2010 Miami Masters 'Battle of the Boards' pick 'em

indiana · Tennis legend

RE: 2010 Miami Masters 'Battle of the Boards' pick 'em

steven · Tennis legend

MIAMI MASTERS BOTB - QFs 'SYNDICATED' REPORT

Three of the four QFs were one-sided affairs with wins for 81% pick Rafa, 65% pick Duckboy and 23% pick Sod but mental giant ('for one week only'?) Berdbrain, who had not been picked to reach the semis by anyone, recovered from a set down to upset 5% pick Verdasco.

Detailed results can be found at http://www.freewebs.com/britishtennis/competitions.html, with 'headlines' and the odd quote from the boards appearing on http://twitter.com/botb1 as well.

TEAMS

MTF have increased their lead to nearly a point again after winning the QF round. Rusedski.co.uk in 2nd, TAT in 3rd and BT.net in 4th also ended the round where they started it.

The biggest movers of the round were AM.com, but having gained three places when Rafa won, they lost them again when Sod beat Youzhny in the match most of them had expected him to lose to Muzza, ending the QFs in 5th, i.e. up the 2 places they had gained after Duckboy's win. BBC 606 were the biggest fallers, down 2 to 7th.

The only other movers were the Ducklings, up 1 to 11th, and JM.org, down 1 to 12th, but they are a long way ahead of last-placed Tennisopolis, who got by far the lowest average score for the second round in a row.

INDIVIDUALS

Former world no. 1 kaseldop (GR) got knocked off the top of the Miami table on Thursday but returned to 1st place after Sod's win on Friday. However, he now leads only on tiebreak from R4 winner Cain Bradley (BB), up 7 to 2nd, and BenP (AM), up 10 to 3rd, who are the two highest-placed entrants of the 26 who picked Rafa, Duckboy & Sod to reach the semis, nobody having picked Berdbrain to get there.

Other climbers into the top 10 after getting 3/4 correct are SuperBrat (IN), up 25 to 6th, francky (RG), up 28 to 7th, Hawkeye (AM), up 29 to 9th, and -David-- (AM), up 29 to 10th, while Dark_Necrofear (CC), up 29 to 11th, is equal on points with the last three.

Hanging onto a top ten place after getting 2/4 correct like the leader are srberg (DF), down 2 to 4th, andys_ipod (AM), up 1 to 5th, and Oploskoffie (TA), holding steady in 8th.

ON THE RISE

The fastest riser of the round was aedra1119 (TA), up 76 to 75th. mojoworking (CC), up 72 to 67th, JTContinental (TA), up 72 to 86th, and liam_valid (CC), up 73 to 92nd, also rose more than 70 places.

DODGY DROPPERS

12 entrants failed to get a single semi-finalist correct and four of them fell over 90 places - PETALP (CC), down 94 to 123rd, Minnie me (JM), down 94 to 124th, DJ (MP), down 92 to 173rd, and gavbo (DF), down 92 to 174th.

However, Petzchner's Left Thumb (IN) is now certain to be the lanterne rouge in Miami despite getting one semi-finalist correct.

OUTLOOK - TEAMS

Long-time leaders MTF will retain the Miami BOTB title they won last year unless Rafa wins the title, in which case TAT will edge them into 2nd place and will (I think) take over the world no. 1 position from the Feddies.

If Rafa loses the Final, TAT will finish 2nd (and the 1-2 will be exactly the same as last year) but if Duckboy reaches the Final, they will finish outside the top three.

If Duckboy wins the Final, the Ducklings, who all picked him to win the title, will finish 2nd but if he reaches the Final then loses, the Rusers will take the runner-up spot.

BT.net will take 3rd place if Duckboy reaches the Final unless he beats Sod once he gets there, with the Rusers finishing 3rd in all other circumstances.

OUTLOOK - INDIVIDUALS

Five entrants could still win the title here. francky (RG) will win if Duckboy wins the Final or loses it to Sod, Cain Bradley (BB) will win if Rafa wins the Final, kaseldop (GR) will win if Berdbrain beats Rafa in the Final, BenP (AM) will win if Berdbrain beats Duckboy and Boarder35m (MT) will win if Sod beats Rafa.

andys_ipod (AM), srberg (DF), SuperBrat (IN), gu3 (IN) and qczi (MT) are also still in with a chance of a top three finish and the remaining results will affect the ranking points gained for virtually all of us, whether we can score for the matches concerned or not.

