The last BOTB of the year is now open for entries at http://www.britishtennis.net/competitions.html - the main draw starts before qualifying finishes, so we will all have to pick matches involving qualifiers without knowing who the Qs are - entries close at 13.30 GMT / 14.30 CET / 8.30 am US EST on Sunday. Good luck!
Rusedski.co.uk's fourth 2nd place finish in 8 team leagues this year has taken them back to the top of the overall team rankings for the sixth time ahead of TAT, whose weak performance in Shanghai sees them drop to 2nd.
Despite finishing last in Shanghai, the Feddies have held onto 3rd place - they have now won the last three slams and finished last in the last three Masters (I wonder why LOL), while Team CC have held onto 4th.
BT.net, who finished 3rd in Shanghai, BBC 606 and Tennisopolis have all risen a place to 5th, 6th & 7th respectively despite the latter two not even managing to field a full team for Shanghai. This is because AM.com failed to defend their Madrid winner points from last year and have plummeted 3 places to a 'career low' 8th, only just ahead of Shanghai winners JM.org, who gained a net 50 points (they were 2nd in Madrid last year) but just missed out on moving up from 9th.
T4Y complete the top 10, with none of the places outside the top 8 changing.
NEW INDIVIDUAL TOP 10
Neither of the top two had a great Shanghai but nobody else near the top did quite enough to catch them. In fact kaseldop (GR) had a dreadful Shanghai and has not managed a counting score since Wimbledon, but his scores from earlier in the year have kept him in 1st place with no points to defend in Paris with team-mate steven (GR) (who, conversely, has big point to defend in Paris) still in 2nd.
Finishing 21= in Shanghai has lifted Dentist Appointment (IN) back into the top 10, up 8 to a career high WR 3, though he has big points to defend in Paris too. Lizzim (AM) has dropped back 1 to 4th, though it has to be said that she did extremely well to finish 10= in Shanghai under the pressure of massive points to defend.
Jtdrum (TA) managed to stay in 5th with mathiasR (RF) dropping 2 to 6th, ending up only just ahead of team-mate Jose Javier/Buyaka86 (RF), whose 7th place finish in Shanghai moved him up 45 to 7th and made him the fastest riser in the top 40.
Miffy (AM) dropped 2 to 8th and BORRO2 (RF) dropped 2 to 10th (though is managing to stay in the top 10 despite only having played slams this year!) - they are separated by Scotsguy (CC), who has shot up 28 to 9th after his 3rd place finish in Shanghai, though he is the third member of the top 10 with points to defend in Paris.
OLD TOP 10
Only three players dropped out of the top 10, with jasonblueboy (IN), down 25 to 32nd dropping the most - he finished 6th in Shanghai last year. T01 (CC) and timmadigan (CC) only dropped 3 to 12th & 13th respectively, though this allowed Dark_Necrofear (CC), up 18 to 11th to take over the CC no. 2 spot.
ON THE RISE
The fastest riser in the top 50 is Portsey (BT), up 66 to 45th, though T.x (CC), up 41 to 33rd, and Oploskoffie (TA), up 44 to 43rd, also deserve honourable mentions, while the biggest climber into the top 100 is Scratchy (BT), up 74 to 85th, which makes him the fastest riser in the whole of the top 200 too. TimS (GR), up 78 to 206th, is the biggest riser in the top 250.
Only two players in the top 300 have risen more than 100 places - Cloudy (AM), up 109 to 280th after finishing 4th in Shanghai, and Shanghai runner-up Hen (MT), up 144 to 288th.
However, the biggest riser of all was of course Shanghai winner banskogirl (AM), up 253 to 462nd, while two more of the Shanghai top 10 also rose more than 160 places - Honking (IN), up 164 to 340th, and Alien (CC), aka 'Dark's mum's friend,' up 180 to 344th.
The highest new entrant is Jelena Jankovic fan (IN), in at WR 559.
LAST YEAR'S MADRID WINNERS
The big fallers are usually those who didn't play in the latest pick 'em and are running out of counting scores, so when looking at fallers it's probably more interesting to see how the top three in the event coming off from last year have fared, though in this case last year's top two match that first description too!
Last year's Shanghai winner Sandy (AM) hasn't played this year and drops 239 to 651st with just 242 point from Paris 2008 left, while John (BT) did not play Shanghai either and drops 172 to 469th. Allan (AM), 3rd in Madrid last year, did play Shanghai but failed to get a counting score and drops 86 to 162nd.
GoGo (AM), 4th in Madrid last year, also suffered from the move to the Far East, finishing close to the bottom in Shanghai, but she has at least held onto a place in the top 100, down 64 to 87th, while the final member of the Madrid 2008 top 5, Suliso (TA), falls 93 to 187th.
RANKING TWINS
The 'who is your ATP ranking twin' list will has been update too, with these BOTB rankings and the ATP rankings that were used to seed Paris.
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GB on a shirt, Davis Cup still gleaming, 79 years of hurt, never stopped us dreaming ... 29/11/2015 that dream came true!
ah I see, well that makes sense. And I don't ever read the emails as I've usually processed at least 25 entries by the time they get sent so I should be able to avoid that next time, this makes me feel better - though obviously doesn't help you this time Boggo'll just have to win Jersey to cheer you up.
