2010 US Open 'Battle of the Boards' pick 'em contest

steven · Tennis legend

RE: 2010 US Open 'Battle of the Boards' pick 'em contest

SMC1809 · All-time great

Just when I was starting to think of turning-to-Jelly Fish puns, he's turned into a Star Fish by breaking Clement and his frog legs.

steven · Tennis legend

2010 US OPEN BOTB - DAY 6 'SYNDICATED' REPORT

The 8 R3 matches in the top half of the draw were played on Saturday. There were wins for 95%+ picks Fed, Nole & Söd and wins for 71% picks Fish (hammering mainly the 29% who had picked Baggy to win that match based on his 3-0 H2H against the Fish he never ended up meeting here) and Melzer, hurting mainly the 25% who had picked his opponent, JCF.

Montanes won the 6%/3% match v Nishikori in the Cilic section, while Gasquet 12% and le Monf 6% were picked by more people than their actual opponents in their matches in the Kolya and Duckboy sections respectively. One of the two GEMs will reach the US Open QFs for the first time because they are due to meet in R4, a round neither of them has ever got past.

Detailed results, lists of everyone's picks and so on can be found at http://www.freewebs.com/britishtennis/Competitions.html and these are now being updated regularly each day.

TEAMS

The two French wins to the Dammitaires, up 2 to 1st, to the top of the table and by the end of the day they were more than 1.5 points ahead of Friday night leaders GBTG, down 2 to 2nd, with AM.com, down 1 to 3rd, completing the top three.

The biggest risers of the day were Rusedski.co.uk, up 4 to 11th, and the biggest fallers of the day were BBC 606, down 4 to 17th/last.

INDIVIDUALS

As well as helping her team to the top of the teams league, the GEM double lifted Jojo56 (RG) up 8 to 1st, where she stayed for the rest of the day, though she leads only on tiebreak from Smidster (BT), with both of these entrants getting 7/8 correct on Saturday.

GoGo (AM), up 6 to 3rd after getting 6/8, is 3 points (one R3 win) behind the top two, while the top five is completed by freerider (BT), down 1 to 4th, and the leader at the end of the previous two days, Nevets (CC), down 4 to 5th after getting 4/8.

The top 10 is completed by cazza99 (AM) & t_torres (VB), both down 2 to 6=, oohsalmon (DF), down 6 to 8th, Babfive (GB), down 1 to 8th, and very early leader anne (IN), up 15 to 10th, who has quietly worked her way back into the top 10.

ON THE RISE

Five entrants equal top-scored with 7/8 on Saturday - the new top two (see above), ptmcmahon (TA), up 78 to 13th, jmc116 (IN), up 147 to 35th, and riser of the day Nibbler (ML), up 174 to 60th.

The only entrants with 6/8 correct who rose more than 100 places were Maggie M (TM) & TennisAnyone74 (TA), both up 104 to 115=, Andrea (RF), up 110 to 124th, MACBORG (CC), up 104 to 145th, MrInvisible (CC), up 107 to 166th, WallaceEMann (GR) & Cheeky Chick (MT), both up 108 to 172=, buddyholly (MT) & Gauloises (NB), both up 110 to 177=, and JTContinental (TA), up 113 to 179th.

DODGY DROPPERS

4 entrants managed to get just 2/8 and they all went into free-fall as you might expect. They were Busy Lizzie (ML), down 185 to 210th, faller of the day d man (AM), down 199 to 276th, PopLoser (IN), down 153 to 336th, and jaysee (AM), down 137 to 351st.

TEAM KO

The scores halfway through the QFs are:

(9) MensTennisForums 14.33 lead (1) AndyMurray.com 13.71 by 0.62
(12) RogerFederer.com 13.71 lead (4) MyTennisLounge.com 13.64 by just 0.07
(14) TalkAboutTennis 14.00 lead (6) Tennis-Warehouse 13.80 by just 0.20
(7) RichardGasquet.net 15.92 lead (2) GBTennisGirls.com 13.29 by 2.63

For updates plus the 9th-16th place playoffs, please follow the Team KO link on http://www.freewebs.com/britishtennis/Competitions.html or on the team league results page.

SUNDAY OoP & pick %s

There are some big swing matches on Sunday, as you will see below:

GR-1: (31) Nalby 75% v (8) Verdasco 25%
11-1: (1) Pics Ferrer 49% v DGT 0% (nobody) - 43% went for Gulbis
LA-2: (20) Querrey 83% v (14) Almagro 15%
GR-2: (23) F-Loppy 31% v Stako 23% - 43% went for Ljubo
AA-3: (1) Rafa 99% v Simon 0% (nobody)
LA-3: (4) Muzza 99% v (25) Wawrinka 0% (1 - Rads (IN) in 362nd)
GR-3: Robredo 1% v Llodra 0% (1 - Gauloises (NB) in 177=) - 98% went for Berdbrain
AA-4: (18) Isner 60% v (12) Youzhny 34%

LadyTigress · County player

Frankly at this point I've given up in disgust. Let me know if I manage to pull out a top 50 finish, otherwise it's a write off till the next Pick'em.

eblunt · Club Coach

LadyTigress wrote:

Frankly at this point I've given up in disgust. Let me know if I manage to pull out a top 50 finish, otherwise it's a write off till the next Pick'em.