FRIDAY PREVIEW

SC, 1 pm US EDT (17.00 GMT, 6 pm UK, 19.00 CET):
(4) Rafa 51% v (6) Duckboy 29% (Nole 13%, Isner 3%, Tsonga 2%, Ljubo 1%, others 1%)

SC, not before 7 pm US EDT (23.00 GMT, midnight UK, 01.00 CET):
(5) Sod 4% v (16) Berdbrain 0% (0) (Fed 54%, Muzza 39%, Cilic 2%, others 1%)

So, the first semi will be fully live for most of us and the vast majority will need Berdbrain to win the second semi to limit the damage from Fed and Muzza going out early.

NEXT COMPETITION

The next BOTBs will almost certainly be for the Rome Masters (with entries opening on Sat 24 Apr and likely to close at 11.00 GMT on Mon 26 Apr, assuming that the tournament itself runs to a similar timetable to last year) and for Roland Garros - there's a chance I might be away at the start of RG, but I'm guessing most people would rather put up with not getting any results for the first 2-3 days than miss out a slam completely. I've also got day 1 tickets for Wimbledon, so this may be a bit of a 'theme' for the next two slams ... apologies in advance!

Silver · County player

indiana wrote:

Silver wrote:

My sheer ineptitude at this Pick'em has made me die a little inside.

Ah, but just remember : "This game makes me sad in ways it shouldn't but that never stops me from coming back for more punishment, possibly cos I'm an idiot, possibly cos the players I pick are idiots and possibly because no matter how much I hate this game, it is still THE BEST THING EVER."

And I can never argue with my own logic!

LadyTigress · County player

steven wrote:

mental giant Berdbrain

Who knows when we'll hear that phrase spoken again. confuse

-- Edited by LadyTigress on Friday 2nd of April 2010 05:18:17 PM

LadyTigress · County player

LadyTigress wrote:
Only Nadal getting to the finals can still earn me some points...

Nuts.

I ask for one simple thing out of the rest of this tournament, and do the gods of tennis oblige? Do they heck.

JM1138 · Lower Club Player

YES! You see, my ridiculous decisions to put Tsonga in the semis and Baggy in the quarters were actually just ruses to divert attention from my brillliant, prescient winner pick...

Of course, now I've said that, Roddick will eat bakery in the final.

airsmashers · County player

Well Roddick beating Nadal ends a terrible Pick'em for me.

This is only my second Pick'em and I've already experienced all the highs and lows one could experience.

Silver · County player

*insert giant pause of doom here*

steven · Tennis legend

LadyTigress wrote:

steven wrote:

mental giant Berdbrain

Who knows when we'll hear that phrase spoken again.

Today?

Mental giant Berdbrain seems to have won again, which would be very good news had mental midget Rafa not thrown away a one set lead against Duckboy.

steven · Tennis legend

MIAMI MASTERS BOTB - SFs 'SYNDICATED' REPORT

Two surprises in the semis - 29% pick Duckboy recovered from a set down to beat 51% pick Rafa and 0% pick Berdbrain beat 4% pick Sod much more easily than I think any of us would have thought possible.

This makes it, as far as I can tell, the first time since 1998 that none of the top 5 going into IW have reached the Final at either Indian Wells or Miami - back then, Marcelo Rios WR 7 beat Greg Rusedski WR 6 in the IW Final then did the double when he beat Andre Agassi (WR 40 going into IW) in Miami. The rankings were so close in those days that the back to back wins were enough to lift Rios to world no. 1, something that is not even close to happening this time.

Detailed results can be found at http://www.freewebs.com/britishtennis/competitions.html, with 'headlines' and the odd quote from the boards appearing on http://twitter.com/botb1 as well.

TEAMS

MTF have just completed a week at the top of the table and Rafa's loss ensure that they cannot now be overtaken, so congratulations to them on retaining the Miami teams title. They won the AO in 2008 too, so have now won a BOTB in each of the last three years.

Rusedski.co.uk hung onto 2nd place, though they will be overtaken by the Ducklings, up 2 to 9th after the semis, and BT.net, up 1 to 3rd, if Roddick wins the Final. TAT dropped a place to 4th, their dreams of dislodging the Feddies from the world no. 1 spot shattered (at least for now) by Rafa's loss, while AM.com complete the top 5.

INDIVIDUALS

With nobody scoring for Berdbrain, for all but the lanterne rouge it was a case of move up if you picked Duckboy to reach the Final, move down if you did not.

The new leader is BenP (AM), up 2 to 1st, who is 1 point ahead of srberg (DF), up 2 to 2nd, with SuperBrat (IN), up 3 to 3rd, three more points back. They will be the top three if Berdbrain wins the Final, but if Duckboy wins, francky (RG), up 3 to 4th after the semis and doing a lot better than his hero did in Miami itself, will take the title and qczi (MT), up 3 to 10th, will finish as the runner-up.

