2009 Paris Masters BOTB pick 'em - entries close at 13.30 GMT on Sunday

eblunt · Club Coach

RE: 2009 Paris Masters BOTB pick 'em - entries close at 13.30 GMT on Sunday

steven · Tennis legend

PARIS MASTERS BOTB - DAY 5 'SYNDICATED' REPORT

A very eventful day 5 saw just four of the top 8 seeds reach the QFs and ended with 94% of us having lost our top half finalist pick.

Muzza's loss to Count Duckula was about as much damage limitation as those who picked Fed to reach the Final could have wished for, but the 76% of us who picked one of those two to win the title may have to cheer for Cilic (who upset 63% QF pick Verdasco), the Count, the Sod (who shocked 73% QF pick Kolya) or le Monf now!

Also, could we be about to witness the biggest rise from the ashes in BOTB history? See the 'outlook' section below for more details ...

Detailed results can be found at http://www.britishtennis.net/competitions.html, with 'headlines' appearing on http://twitter.com/botb1 as well.

TEAMS

Early in the day, Tennisopolis lost 1st place to the Feddies (who ended the day up 2 in 2nd and are thus still holding onto the 'virtual' world no. 1 spot) but Potty's win in the final match of the day allowed them to regain the top spot and to win their third round in a row! They seem to have put the days of being the biggest team full of one-off entrants (when they were noted only for the number of errors in their entries and they usually finished last) behind them!

The fastest climbers of the day were BT.net, up 3 to 3rd, and world no. 1 team Rusedski.co.uk, who surged up 3 to 4th after Potty's win, with Team CC completing the top 5.

The only fallers of the day (and they did it in style!) were the Murray teams, JM.org, down 4 to 6th, and AM.com, down 4 to 7th. Meanwhile, MTF and The Daily Forehand seem to be locked in a very tight battle for last place behind world no. 2 team TAT, who are still languishing in 8th.

INDIVIDUALS

Former world no. 1 (after she won Monte Carlo AMS way back in 2007) Speedy Hawk (AM), up 5 to 1st, leads the field by a single point. She got the equal top score in R3 of 6/8 correct, as did BillBaker (TN), up 10 to 2nd, Shabba (IN), up 15 to 3rd, BHar11 (TA), up 45 to 6th, and andelius (AM), up 62 to 10th.

The other riser in the top 10 is The Hoose (BT), who climbed 5 places to 7th after being one of just two entrants who picked Stepanek to beat Muzza (the other was Elanor (RF), up 51 to 77=), while 5/8 was enough for Darius (IN) to stay in 4th.

Two of the three overnight leaders, LindaB (JM) & EKGuy39 (AM), got 4/8 and dropped 7 to 8=, but Mom of Twins (IN) plummered 68 to 69th after getting just 2/8 correct on Thursday.

ON THE RISE

The biggest riser on day 5 was another of the dozen entrants who got 6/8 correct, Jeff Tagen (IN), up 98 to 29th. Everyone else still outside the top 10 who managed that rose over 70 places too - dusty dick (BT), up 73 to 13th, Portsey (BT), djlovesyou (BT), mojoworking (CC) & andrewjshields (RF), all up 77 to 18=, and MJD (BT), up 93 to 104th.

DODGY DROPPERS

It may have been a good day for one former world no. 1 (i.e. the new leader) but it was a very bad day for a couple of others.

After getting just 2/8 correct, the biggest faller of the day was former world no. 1 Linda (AM), down 110 to 144th, and others sliding more than 100 places after getting just two quarter-finalists correct included another former world no. 1 Pebs (MP), down 106 to 157th, along with Miles (TA), down 104 to 116th, hfwardhouse (AM), down 108 to 141st, and former lanterne rouge Fitz (JM), down 102 to 158th.

However, the lowest scorers of the day (with just 1/8 correct) were Sher (CC), down 80 to 198th, and Cloudy (AM), down 21 to last, though serial gorilla-botherer sallydaisy (JM), down 5 to 206th, is just a point ahead of her.

OUTLOOK

Just two entrants have managed to escape the carnage of the last two days with all of their semi-finalists still standing.

The higher placed of them, Cain Bradley (BB), up 40 to 32= on Thursday, has Nole beating Potty in the Final with Cilic & Tsonga also in the semis and he will win this pick 'em by 10 points with a record high ranking points haul if the last 7 matches work out perfectly for him.