That's a top quality flounce.

steven · Tennis legend

From the world's best flouncer, that's quite a compliment! LOL

(misunderstanding resolved, you'll know what I mean if you were here earlier)

LadyTigress · County player

This happens every other Pick'em. Don't worry I've still got hope - twas just banter. Shanghai last year my Pick'em looked done for after the second round and I went away and forgot about it because I figured there was no way back (that and, of course, essay season was running high and I do have other things to do besides obsessively checking Pick'em, heh), and I didn't know until several days after the tourney was over when steven told me that I had managed a top 10 finish. confuse

steven · Tennis legend

... and if you want up to date proof of that, before the Floppy win got added, Bethan's mum was back in 1st place having been in 1st on Tuesday and dropped out of the top 30 in between!

steven · Tennis legend

2010 US OPEN BOTB - DAY 7 'SYNDICATED' REPORT

Saturday was a good day for 71% picks to reach R4 (Fish & Melzer) but Sunday was a terrible day for Muzza, a 71% pick to reach the Final.

Of the 8 winners, Rafa 99% and Querrey 83% were heavy favourites and Pics Ferrer 49% was a big favourite against his actual opponent DGT, but this was the result that finally made the early Gulbis loss bite for the 43% who had persisted in picking the ultra-muppet all the way to R4.

There were three big swing matches and two of them went the way of the less-fancied pick - Verdasco 25% beat Numpty 75% in a match that went with seeding but completely against recent form, Floppy 31% beat Stako 23% in a match which Ljubo 43% was the pre-tournament favourite to win and Youzhny 34% beat Isner 60%.

Stani's win was picked by just one entrant (Rads (IN) near the bottom of the table), the fourth time a player picked by a single entrant has won during this tournament, though that includes Llodra doing it for two rounds in a row and the Frenchman might have made it a hat-trick for Gauloises (NB) had 1% pick Robredo not stopped him in the Berdbrain section.

Detailed results, lists of everyone's picks and so on can be found at http://www.freewebs.com/britishtennis/Competitions.html and these are now being updated regularly each day.

TEAMS

Ironically, Youzhny's win in the night match took AM.com (up 2 to 1st on the day) into the lead just after any realistic hopes they may have had of winning next Sunday were extinguished. The AM loss will not actually bite for another couple of rounds because so many entrants picked him to reach the QFs and SFs. They dislodged the Dammitaires, down 1 to 2nd, after gradually chipping away at their lead throughout the day.

BT.net, up 1 to 3rd, Team CC, up 3 to 4th, and GBTG, down 3 to 5th, complete the top 5 at the end of week 1.

The fastest risers were the Feddies, up 4 to 8th, though it was the Ducklings, up 2 to 14th, who actually won R3 - their hero's early loss will not bite for another round or two. The biggest fallers were MTF, who plummeted 10 to 15th, many of them having gone for Gulbis, Numpty & Stako as well as Muzza. Only NewBallsPlease, down 2 to 16th, and BBC 606, still rooted to the bottom, are now below them.

INDIVIDUALS

To add further irony, the new top two are both from the team of the player who suffered the biggest shock on Sunday, though neither of them picked him to win the title.

Getting 5/8 correct on day 6 has lifted GoGo (AM), up 2 to 1st, 2 points clear of Miami 2007 winner cazza99 (AM), up 4 to 2nd. A further point behind, overnight leader Jojo56 (RG) fell 2 to 3rd after getting just 3/8, with 4/8 scorer freerider (BT) staying put in 4th and 5/8 scorer Puschkin (RG) moving up 12 to 5th.

4/8 was enough to see t_torres (VB) stay in 6th, oohsalmon (DF) regain 1 place to 7th, and anne (IN) regain another 2 places to 8th, but 2/8 resulted in a drop of 7 places to 9th for Smidster (BT), ahead of 5/15 scorer jmc116 (IN), up 25 to 10th, whose R3 outright top score of 12/16 was enough for a 172 place rise over the weekend as a whole.

ON THE RISE

Only one of the 374 entrants managed to get 6/8 winners correct on Sunday - xenon21 (AM) rose 145 to 43rd as a result, the biggest rise of the day, though no doubt she would swap a lot of those points for her overall winner pick to have survived.

DODGY DROPPERS

9 entrants got just 1/8 correct on day 7, of whom only Jan (NB), down 149 to 286th, and irenerer (RF), down 129 to 309=, fell more than 100 places.

Despite getting 2/8 on Sunday, Mom of Twins (IN) has been left holding the lanterne rouge after Dusty Dick (BT) got 5 correct and rose 5 places from distant last to 369th. However, she is a point ahead of Homer the US bot and way ahead of the gorillas.

