Roland Garros 2010 'Battle of the Boards' pick 'em contest

imoen · Admin: Moderator+Tennis Legend

RE: Roland Garros 2010 'Battle of the Boards' pick 'em contest

Silver · County player

*is still shocked*

Amazingness.

eblunt · Club Coach

I've ignored the golden rule at my peril. Everything was just going nicely - into the top 100, going to take a minor hit in Rnd 2, but still with my 16 rd4 picks intact having avoid Gulbis, Robby and Moanaco. Then what do I do - schoolboy error - ignore the golden rule :

NEVER TAKE YOURS EYES OFF A GEM.

I leave Monfis 2 sets up cruising to victory, to get a an hours well deserved break from the screen, supervising every result.

He's now 3-0 down in the 5th and in the process of a superchoke to rival Gasket's. What is it with these UberGEMs - is it compulsory to blow a 2 set lead ?

Always rely on a GEM to spoil your pickem, golden rule no 2.

steven · Tennis legend

2010 ROLAND GARROS BOTB - DAY 4 'SYNDICATED' REPORT

54% pick Malisse finished off Greul in the held over R1 match early in the day and rain delays meant that just 12 of the 16 scheduled R2 matches got completed, though all 16 managed to get through at least one set, with le Monf 98% v Foggy 1% stopping at 5-5 in the 5th after the GEM had chucked away a 2 set (and a break, I think) lead, perhaps as a show of solidarity with the spritual leader of the GEMs, Monsieur Gasquet.

8 of the 12 matches that finished were won by the overwhelming (97%+) favourite. In the matches that the overwhelming favourite had not lived to fight, the 7% who picked Troicki, the 2% who picked Mayer and the lone entrant who picked Reister stole a 2-point march on the rest of us, but the only result that caused big shifts in the individual results table was 18% pick de Bakker taking out 74% pick GGL.

Detailed results can be found at http://www.freewebs.com/britishtennis/competitions.html and from now on they will be updated regularly each day, with 'headlines', the odd rant (when I just can't stop myself!) and the odd 'quote of the day' appearing on http://twitter.com/botb1 as well.

TEAMS

World ranked ("WR") no. 2 team BritishTennis.net were pipped to the top raw average score in R1 by MTF WR 8 by just 0.04 points (44.58-44.54), but after the adjustment to allow for the fact that smaller teams tend statistically to have more extreme average scores, they stayed in 1st and 2nd places respectively, with JM.org WR 9 staying in 3rd place as well.

The only teams that moved up more than one place were T4Y WR 12, up 2 to 4th and the top scorers in R2 so far, and the Feddies WR 1, up 2 to 6th. TAT WR 3, down 1 to 5th, are sandwiched between them.

Rusedski.co.uk WR 4 were the biggest fallers of the day, dropping 3 to 8th, and the Daily Forehand WR 16 are still in 15th/last place but the Ducklings WR 13 are now just 0.004 points ahead of them!

INDIVIDUALS

Not for the first time this week, Silver (BT), up 1 to 1=, is on top of the pile with a team-mate, but this time it's British_is_best (BT), up 3 to 1=, who got the Malisse win before they both got 9/12 in the R2 matches played so far. Just behind them on tiebreak is Juliette (RG), up 12 to 3rd, one of just four entrants who has got 10/12 R2 matches right, and the top three are 2 points clear of the field.

Overnight leader Josh (BT) eventually won R1 by 2 points with 51/64, a very impressive performance, but has started R2 less strongly with 7/12 correct so far and has fallen 3 places to 4th over the day as a whole.

5th place is shared by emf123 (IN), Snoo Foo (MT), richard meaghan (TN) & Raven (AM), all down 1, and Björki (MT), down 3, all of whom got Malisse and 8/12 in R2 except the latter who went for Greul.

Sharing 10th place, also 2 points off the lead, are Daniel/Belgarath1981 (RF), up 14, and Miles (TA), BeauJarkko (TA), who was the only entrant who picked Reister to reach R3, & GOATFed (RF), all up 5.

ON THE RISE

Apart from the entrant in 3rd place mentioned above, the other three who have got 10/12 correct in R2 so far are a former lanterne rouge 'winner' AllyB (JM) & Marian (GR), both up 103 to 83=, and Ryzim (DF), up 130 to 178th, who is both the fastest riser and the top scorer of the day with 21/25 points, having got Malisse correct as well as the 10/12 wins in R2.

There were also 3-figure rises for 15/19 scorers sid (AM), Alli (CC), SoraOblivion62 (TA), Derevko (MT), royouman (IN), Ivanatis (MT), sparkey (GB), Don x (RN), SMC1809 (BT) & bandtree (MT), all up 105 to 87=, and vivahate (CC) & banskogirl (AM), both up 131 to 135=.

DODGY DROPPERS

The lowest scorer of the day by far, with just 9/12 points (Malisse plus 4/12 in R2), was Petzschner's Left Thumb (IN), down 3 to last, but 6 points clear of the gorillas.

However, the biggest fallers of the day came from among the 8 entrants who got 13/25 points, with faller of the day pabbers (AM), down 174 to 261st, Paul 1 (TN), down 157 to 292nd, and IntnstyAngle (TA) & SuperMatt (GR), both down 126 to 312=, all falling over 100 places, as did 14/25 scorers Count Zero (BT) & vchap (LH), both down 135 to 179=, Puschkin (RG), down 139 to 226=, and buddyholly (MT) & Lex (CC), both down 107 to 293=.

THURSDAY

The three entrants who finished R1 with 29 of their R2 winners still standing should be well placed, though they had mixed fortunes on Wednesday, with ManOfJelly (BB) falling 44 to 88=, Austin (AM) rising 65 to 121= and jemma (GB) only just escaping from the 300s, up 11 to 297=.

