on Monday ...

steven · Tennis legend

Drew wrote:
I am hopful for 7/8 but think Evo 'The Gun' Karlovic will beat Verdasco.

Even when you've drunk a lot of beer, you need to remember the difference between Evo and Ivo. It's about 13 inches. wink

Drew · Jun 28, 2009

steven wrote:

Drew wrote:
I am hopful for 7/8 but think Evo 'The Gun' Karlovic will beat Verdasco.
Even when you've drunk a lot of beer, you need to remember the difference between Evo and Ivo. It's about 13 inches.

LOL very funny...!

Drew · Jun 29, 2009

Drew wrote...

So all I need is Murray, Federer, Hewitt, Roddick, Haas, Nole, Simon and Verdasco to win to gain a clean sweep.

Thanks to Nole, Fed and Tommy for doing me proud so far.

Leyton is now 4-0 up in the 4th so hope for him still. (won 10 out of the last 11 games)
Ferdasco is 1-2 down in sets to Ivo but 6-5 in the 4th
Simon has just went up *4-2 in the first set v Ferrero.

Murray hopefully will see me home !

for the big clean sweep !

Drew · Jun 29, 2009

Verdasco double faults in the 4th set TB but gets it back...3-3all

Another UFE from FV and it looks good for Ivo...4-5*

2 serves and its Fed on his radar next...Ivo S&V on second serve but Verdasco hits the pass !

5-5* another 2nd serve and FV does it !!!!!!

*6-5 cmon Fernando 1 good serve...2nd serve...nope.

*6-6...7-6* set pt again for FV...ace34 !!! 7-7*

URS *7-8 MP Ivo !

Saved...*8-8... 9-8* 3rd SP...ace35...9-9*

Return just out *9-10...MP again...GSM Ivo Dam and blast !!

Fed will not fancy playing this guy - 35 aces !!!!!!