The other entrant will all of his semi-finalists still standing is, amazingly, Ghandi (GR), up 7 to 200th on day 5 - yes, that's right, the entrant who was in last place at the start of the day! He has Potty beating Nole in the Final with Cilic & Rafa also in the semis, and while the highest he can reach if that works out is 10th, it would be an incredible rise from the ashes if it came off!

Despite moving up 21 to 179th on Thursday, mintsauce (AM) has lost all of her semi-finalists, as has quietplease (BB) who will be the lanterne rouge if both Rafa and Cilic reach the semis.

FRIDAY

CC-1 - (3) Nole 76% v (9) the Sod 1% (21% Kolya, 2% Haas)
CC-2 - (2) Rafa 80% v (8) Tsonga 15% (4% Simon, 1% Berdbrain)
CC-3 - (12) Cilic 3% v (15) le Monf 1% (95% Fed, 1% Verdasco)
CC-4 - (5) Potty 23% v (13) Stepanek 0%-1 (75% Muzza, 1% Gonzo)

QUOTES OF THE DAY

I'll be back round the boards with some quotes in the morning.

__________________

steven · Tennis legend

QUOTES OF THE DAY (DAY 5)

wolf (BT) (down another 7 today to 176=) feigned unhappiness about yesterday's QOTD section: "STOP PUTTING ME IN QUOTE OF THE DAY. It's depressing." Oops ...

sallydaisy (JM) was taking her plight well, but then apart from laughing "there's not much else I can do ..... although opening a Banana Shop might be a good option with the flow of likely visitors heading to join KingKong and I."

Not surprisingly, those who had fallen for all the rumours about Potty, le Monf, the Sod and Tsonga being injured and about to withdraw before R1 were getting pretty annoyed when they all made the QFs! That's classic GEM behaviour, of course, but I don't know what excuse the year's most unexpected slam winner and finalist have ...

While not mentioning the injury rumours, fah51 (CC) did pick up on the French theme: "How can I be doing SO badly? Oh yes I quite forgot, it's the Paris Masters, spiritual home of all tennis muppets, an alternative tennis universe where the form book goes out the window and home advantage makes unlikely heroes of the least expected GEMs. Don't know about all these players but the end of the BOTB season can't come soon enough for me."

Of course, GEM behaviour in tournaments in France is relatively easy to predict - the odd GEM outside the top 40 (usually one of the annoying ones) will upset a top player, only Tsonga and le Monf have a chance of going deep, the rest of the higher-ranked GEMs will go out with a whimper (if they don't manage to late w/d or retire first, that is) and Dammit won't turn up, even if having an excuse means having to kiss a girl!

In response, Tenez (CC) admitted that "I am afraid I am as unreliable as my compatriots" and twisted the knife by adding: "In fact I wonder now whether you haven't got any French blood yourself?"

Dark_Necrofear (CC) gave him a taste of his own medicine: "I dont know whats more scary Tenez my friend. The fact that you 'know' so much about tennis but your BOTB picks say otherwise or the fact that my mum trounces you in every BOTB!" ... to which the reply was: "Darky - I suspect your mother of doping with black magic! Only that can explain that weird success over my tennis science!"

NorthernLight (CC) summed it all up as "this is of course the Car Crash Masters where the form book just gets ripped right up and suitably despatched with disdain and a touch of gallic elan.." - a sort of Cincy à la française then?

TennisAnyone74 (TA) is losing one of the many household battles that go on during BOTB: "Let me start off by saying that I love my son BHar11 and I want nothing but the best for him. I want him to succeed in everything he does EXCEPT beating me in BOtBs! He's entered the last three contests and has beaten me the last two times by considerable margins and is now leading TAT (he's currently at 6 overall - congratulations son! ) in this contest! It's bad enough living with a 15 year old know-it-all, but quite another one for him to have concrete proof that he knows more about a sport I've been following for longer than he's been living!" I know somehfwardhouseone on AM.com who will empathise with those sentiments, while dryrunguy (TA) was all heart, as usual: "Can't you just drop him off at a hospital or a shelter or something and say he's too much for you? They're not supposed to ask any questions, ya know."

wolf · Tennis legend

steven · Tennis legend

PARIS MASTERS BOTB - DAY 6 'SYNDICATED' REPORT

Nobody got all four QF winners correct and while the two top seeds in the bottom half have made it to the semis, after Potty's retirement on Friday, only one entrant even has a chance of scoring finalist points in the top half of the draw!