OUTLOOK

Going into R4, most of us have just 4 or 5 quarter-finalists still standing, but 10 entrants have 6, from Jojo56 (RG) in 3rd place through people like sallydaisy (JM), who still hasn't gone into free-fall and is in 28th, all the way down to Jack2010 (TN) in 306=.

TEAM KO

The final scores in the team KO QFs were:

(1) AndyMurray.com 24.21 beat (9) MensTennisForums 21.33 by 2.88
(12) RogerFederer.com 24.00 v (4) MyTennisLounge.com 23.18 by 0.82
(14) TalkAboutTennis 23.73 beat v (6) Tennis-Warehouse 22.80 by 0.93
(7) RichardGasquet.net 24.69 beat (2) GBTennisGirls.com 21.86 by 2.83

Yet more irony then, because Muzza will get to play Fed after all, but sadly it will only be in the BOTB team KO SFs!

For updates plus details of the 9th-16th place playoffs, please follow the Team KO link on http://www.freewebs.com/britishtennis/Competitions.html or on the team league results page.

MONDAY OoP & pick %s

LA-1: (17) le Monf 4% v Dammit 2% - other picks: Duckboy 79%, Kolya 15%
AA-2: (3) Nole 71% v (19) Fish 24% - other pick: Baggy 5%
LA-3: (5) Sod 90% v (21) Montanes 0% (1 - Love70alsndale (IN), currently in the bottom 10) - other picks: Cilic 8%, TdB 1%, etc
AA-5: (2) Fed 98% v (13) Melzer 0% (nobody) - other pick: Hewitt 2%

LadyTigress · County player

I only just learned of Andy's defeat since it was getting late last night and I went to sleep after the second set. Dang, was so sure he'd take it in four! Well, that's really c***** up my Pick'em now. At least I picked Rafa as champ - I know that my dad picked Andy to win, so I guess he's in for a worse time of it than me.

eblunt · Club Coach

LadyTigress wrote:

I only just learned of Andy's defeat since it was getting late last night and I went to sleep after the second set. Dang, was so sure he'd take it in four! Well, that's really c***** up my Pick'em now. At least I picked Rafa as champ - I know that my dad picked Andy to win, so I guess he's in for a worse time of it than me.

Surely, Andy going out has improved your pickem in that case ? Andy going out doesn't really have any effect for the QFs since 99% don't have any live player left in the Murray quarter. And it means that you are quite likely to be one of the 21% to have a winning SF pick in the top half.

eblunt · Club Coach

I guess it's not the time to mention it, but Andy has muppeted away a lot of peoples pickems with that performance, basically the 71% who had him going to the final or winning it, so by the strict guidelines of Pickem muppetry he is an HEM .... furious

indiana · Tennis legend

Presuming Lady T had Andy to reach the semis ( I can't get the relevant predictions page up for some reason ), in her position ( not good

) I can see some point in her being less than happy pick 'em wise.

Every little helps in gaining back ground ( and she still has 5 quarter final picks standing ). And yes while virtually noone suffers any grief on Andy losing up to and including their quarter finalist picks, there were 5 points to be potentially gained in the semi final predictions over the 13% who did not predict Andy reaching the semis. So if someone had Rafa beating Andy in the semis then that was their ideal scenario.

Though overall she and other Rafa pickers can count her blessings that if Rafa reaches the final and moreso if he wins the title, she will much more significantly gain hugely over those that predicted Andy to win the semi and indeed the final ( like me cry

)

indiana · Tennis legend

eblunt wrote:

I guess it's not the time to mention it, but Andy has muppeted away a lot of peoples pickems with that performance, basically the 71% who had him going to the final or winning it, so by the strict guidelines of Pickem muppetry he is an HEM ....

Less of your southern silent H's smile

He is a HEM cry

-- Edited by indiana on Monday 6th of September 2010 11:23:10 AM

eblunt · Club Coach

indiana wrote:

Presuming Lady T had Andy to reach the semis ( I can't get the relevant predictions page up for some reason ), in her position ( not good ) I can see some point in her being less than happy pick 'em wise.

Every little helps in gaining back ground ( and she still has 5 quarter final picks standing ). And yes while virtually noone suffers any grief on Andy losing up to and including their quarter finalist picks, there were 5 points to be potentially gained in the semi final predictions over the 13% who did not predict Andy reaching the semis. So if someone had Rafa beating Andy in the semis then that was their ideal scenario.

Though overall she and other Rafa pickers can count her blessings that if Rafa reaches the final and moreso if he wins the title, she will much more significantly gain hugely over those that predicted Andy to win the semi and indeed the final ( like me )

Yes, you're right there was a small ( 0.65 pt ) net gain over the Berdy pickers for the Andy QF win, but more than compensated by the prospect of 4.74 pt net gain in the Semi for a Rafa win (pretty likely now) , and a possibly further 6.16 pt net gain in the final. Also, it means that for LT, a Rafa SF defeat is already "pre-damage-limited" , since there is <1% with anyone live other than Rafa to get to the final.