The rest of the top 10 are Oploskoffie (TA), up 3 to 5th, Hawkeye (AM), up 3 to 6th, Dark_Necrofear (CC), up 4 to 7th, kaseldop (GR), down 7 to 8th, and Cain Bradley (BB), down 7 to 9th, and they will all finish where they are now or one place lower.

ON THE RISE

The joint fastest risers on Saturday were jemma (GB), up 48 to 55th, and Pebs (MP), up 48 to 67th.

DODGY DROPPERS

With relatively few entrants getting a finalist correct, nobody fell more than 20 places. Raven (AM), down 19 to 93rd, aedra1119 (TA), down 19 to 94th, bangkok (IN), down 19 to 95th, and t12j23r90 (AM) & indiana (BT), both down 19 to 96=, came closest to doing so.

GROUPS

By a narrow margin (0.02 or 0.11 depending on the result of the Final), the female entrants have broken a 5-tournament winning streak for the male entrants and the active players have beaten the fans, closing the H2H deficit in both cases to 10-16.

In the age group competition, the over 50s have beaten the 18-49s with the under 18s trailing in far behind - this is also the opposite of the overall trend.

MORE ABOUT THE NEXT BOTB

One of our four Italian entrants, Raven (AM), tells me that there is going to be a Sunday start to the main draw in Rome, which may mean an entry period of only about 24 hours from Saturday afternoon through Sunday morning UK time, so it might be worth noting Saturday 24 April in your diary now if you want to make sure you do not miss out on entering.

LadyTigress · County player

steven wrote:

LadyTigress wrote:

steven wrote:

mental giant Berdbrain

Who knows when we'll hear that phrase spoken again.
Today?

Mental giant Berdbrain seems to have won again, which would be very good news had mental midget Rafa not thrown away a one set lead against Duckboy.

I meant at the next tournaments - the muppet effect of putting together a good streak and then returning to several tourneys of muppetry.

Did he win then? I went to sleep just as that match was getting underway.

johnnylad · Tennis legend

he walloped him 2&2

steven · Tennis legend

MIAMI MASTERS BOTB - FINAL 'SYNDICATED' REPORT

An impressive performance from 6% pick Duckboy ended Berdbrain's fairytale run as feathers flew in the Miami Final. That should lift Roddick to WR 7 (overtaking Sod) in tomorrow's ATP rankings.

Thanks to everyone for taking part, especially those who shared their thoughts on the forums and gave us all some laughs!

Detailed results can be found at http://www.freewebs....mpetitions.html, with 'headlines' and the odd quote from the boards appearing on http://twitter.com/botb1 as well.

TEAMS

MTF hit the top of the table before the end of last week and never relinquished their grip on the top spot to retain the Miami teams title they won last year.

Duckboy's win saw the Ducklings shoot up 7 places to 2nd on the final day, with BT.net holding onto 3rd place. Rusedski.co.uk dropped 2 to 4th and TAT dropped 1 to 5th as their gallant attempt to dislodge the Feddies (6th here) from their world no. 1 spot petered out.

The individual winner's points helped the Dammitaires to gain 1 place to 7th, while the fallers of the day were AM.com, down 4 to 9th.

INDIVIDUALS

His favourite player may have muppeted out over a week ago, but francky (RG) has become the first Dammitaire to win a BOTB 'away from home' (boumboum (RG) won the Paris Bercy BOTB in 2008) and the first Dammitaire to manage two top three finishes in the top three twice after predicting a quacking win and rising 3 to 1st. Félicitations, Francky!

qczi (MT), up 8 to 2nd, finished a point behind, while overnight leader BenP (AM) had enough of a cushion to hold onto 3rd place a further point back despite not getting the winner right.

The rest of the overnight top 10 dropped back slightly - srberg (DF) fell 2 to 4th, SuperBrat (IN), down 2 to 5th, Oploskoffie (TA), down 1 to 6th, Hawkeye (AM), down 1 to 7th, Dark_Necrofear (CC), down 1 to 8th, kaseldop (GR), down 1 to 9th, and Cain Bradley (BB), down 1 to 10th.

MOVERS

The fastest riser on Sunday was SONIque (AR), up 64 to 91st, while with only 6% getting the winner correct, nobody fell more than 4 places.

NEW OVERALL RANKINGS

I will publish the new hall of fame and the new overall rankings later tonight and I will post again when they are available.

THE NEXT BOTB

Another quick reminder that the next BOTB pick 'em will be for Rome, with entries opening sometime during the afternoon of Saturday 24 April and more than likely having to close less than 24 hours later, so please put this one in your diary now so you do not miss out!