Detailed results can be found at http://www.britishtennis.net/competitions.html, with 'headlines' appearing on http://twitter.com/botb1 as well.

TEAMS

Congratulations to Tennisopolis, whose run of three consecutive round wins came to an end in the QFs but who scored enough points on Friday to ensure that they will win the Paris team title whatever happens over the weekend.

The Feddies hung on to 2nd place but they won't stay there. However, they might be cheering for Rafa for the first time in their lives on Saturday, because if he reaches the Final, they will finish 3rd and will take the year-end no. 1 spot by just 8 ranking points (3104-3096) from current no. 1s Rusedski.co.uk, who are still 4th but will finish 2nd (and hold onto the no. 1 spot in the overall rankings over the year end) if Nole reaches the Final.

BT.net are still 3rd but will only hold onto that place if Nole is the losing finalist, whereas TAT, up 2 to 6th on Friday, will finish 3rd if Nole wins the Final. Sandwiched between them, JM.org are up 1 to 5th after winning the QF round and will climb further into 2nd place if Rafa reaches the Final.

Team CC dropped 2 places to 7th, just ahead of AM.com, down 1 to 8th and suffering the ignominy of losing to their B team, but The Daily Forehand are now sure to 'win' the team lanterne rouge.

INDIVIDUALS

The top 6 all got 2/4 correct on Friday so are unchanged. Speedy Hawk (AM) still leads by a single point. She will win if Rafa is the losing finalist, will finish 3rd if Rafa wins the title or Nole is the losing finalist and will only finish outside the top three if Nole wins the title.

BillBaker (TN), who has led his team's charge to the team title, will stay in 2nd if Nole wins the title but could yet win Paris if Nole is the losing finalist, only dropping out of the top three if Rafa reaches the Final.

Shabba (IN) in 3rd will only remain in the top three if Nole is the losing finalist, when she will finish 2nd, while the same applies to 4th placed Darius, though in his case he needs Rafa to be the losing finalist for him to take 2nd place.

Meanwhile, 5th placed Jose Javier/Buyaka86 (RF), will finish 3rd if Rafa is the losing finalist, which might be enough to make him the individual year-end no. 1 - I haven't worked those permutations out yet.

6th placed BHar11 (TA) is another potential Paris winner - he needs Rafa to win the title, in which case EKGuy39 (AM), up 1 to 7= on Friday, will finish 2nd. The rest of the top 10, i.e. LindaB (JM), up 1 to 7=, andelius (AM), up 1 to 9th, and Ace! (AM), up 1 to 10th, cannot finish in the top three, but each of them will hold onto a place in the top 10 if their bottom half finalist pick reaches the Final.

The only entrants currently outside the top 10 who could still finish in the Paris top three are Jelena Jankovic fan (IN), up 2 to 12th on Friday, who will win the Paris BOTB title if Nole wins the real one, and Scotsguy (CC), up 6 to 21st, who will finish 3rd in that scenario.

The only entrant who dropped out of the top 10 on Friday was the Hoose (BT), down 17 to 24th after only getting one QF result correct.

ON THE RISE

Only one entrant got 3/4 semi-finalists correct, so well done to doublelix (AR), who started the day in the bottom dozen but rose 48 to 148th. She is also the only entrant with both finalists still standing and if Nole beats le Monf in the Final, she will end up in 16th, up 180 places in three days. If only she hadn't done quite so terribly in the first three rounds (after which she was 3rd from last) she might be a possible winner!

DODGY DROPPERS

15 entrants failed to score in the QFs, from T.x (CC), down 78 to 89th, all the way down to sallydaisy (JM), who dropped 1 place to last and is now certain to win another lanterne rouge to add to her collection.

However, the biggest faller of the day was tlimvvo2max (CC), down 96 to 154th.

SATURDAY

CC-2 - (2) Rafa 32% v (3) Nole 50%
CC-3 - (13) Stepanek 0%-0 v (15) le Monf 0%-1 (doublelix (AR), see above)

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

tlimvvomax (CC), today's dodgiest dropper (see above), managed to make my job easy by summing up just perfectly the conflicting emotions most BOTB entrants face from time to time:

"That's IT.