All 20 remaining R2 matches are scheduled to be finished on day 5, though once again the weather forecast is not good. As far as the bottom half of the draw is concerned, 6 matches have a 97%+ winner pick, 7 more have an 80%+ winner pick (though that does leave room for a significant number of entrants to move a fair bit) and hardly anyone can score for 'bash 2% v Zemlja 1%.

There could be a fair bit of swing against the 79% who went for Querrey if Starace 19% beats Ginepri 1%, but the most 'interesting' R2 match in the bottom half of the draw is probably Hewitt 65% v Istomin 1%, with the 24% who picked Chardy and the 10% who picked Becker desperately hoping the Uzbek player can do a bit of damage limitation.

TEAM KO

L16 latest scores, based on average scores in RG R2:

(1) BritishTennis.net 16.43 lead (16) The Daily Forehand 15.71
(9) RichardGasquet.net 16.46 lead (8) Rusedski.co.uk 16.12
(5) TalkAboutTennis 16.32 lead (12) Tennisopolis.com 15.73
(4) Other Boards 16.47 lead (13) Centre Court Forum 16.26
(14) GBTennisGirls.com 16.22 lead (3) JamieMurray.org 16.17
(6) Tennis4you.com 17.20 lead (11) BBC 606 boards 16.33
(7) RogerFederer.com 16.36 lead (10) AndyMurray.com 16.19
(2) MensTennisForums 16.63 lead (15) AndyRoddick.com 15.20

Silver · County player

Monfeeeeeeeeeees! *petulant stropping*

LadyTigress · County player

Damn those GEMs!

LadyTigress · County player

Olek just defeated Fernando Gonzalez in straight sets, 6-3 6-4 6-3!

I think I may actually have had a punt on Olek doing this for the Pick'em!

steven · Tennis legend

You clearly did, you just jumped up to about 30th place.

LadyTigress · County player

I have him getting to the fourth round, upon reexamination of my picks!!!

How many people actually picked Olek to win that match, steven? And - can I still win this Pick'em?!

EDIT: I remember now - I was thinking about how well he did against Rafa in Madrid and decided that he could definitely take out Gonzo, even in a best of five sets. And I think I chose him to get to the fourth round because I guessed Almagro as his opponent and figured that if he got past Gonzo surely he'd see off Almagro... however in the fourth round I thought Verdasco would be the opponent and decided that Verdasco edged it on clay.

-- Edited by LadyTigress on Friday 28th of May 2010 12:25:55 PM

steven · Tennis legend

LadyTigress wrote:

I have him getting to the fourth round, upon reexamination of my picks!!!

How many people actually picked Olek to win that match, steven? And - can I still win this Pick'em?!

You were the only one, and yes I imagine you can.

LadyTigress · County player

steven wrote:

LadyTigress wrote:

I have him getting to the fourth round, upon reexamination of my picks!!!

How many people actually picked Olek to win that match, steven? And - can I still win this Pick'em?!
You were the only one, and yes I imagine you can.

And how many people picked Olek to win this second round match?!

LOL!!! You're telling me I was the only one to pick Olek to win third round match as well?! Yeah that figures, I am the one who's been following his progress pretty closely and promoting his profile and all that. I may have been too ambitious in choosing him for round four, but I decided to make quite an ambitious pick this time, in hopes of getting these kind of results.

The Knight · Challenger qualifying

luckily could tell Gonzo was out of nick so wont hurt me too much

it sucks i missed that Nadal match in Madrid, maybe that would have given me hope to hav a punt on dolgo

SMC1809 · All-time great

LadyTigress wrote:

steven wrote:

LadyTigress wrote:

I have him getting to the fourth round, upon reexamination of my picks!!!

How many people actually picked Olek to win that match, steven? And - can I still win this Pick'em?!
You were the only one, and yes I imagine you can.

And how many people picked Olek to win this second round match?!
LOL!!! You're telling me I was the only one to pick Olek to win third round match as well?!

It looks like you were the only one to pick him to reach R4, but 3% of entrants picked him to win R2. Unfortunately, I wasn't one of them depsite following your advice and picking him for R2, I lost my nerve and went with Gonzo for R2.

LadyTigress · County player

I know how you feel. In the main, I tend to pick safe, i.e. the obvious, sensible choice, where there is one. I get frustrated with myself if I do that all the time though because tennis is one of those sports where anything can happen and the potential for it going against the favourite is always there... Of course when I then go and make a few risky picks it never does seem to go my way, and then of course where I've made safe picks there's an upset!!!

This time though, Olek's a player who I know really well, been following his progress for the past 12 months, and I'm feeling pretty confident not only about where he is but the fact that he is on the rise up the rankings - his ranking therefore belies where he's actually playing at. The trick in applying that to Pick'em is picking up on such players BEFORE they have made the rise that places them more where they ought to be at due to their quality of play... no small task! Even I was taking a punt though on choosing him to get to the fourth round, but as I said I'm sick of picking safe, so I just decided to risk the pick of Olek beating Almagro in hopes of it paying off big time. We will see!

I did spend some time mulling it over though! It was very tempting to go with Gonzo!

-- Edited by LadyTigress on Friday 28th of May 2010 01:22:34 PM

Josh · Challenger level

LadyTigress wrote:

I know how you feel. In the main, I tend to pick safe, i.e. the obvious, sensible choice, where there is one. I get frustrated with myself if I do that all the time though because tennis is one of those sports where anything can happen and the potential for it going against the favourite is always there... Of course when I then go and make a few risky picks it never does seem to go my way, and then of course where I've made safe picks there's an upset!!!

Yes, Gimeno-Traver over Cilic was my upset pick which unfortunately wasn't quite as successful as yours