-- Edited by imoen on Sunday 8th of November 2009 09:30:20 PM
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To look at a thing is quite different from seeing a thing and one does not see anything until one sees its beauty
Many thanks to all those who entered this competition - 207 entrants is a record for an autumn Masters, the first time we have gone over 200 for either Shanghai/Madrid Indoor or Paris Bercy!
Bercy is the players' last chance to affect the qualifying places for the WTF and our last chance to affect our teams' year-end BOTB rankings, not to mention our own individual rankings.
Despite so far unsubstantiated rumours of Potty not playing (not to mention rumours that Haas had swine flu, Tsonga was injured, etc, etc), there haven't been any late w/ds yet and the top 8 seeds have been heavily backed to reach the QFs, which should mean lots of wailing and gnashing of teeth in the next few days if past experience of Bercy is anything to go by!
DAY 1
Only two main draw matches were played on Sunday - James Flake made the Magician disappear in a cloud of dust then Llodra proved that he was a proper GEM, confounding the bookies and most of us (though not the ATP rankings) by losing to Becker.
Tennisopolis are the early leaders after they and the Feddies in 2nd managed to be the only full teams without any pointless entrants on day 1. They are followed by the top team in the overall rankings, Rusedski.co.uk, whereas current world no. 2 team TAT are bringing up the rear, just behind BT.net, the only other team that failed to average 50% on Sunday.
POSSIBLE YEAR END NO. 1 TEAMS
None of the top four teams in the overall rankings have points to defend in Paris, but their 7th best scores (which they will need to exceed in Paris to affect their total ranking points) vary slightly.
In order to overtake current leaders Rusedski.co.uk, the Feddies (currently 3rd) need to finish at least two places above them in Paris and no lower than 3rd, whereas TAT (currently 2nd) can only finish as the year end no. 1 team if they win Paris with GR and RF both failing to finish in the top two.
2008 year-end no. 1s Team CC (currently 4th) cannot repeat that feat this year, but they could finish 2009 a very honourable 2nd if they win Paris and the three teams above them fail to get counting scores.
INDIVIDUALS
77% of entrants picked Flake to reach R2 but only 37% picked Becker to beat Llodra. As a result, 59 entrants share 1st place after day 1, headed by new world no. 7 Jose Javier/Buyaka86 (RF), world no. 11 Dark_Necrofear (CC), world no. 16 Fiercehart (TA) and world no. 18 Porlock (BB).
At the other end of the table, 30 entrants failed to get either winner correct, including world no. 5 Jtdrum10 (TA).
WINNER PICKS
Only the top 8 seeds have been picked as winners:
56% Fed (despite him never having got past the QFs here!) 20% Muzza 11% Rafa 8% Nole (he's a 50% bottom half finalist pick to just 32% for Rafa though) 3% Potty 1% Tsonga 0.5% Verdasco 0.5% Kolya
The only finalist picks from outside the top 8 are Simon (3), the Sod (2) and single picks for Monfils & Cilic.
MONDAY
The most crucial Monday matches from a BOTB point of view are the two where the picks are almost 50:50, i.e. PHM v Tricky and Hanescu v Montanes. The full list, courtesy of Yorkie (AM), is:
CC-1: Kohlschreiber (88%) v Seppi (12%) C1-1: Karlovic (92%) v Cuevas (8%) CC-2: Berdych (96%) v (Q) Millot (4%) C1-2: Beck (77%) v (Q) Kubot (23%) CC-3: Mathieu (54%) v Troicki (46%) C1-3: Hanescu (52% v Montanes (48%) C1-4: Isner (89%) v (Q) Falla (11%) CC-5: (WC) Safin (87%) v (Q) Ascione (13%) CC-6: Ljubicic (91%) v (WC) Grosjean (9%)
QUOTES OF THE DAY
cazza99 (AM) causes mild panic: "The Valencia commentator has just announced that Potty has withdrawn from Paris." - there is still no corroboration (let alone confirmation) of this anywhere as far as I can see.
There were rumours about the Sod too, but Linda (AM) ended up wondering if playing safe about this made any real sense: "I have Sod losing to Cuevas, and on reflection that's unlikely to happen even if Sod has his arm tied behind his back!"
Given all these nasty rumours and the experience of previous years, NorthernLight (CC) suggests a new name for the Paris Masters: "Maybe they should rename it 'the Trainwreck Masters'."
mwoods (TA) may have worked out why things keep going wrong: "Gilles Simon in the semis...and I wonder why I'm never even in the top 50%..."
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GB on a shirt, Davis Cup still gleaming, 79 years of hurt, never stopped us dreaming ... 29/11/2015 that dream came true!
I have won every single match in the bottom half so far....and lost every single match in the top half. But everyone knows the top half is pointless, it will be an Andy v. Fed semi, can we void all the other matches on that basis?
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To look at a thing is quite different from seeing a thing and one does not see anything until one sees its beauty
The first two days have proved that GEMs will be GEMs and, unfortunately, GErMans will do their best to be GEMs too!