There are still two quarters to go, two semis and the final and I have NO scoring chances left.

Damn them all for break point-missing double-faulting wazzocks with self-confidence brittler than Ryvita. I've had it, I quit, I give in, there's no rational way of predicting what any of them are going to do ever and I never want to play this stupid game ever again.

... don't suppose there's another one before the AO, is there?"

Sorry mate, there isn't - but having to go cold turkey over Christmas sounds quite appropriate after this performance!

steven · Tennis legend

PARIS MASTERS BOTB - DAY 7 'SYNDICATED' REPORT

Although only one of the 207 entrants could score for both semis, the Nole v Rafa SF decided which team would be year-end no. 1 and it will require Sunday's Final will decide who will be the individual year-end no. 1 too!

Also, just to prove that losing a winner/finalist pick early doesn't necessarily mean disaster as long as the other favoured players lose early too, if Monfils wins the Final, the Paris top 6 will all be entrants who had Fed or Muzza as their winner pick, though if Nole wins the title, 5 of the top 8 will be entrants who picked him to win.

Detailed results can be found at http://www.britishtennis.net/competitions.html, with 'headlines' appearing on http://twitter.com/botb1 as well.

TEAMS

Tennisopolis had already wrapped up their second BOTB title of the year on Friday (after winning the USO KO), but Nole's win today means that Rusedski.co.uk (up 2 to 2nd after winning the SF round due to 8/10 of them picking Nole to reach the Final) will finish 2nd in a pick 'em for the sixth time this year (AO league & KO, Rome, RG KO, Shanghai & Paris) and, more importantly, it means that they have successfully held off the Feddies (down 2 to 4th in Paris after the semis), to end the year as the no. 1 team in the overall rankings!

BT.net stayed in 3rd place, but will be overhauled by TAT, up 1 to 5th on Saturday, if Nole wins the Final.

The second highest scoring team of the day was MTF and they gained 3 places to 6th, but both Murray teams (JM.org, down 2 to 7th, and AM.com down 1 to 9th) were on the slide, as were Team CC, down 1 to 8th, while the Daily Forehand continue to bring up the rear and will be the lanternes rouges in Paris.

INDIVIDUALS

Nole's win enabled the hero of Tennisopolis's successful Paris campaign, BillBaker (TN), to take the lead by a point from Shabba (IN), up 1 to 2nd. There is then a 3-point gap back to Speedy Hawk (AM), down 2 to 3rd, who is the only entrant left in the top 12 who did not pick Nole to reach the Final.

Jelena Jankovic fan (IN), up 5 to 7th today, will win the title if Nole wins the Final, while andelius (AM), up 5 to 4th, Ace! (AM), up 5 to 5th, dusty dick (BT), up 5 to 6th, mojoworking (CC), up 7 to 8th, jules (IN), up 7 to 9th, and polo el pato (RF), up 8 to 10th, complete the top 10 after the semis.

Also, Scotsguy (CC), up 10 to 11th, will finish 3rd if Nole wins the Final.

ON THE RISE

doublelix (AR), the only entrant who got 3/4 semi-finalists correct, was also the only entrant who got both finalists correct, rising another 85 places to 63rd as a result. As I said yesterday, if her first three rounds had just been below average instead of being so bad that she was 3rd from last on Thursday night, she may well have won the title, but the second half of the week has been a memorable one for her nonetheless.

DODGY DROPPERS

Over 100 entrants failed to score in the SFs, with smitty8 (JM) and rondun (JM), both down 43 to 89=, just happening to fall the most.

GOING BRIGHT RED

Until September, it looked like Sallydaisy (JM) might go through a full calendar year without picking up a lanterne rouge for the first time. Had the gorillas' best friend deserted them?

The big hairy ones need not have worried - she has now finished last in two of the last three pick 'ems, taking her career haul of lanternes rouges to five, three of which have been 'won' in Paris - at the Paris Masters in 2007 & 2009 and at Roland Garros in 2007. That is some feat, given that she does know a fair bit about tennis and she doesn't actually try to finish last!