-- Edited by steven on Sunday 4th of April 2010 07:58:21 PM

steven · Tennis legend

POST-MIAMI MASTERS 2010 BOTB PICK 'EM RANKINGS

The overall ranking list (with 801 ranked players, up 10 since the AO = 12 newbies + 3 back after a break of more than a year - 5 dropping out of the rankings) and the pick 'em 'Hall of Fame' after the 2010 Miami Masters can now be found at http://www.freewebs.com/britishtennis/Competitions.html

TEAMS

None of the post-AO top three teams managed a top three place in Miami and as a result, the Feddies (6th in Miami) held onto the world no. 1 spot, though once their hero had gone out, a win for Rafa would have seen them overtaken by TAT, who in fact dropped a place to 3rd by just 6 ranking points when Rusedski.co.uk, up 1 to 2nd, finished a place ahead of them in Miami, 4th v 5th.

Given that they finished last in Rome last year and their two closest rivals are defending winner and runner-up points, the Feddies are now certain to hold onto the no. 1 spot until the end of RG.

The only other changes in the team rankings are slight falls for the two teams who benefited the most from Muzza's win last year, AM.com falling 1 to 6th behind Team CC, up 1 to 5th, and JM.org falling 1 to 8th behind BBC 606, up 1 to 7th.

NEW TOP 10

A strong finish to Miami, where he finished 26th, ensured that Shabba (IN) (who has no points to defend in Rome but top 10 points to defend at RG) not only remained world no. 1 but actually increased his lead at the top to 310 points. This is the biggest lead I can remember and the gap between 1st and 2nd is now as big as the gap between 2nd and 19th!

Post-AO world no. 2 Ace! (AM) was defending 7th place points in Miami but failed to finish in the top 200 and hence fell 10 places to 12th, making this the first time I can remember that AM.com has not had a player in the top 10 and enabling Jose Javier/Buyaka86 (RF) to move up a place to a new career high of WR 2 despite not gaining any points.

The best of the previous top 10 in Miami was Oploskoffie (TA), who finished 6th and leaps 6 places to a new CH of WR 3 as a result, while Steven (GR) moves up 1 place to WR 4 thanks to a small points gain and to Dentist Appointment (IN), who was defending top 60 points from last year, not taking part - the latter dropped 5 places to 9th.

The new WR 5-8 have all hit new CHs - Portsey (BT), up 1 to WR 5 despite not taking part in Miami, Dark_Necrofear up 6 to WR 6 after finishing 8th in Miami, Roy (GR), up 1 to WR 7 without gaining points, and GVGirl (TA), up 3 to WR 8 after a top 50 finish.

Former world no. 1 kaseldop (GR), up 38 to WR 10, has surged back into the top 10 after finishing 9th in Miami, his 3rd top 10 finish in the last 12 months.

OLD TOP 10

Apart from the old world no. 2 mentioned above, the other players dropping out of the top 10 are goldfish (BT), down 1 to WR 11, and Jtdrum10 (TA), down 9 to WR 16 with winner points to defend in Rome.

ON THE RISE

The biggest riser into the overall top 30 is Scratchy (BT), up 39 to WR 28 after a top 25 finish in Miami, while the fastest riser in the top 100 is Miami runner-up qczi (MT), up 50 to WR 38.

Top 10 finishes in Miami see Hawkeye (AM), up 39 to WR 69, and SuperBrat (IN), up 42 to WR 81, climb quickly into the top 100, while 12th place in Miami lifts oneminutetomidknight (BT) up 46 to WR 91.

The fastest risers in the top 200 are Miami winner francky (RG), up 71 to WR 106, Miami 3rd place finisher BenP (AM), up 79 to WR 139, and Miami 4th place finisher srberg (DF), up 69 to WR 180.

The first three-figure riser is Mom of Twins (IN), up 168 to WR 408 after finishing 14th in Miami but the biggest riser of all is Jett (AM), up 202 to WR 485, after finishing 27th in Miami with a 44-place rise on the final day. The only other three-figure risers are Raven (AM), up 113 to WR 561, and maedal (TA), up 176 to WR 596.

The highest new entrant is Gemma (AM), in at WR 593 after finishing 62nd in Miami.

LAST YEAR'S MIAMI 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.

Last year's Miami winner Lizzim (AM) mounted quite a spirited defence of her title in the end, finishing in 37th place. That limited her drop to 28 places (down to WR 63), whereas had she not defended her points at all she would have been at risk of a drop out of the top 100.

Last year's runner-up jaydon (GR) did miss out on the chance to defend his points and falls 46 to WR 114, as did Lana105 (IN), who plummets 221 places to WR 601 and is the only player who has fallen over 200 places.

RANKING TWINS

I did not get the chance to do one before Miami, but I hope to produce a new 'who is your ATP ranking twin' list just before Rome.

The Knight · Challenger qualifying

top 100, get in!