Day 2 lowlights thus included Kohli (picked by 88%) losing to Seppi, Beck (77%) losing to Kubot, and Chokieu (54%) retiring against Tricky, while in the other nearly 50:50 match, Montanes (48%) prevailed against majority pick Hanescu.
Three teams had a particularly good day. Many Murray fans remembered Montanes putting on a decent display against their hero in Valencia, so backed him to beat Hanescu, and they were lucky enough to be proved right. That was the main reason why AM.com rose 4 to 1st and JM.org rose 4 to 4th, just ahead of the day's biggest risers TAT, up 5 to 5th after making their move through the bottom half of the table when Isner won.
The Feddies stay in 2nd (and in 'virtual' world no. 1 position) and day 1 leaders Tennisopolis have managed to stay in the top three, but world no. 1 team Rusedski.co.uk have dropped 3 to 6th behind both of their closest rivals in the overall rankings.
The biggest fallers, though, were The Daily Forehand, down 4 to 8th, while BT.net, down 1 to 10th, are now a fair way adrift in last place.
INDIVIDUALS
Jose Javier/Buyaka86 (RF) was the first entrant to break out of the leading group and he was the outright leader on 6/6 then on 7/7. However, his luck then ran out and he only got 3 of the last 4 matches correct, and thus fell 15 to 16= over the day as a whole.
When the dust had settled on Monday, six of Sunday's joint leaders were sharing 1st place - Darius (IN), WimbledonAce (AM), fil-813 (IN), Hawkeye (AM), BHar11 (TA) & Jelena Jankovic fan (IN) are all on 10/11.
One point behind in 7= are EKGuy39 (AM) & Tenez (CC), both up 53, and Fiercehart (TA), LindaB (JM), Luke Croll (GR), petalp (CC), SteveWalker (BT), Anna (IN) & darren c (TN), all down 6. The highest placed top 5 player is world no. 4 Lizzim (AM), up 44 to 16=.
ON THE RISE
13 entrants scored 8/9 on day 2 - the six joint leaders, the two in 7= who rose 53 places, and the five fastest risers of the day: Katie (AM), Allan (AM), luvs10s (TA), jaydu (AM) & Miriambee (BT), all up 162 to 16=.
DODGY DROPPERS
The biggest fallers were three of the five entrants now in =last who scored just 3/8 on day 2 - emf123 (IN), dusty dick (BT) & mintsauce (AM), all down 143 to 203=. They are among 20 entrants who have still not escaped the gorillas' cage!
TUESDAY
CC-1 - R2 - Kolya 99% v Becker 0% (1 pick) C1-1 - R1 - Almugro 61% v Chokedinelli 39% CC-1 - R1 - Chardy 68% v Monaco 32% C1-2 - R1 - Stani 100% v Guez 0% (1 pick) CC-3 - R2 - Verdasco 93% v Seppi 0% (1 pick) C1-3 - R1 - Benneteau 73% v Petzschner 27% C1-4 - R1 - F-Loppy 92% v Clement 8% CC-5 - R2 - Tsonga 91% v Montanes 4% CC-6 - R2 - Simon 75% v Ljubo 24%
QUOTES OF THE DAY
Jtdrum (TA) hit the nail on the head when he saw his day 1 score: "Well don't I just suck" (personally, I'd blame the players!)
Sallydaisy (JM)"Ivo is now up 7'6 and 3'1" began the day by walking straight into an ASE (AM) special: "Is that his height and waist measurement?"
After the first pair of matches on day 2, WallaceEMann (GR) was on 4/4 and had just one wish: "End the tournament, or at least the game, NOW!!!"
Meanwhile, Imoen (BT) had an even more cunning plan: "I have won every single match in the bottom half so far....and lost every single match in the top half. But everyone knows the top half is pointless, it will be an Andy v. Fed semi, can we void all the other matches on that basis?"
Her team-mate, wolf (BT), was having a very bad day: "*Throws tennis ball at Chokieu on screen* If Hanescu loses I might as well give up, I will be buried so far under the gorillias' cage there is no way back up."
Later, hfwardhouse (AM) thought that Isner was in danger of missing the point: "Could someone please explain to Mr Isner the importance of the pickem - he is NOT meant to lose this match, and MUST win otherwise dire consequences WILL result. Thank you" - it clearly worked!
wolf (BT) then thought he saw a chink of light: "Please say that takes me off the bottom." ... and yes, Isner's eventual win did!
WimbledonAce (AM) has mastered the art of understatement: "Safin just fluffs a BP, reliability has never been his strong point."
Finally, Linda (AM) proved that there are some former world no. 1s who just can't take the pace any more ... "I can't stand the excitement, I think I'll log off and go to Tesco."
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GB on a shirt, Davis Cup still gleaming, 79 years of hurt, never stopped us dreaming ... 29/11/2015 that dream came true!
Wow! a mention!, (on the rise) however I think this will be the true illustration of a roller coaster ride going from bottom 30 to biggest riser. So I just bet it'll be straight back down again as I have 5 minority picks today! Good thing I'm on holiday, I'll not be leaping out of my seat in frustration at the work colleagues!