SUNDAY

(3) Nole 8% v (15) le Monf 0%-0

YEAR-END OVERALL RANKINGS

Having prevented the Feddies from pipping Rusedski.co.uk to the year end no. 1 spot in the overall team rankings by beating Rafa today, Nole can hit them with another double whammy if he wins the Final.

A Nole win on Sunday would allow TAT to hold onto the year end no. 2 spot too and kaseldop (GR) to both finish the year as the individual world no. 1 and be top of the overall rankings for the fourth time, which would take him one ahead of ASE (AM) & Wendy (AM) and level with Guy (BT), though still two behind Ashley Harkleroad's ***** (CC then MP), who was world no. 1 after six different tournaments last year.

If, however, le Monf becomes the second consecutive GEM to win the Paris Masters, the Feddies will finish as the no. 2 team in the overall rankings, and more importantly, I believe that, E&OE, Jose Javier/Buyaka86 (RF) will snatch the individual year-end no. 1 spot by a single point, since it looks like he will then end up on 4342 to kaseldop (GR)'s 4341!

In addition, there is still a massive battle going on for the rest of the year-end top 5 positions which will only get resolved by the Paris Final. On a personal note, I had so many points to defend that sadly I won't be anywhere near that battle, despite having started Paris ranked no. 2 ...

QUOTES OF THE DAY

I enjoyed this exchange on AM.com after -David-- lamented "Another crap pick em for me. It's been like a roll call of mediocracy (sic) for me in them this year." Two of the lanternes rouges from tournaments earlier this year did their best to be 'supportive':

AllyB "Count yourself lucky, some of us can only dream of reaching mediocrity!"

jaydu "aww ally dont put yourself down, if any one around here is mediocre its you"

AllyB "I've come over all emotional since Jaydu said such a lovely thing about me"

Meanwhile, on TAT, realism had taken hold, though given that they can still finish 3rd in Paris and 2nd for 2009 overall, maybe they are being a little hard on themselves:

nelslus "No matter what - we're still Doggy Droppers, I sez."

ptmcmahon "Well, I'm so low I am the droppings"

Meanwhile, back on AM.com, hfwardhouse was already dreaming of better things in 2010: "On this performance, Australia will be a dawdle .... I reckon I could win it you know ... I mean, I've had such a good year and ..... excuse me, the door bell .... ah .... there are some men in white coats at the door .... I may be gone some time."

... and WimbledonAce was promising to put a lot of work in during the off-season: "I actually got some points today, q excited All in all though a terrible year for me and pickems. I shall do much reading up in the off season (in between perving at Nando and Ferrer pics)" - doesn't she mean perving at Nando and Pics Ferrer?

The problem is, the more effort you put in, the more it hurts when all the muppets let you down!

Anyway, talking of muppets (for one day only, anyway!), I'll leave the last word to Rafa: "I must throw semi-final if it stops Fed fans being year end no. 1 in BOTB, no?" You might have guessed that I made that one up, but then again, you never know!

steven · Tennis legend

PARIS MASTERS BOTB - DAY 8 'SYNDICATED' REPORT

Nole's win ensured that 9 of the 17 entrants who picked him to take the title ended up filling half of the top 18 places, with the rest of the top 30 consisting of entrants who picked Fed or Muzza to win but did very well otherwise.

Detailed results can be found at http://www.britishtennis.net/competitions.html, with 'headlines' appearing on http://twitter.com/botb1 as well.

TEAMS

With Tennisopolis having secured the Paris title on Friday and Rusedski.co.uk the runner-up spot on Saturday, the main effect of the Final was to bump TAT up 2 to 3rd ahead of BT.net, down 1 to 4th, and the Feddies, down 1 to 5th.

The only other movement on Sunday was Team CC, up 1 to 7th, swapping places with JM.org, down 1 to 8th, but it is also worth highlighting the fact that despite ending up as the lanternes rouges in Paris, the Daily Forehand had the consolation of getting the highest average score for the Final!

INDIVIDUALS

At only the second attempt, 559-ranked Jelena Jankovic fan (IN), up 6 to 1st, has become the first winner of a BOTB pick 'em from Serbia.

Overnight leader BillBaker (TN) fell back a place but ended up taking 2nd on tiebreak from Scotsguy (CC), up 8 to 3rd, the latter managing the amazing feat of finishing 3rd in two consecutive pick 'ems with c. 200 entrants in each!

Nole's win also lifted the following entrants into the top 10 - The Man From Onken (IN), up 21 to 5th, timmadigan (CC), up 27 to 6th, and WimbledonAce (AM), up 34 to 8th.

Along with the runner-up, four more entrants managed to hang on in the top 10 despite not picking the right winner - Shabba (IN), down 2 to 4th, Speedy Hawk (AM), down 4 to 7th, andelius (AM), down 5 to 9th, and Ace! (AM), down 5 to 10th.

ON THE RISE

The 12 other entrants who picked Nole to win the title include today's fastest risers, mattk77 (SG) & JTContinental (TA), both up 60 to 55=, and doublelix (AR), up 47 to 16th, who has completed a 4-day, 189-place rise from the bottom three to the top 16 after making up for her dreadful start by getting 6 of the last 7 results correct!

The others are Cain Bradley (BB), up 42 to 12th, wycombe7 (TA), up 42 to 14th, Miles (TA), up 48 to 18th, qczi (MT), up 52 to 30th, hfwardhouse (AM), up 53 to 32nd, mysterX (TA), up 54 to 38th, gavbo (DF), up 55 to 75th, Marion Bernard (ND), up 54 to 83rd and former world no. 1 Richard Morris/ASE (AM), up 58 to 97th, who cannot understand why Nole was not an obvious winner pick for everyone under the circumstances ... and he probably has a point!

DODGY DROPPERS

190 of us failed to score in the Final, but nobody fell more than 9 places as a result.

WORLD TOUR FINALS - ARE YOU GOING?

As usual, there is no BOTB for the WTF, but I will be there for both the afternoon and evening sessions on at least one of the first Sunday (22 Nov) or the Wednesday (25 Nov), hopefully both, and it would be nice (if no doubt a little scary LOL) to put some more faces to names of regular BOTBers.

The unpredictability of tennis matches means that plans made in advance tend to go awry, but if you will be at the O2 Arena on either of those days, please feel free to pm me here or on botb1 twitter (or email me at btpickem@hotmail.com) and maybe we can swap mobile numbers and then meet if we get the chance.

NEXT BOTB

Even if you are not on BT.net, you have not quite seen the last of me for this year yet, because I will be around the boards again in the next day or two with a note about the year-end overall rankings.

After that though, BOTB will be on a break for a couple of months, with AO pick 'em entries likely to open on Friday 15 January 2010.

goldfish · Futures qualifying

Thanks once again Steven and Imoen for your hard work in running these competitions. Great fun even if all the friends I have encouraged to join have soundly beaten me this time round. Must remember to keep it to myself in future.

Enjoy the break and also your visits to the O2.

steven · Tennis legend

Re: Pick 'em competitions - Overall rankings

POST-2009 PARIS MASTERS PICK 'EM RANKINGS

The updated hall of fame and the new overall ranking list (with all 757 people who played at least one pick 'em this year, generating 2885 entries and gaining 1 339 714 ranking points between them) can now be found at http://www.britishtennis.net/Competitions.html

TEAMS - TOP 10

Rusedski.co.uk's sixth 2nd place of the year (AO league & KO, RG KO, Rome, Shanghai & Paris) was enough to keep them at the top of the overall team rankings ahead of TAT (Rome winners, 2nd in Miami & at the USO, 3rd in Wimbledon & Paris) and the Feddies (winners of the last 3 slam leagues and 3rd in the Wimbledon KO but last in 3 of the last 4 Masters!) in an unchanged top three.

However, had Nole not beaten Rafa in the Paris semis, the ATP world no. 1's team would have finished the year at the top of the pile, and had Nole not gone on to beat le Monf too, they would have finished the year ranked 2, so the order of the top three in the year-end team rankings really did go right to the wire!

The biggest risers are Paris Masters winners Tennisopolis - regularly the whipping boys of BOTB last year, now that they have stopped 'bribing' people with prizes for joining their team, their core players have turned out to be pretty good! They have moved up 3 to a new high of WR 4, making them the second team (along with the Feddies) to have moved up 8 places this year and infiltrated the big 5.

2008 year-end no. 1 team Team CC dropped another place to WR 5, but like the 2008 year-end no. 2 team AM.com, still languishing in 8th, they have very little to defend in the first few tournaments next year.

Like last year's top team, BT.net in 6th and BBC 606 in 7th are both down another place after Paris, while JM.org & T4Y, both unchanged after Paris, complete the top 10.

NEW INDIVIDUAL TOP 10

Nole's success in dashing the Feddies' BOTB no. 1 dreams were not confined to the team rankings - despite not getting a counting score since Wimbledon (which means that he has big points to defend in every tournament in the first half of next year except Miami), kaseldop (GR) will hang onto the no. 1 spot through the year end, but if Nole had lost the Paris Final, Jose Javier/Buyaka86 (RF), up 5 to a career high ('CH') WR 2, would have pipped him to the post by a single ranking point!

An unprecedented two consecutive top three finishes in the last two pick 'ems (and in fact, five consecutive counting scores to end the year), has seen Scotsguy (CC), up another 6 after Paris, roar up the rankings to finish the year at a career high WR 3.

Two more players who finished in the top 10 in Paris have climbed into the top 10 overall as well - timmadigan (CC), up 8 to WR 5, and Ace! (AM), up 36 to WR 10, have both hit new CHs.

All these rises have seen small drops for Dentist appointment (IN), down 1 to WR 4, Jtdrum10 (TA), down 1 to WR 6, Lizzim (AM), down 3 to WR 7, mathiasR (RF), down 2 to WR 8, and Miffy (AM), down 1 to WR 9, while of the other two members of the post-Shanghai top 10, BORRO2 (RF) has dropped one place out of the top 10 and Steven (GR) has plummeted 16 places to WR 18 after his top counting score from Paris 2008 came off.

ON THE RISE

The fastest riser in the top 300 is Paris runner-up BillBaker (TN), up 91 to WR 38, and the fastest riser overall is Paris winner Jelena Jankovic fan (IN), up 208 to WR 351.

Of the Paris top tenners not yet mentioned, 4th placed Shabba (IN) rose 34 to WR 20, 5th placed The Man From Onken (IN) rose 81 to WR 177, 7th placed former world no. 1 Speedy Hawk (AM) rose 41 to WR 49, 8th placed former world no. 4 WimbledonAce (AM) rose 16 to WR 91, and
9th placed andelius (AM) rose 63 to WR 108.

Other players gaining more than 40 places in the top 200 include Claire Thompson (JM), up 54 to WR 78, Sue (TN), up 41 to WR 115, LadyTigress (IN), up 48 to WR 125, luvs10s (TA), up 64 to WR 130, TimS (GR), up 65 to WR 141, Jeff Tagen (IN), up 72 to 148, and polo el pato (RF), up 61 to WR 187.

The highest-ranked players to have risen over 100 places are doublelix (AR), up 122 to WR 325 after finishing 16th in Paris, Anna (IN), up 109 to WR 335 after a top 50 finish in Paris, and Shanghai winner banskogirl (AM), up another 112 places to WR 350, meaning that she has risen 365 places over the course of just two Masters events!

The highest new entrant is Bingbangbush (AM), in at WR 703.

LAST YEAR'S PARIS 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 winner matches that first description too!

Last year's Paris winner boumboum (RG) clearly decided that he could never better his record ranking haul of 992 points and hasn't played since, dropping out of the rankings from WR 435.

Last year's runner-up, trisco (CC) did play all but the last two Masters events this year, and falls 81 to WR 128 now that his Paris 2008 points have come off.

3rd place in Paris last year made Wendy (AM) the first player ever to get back to no. 1 having been there before and then dropped a bit, but a dire end to 2009 has seen her plummet down the rankings, falling another 97 to WR 285 now that those 3rd place points have come off.

RANKING TWINS

The 'who is your ATP ranking twin' list has been updated too, with these BOTB rankings and the post-Paris ATP rankings.

steven · Tennis legend

2009 YEAR-END SPECIAL REPORT

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? - LAST YEAR'S YEAR-END TOP 10

The 2008 year-end top 10 have had very different experiences since, with 2008 year-end no. 1 and 2007 year-end no. 6 Wendy (AM) now way down at WR 285 as mentioned above.

Year-end 2008 no. 2 Ashley Harkleroad's ***** (IN now MP) only played the first half of 2009 and is also outside the top 200 at WR 209, while no. 3 Flintstone, now Pebs (IN now MP), now at WR 160, has only done slightly better.

2008 year-end no. 4 WimbledonAce (CC now AM) is the first of the top 10 to still be in the top 100, a good result in Paris lifting her from WR 107 to WR 91 to end the year, while 2008 no. 5 Fedex (GR) is the first of them to still be in the top 50 at WR 36.

Very impressively, 2008 year-end no. 6 miffy (AM) has managed to finish another year in the top 10 - having hit a career high WR 2 after RG 2009, she is now WR 9.

2008 no. 7 hebegeebee (IN) only played the first half of 2009 and is now down at WR 296, but 2008 no. 8 Richard Morris/ASE (AM), who was also 2007 no. 7, is still in the top 100 at WR 84, as is 2008 no. 9 hfwardhouse (AM), who is now at WR 92.

However, another 2008 year end top tenner who gave up after the first half of 2009, RoastLamb (AM), is the worst-ranked of the 2008 year-end top 10, having dropped down as far as WR 388!

MOST CONSISTENT PLAYERS

One stellar result can help you retain a high ranking for nearly 12 months, but because of the way ranking points drop off, just one such result cannot help you to a high ranking at two year-ends in a row.

As a result, just five players have managed to finish in the year end top 50 three years in a row, i.e. 2007, 2008 and 2009:

Includes two top 10 finishes: Miffy (AM) - 2007: WR 41, 2008: WR 6, 2009: WR 9 - CH 2 after RG09
Always finished in the top 18 (just!): Steven (GR) - 2007: WR 16, 2008: WR 18, 2009: WR 18 - CH 2 after UO09
Always finished in the top 26: goldfish (BT) - 2007: WR 3, 2008: WR 20, 2009: WR 26 - CH 1 after MO09
Always finished in the top 32: Dusty Dick (BT) - 2007: WR 23, 2008: WR 13, 2009: WR 32 - CH 5 after RG09
Always finished in the top 47: eblunt (BT) - 2007: WR 27, 2008: WR 22, 2009: WR 47 - CH outside the top 10

Lots of players who have done well in the last couple of years were not even playing in 2007, so I ought also to mention Akhenaten (BT), Dentist Appointment (IN), Fedex (GR), FishFlaps (MP), jasonblueboy (TN), kaseldop (GR) and Randall Six (IN), who have all finished both 2008 and 2009 in the top 50.

Meanwhile, Robxon (BT) and Speedy Hawk (AM) both finished in the top 50 in 2007, dropped out by the end of 2008 but then climbed back in by the end of 2009!

Finally, of the 8 players who finished both 2007 and 2008 (but not 2009) in the top 50, former world no. 1s Richard Morris/ASE (AM) and Wendy (AM) are the only players apart from Miffy (AM) (see above) who have finished two separate years in the top 10.

N.B. It is possible that I might have inadvertently missed someone off the list if they changed their name between one year end and the next.

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... and that's BOTB over for another year ... yay!

Though only 59 days until AO entries open ...

-- Edited by steven on Tuesday 17th of November 2009 08:59:35 AM

Smidster · Challenger level

Massive thankyou as always Steven for all the work you do for this - It really is amazing.

Look Forward to more frustration in 2010.

As a little conincidence - Me an my ATP twin have had similar years. I have gone from 233 to 85 where as Lorenzi has got to 85 from 208

eblunt · Club Coach

Steven,

Does this mean I'm the most cosistent Pickem player NEVER to have made it to the top 10 ?

Since breaking itno the top 50 in 2007, I've always been between 18th and 65th. Is there an award for dullest player ?

steven · Tennis legend

Thanks Smidster, and yes that is quite a neat coincidence!

eblunt wrote:

Steven,

Does this mean I'm the most cosistent Pickem player NEVER to have made it to the top 10 ?

Since breaking itno the top 50 in 2007, I've always been between 18th and 65th. Is there an award for dullest player ?

Yes it does and no there isn't, but maybe there should be!

I was going to call it the Undertaker award (after Davydenko) but then googled "tennis career high 18" and guess who I got ... yup, it's Vinny Spadea! disbelief

Well, 'e can be a bit blunt ... wink

Bet you wish you hadn't asked now ... ashamed

http://www.atpworldtour.com/Tennis/Players/Sp/V/Vincent-Spadea.aspx