Paris Masters 2010 BOTB Pick 'em Competition

indiana · Tennis legend

RE: Paris Masters 2010 BOTB Pick 'em Competition

steven · Tennis legend

gazzpash wrote:

steven wrote:

Gazzpash: and your other two semi-finalists were? ...

wolf wrote:

Every pick 'em there is a percentage pick that just baffles the hell out of me. I'm still trying to work out why more people picked Querrey than Monaco.
My guess: They thought fast court, American v Argentinian, only one result ... and didn't check recent form.

I think I had Monfils and Djokovic for the other semi finalists. Dont think it was Berdych instead of Djokovic.

It was Berdych, but I've seen enough to be sure it was your entry and I've added you in.

The deadline for adding in missing entries is usually the end of R1 (not least because we're not going to change R1 pairings in team KOs in slams after the team KO has started) - and that means we need to have been given enough information to alow any nameless entries to be properly identified by then, not just knowing that an entry has gone astray.

I've allowed this one in because it doesn't change the fact that BT are last at the moment, which limits the likelihood of other teams complaining and because I haven't said what follows before, even though I'd have hoped it would be fairly obvious.

So, in case anyone else thinks their entry has gone missing in future: please don't just say "where's my entry gone" (or words to that effect) without providing as many details as possible to help us work out what might have gone wrong - as a minimum, approximately when you sent your entry and who your finalists were. Then if Bethan or I then ask a question (like asking who the semi-finalists were in this case), please answer it instead of waiting for it to be asked a second time - after all, we're asking because we're trying to help sort out a problem that you probably caused (and that we probably don't really have time to sort out) for your benefit! Thank you.

-- Edited by steven on Wednesday 10th of November 2010 04:22:34 PM

gazzpash · Club Coach

Thank you for this. It was only where I looked for my entry and couldnt find it. Sorry and thank you for putting this on for me,

steven · Tennis legend

Don't worry, I wasn't trying to take aim at you personally wink

- virtually every time this happens, people just say their entry is missing without giving us any info to help us find it. The quicker we can identify nameless entries, the easier it is to include them, so having to ask and then wait for a reply 9and then often having to ask again) does tend to drive us mad.

Of course, the sensible thing when there are entry errors would probably be to say hard luck, we're not including it, but neither of us like the thought of doing that because we know some people put a fair bit of effort into their entries, and we know how we'd feel if our entries were refused. Bbut that does mean we (usually forlornly) hope that those we are trying to help will make it as easy as possible for us to do so and reserve the right to get a bit ratty when they don't. biggrin

You'd better not go and win this now LOL - given your stellar performance yesterday, there's seems to be an outside chance that you might!

-- Edited by steven on Thursday 11th of November 2010 08:36:40 AM

wolf · Tennis legend

This might be the most mundane question ever - but can my winner pick be highlighted in a brighter shade of orange? I'm almost lost in a sea of Fed.

steven · Tennis legend

wolf wrote:

This might be the most mundane question ever - but can my winner pick be highlighted in a brighter shade of orange? I'm almost lost in a sea of Fed.

Done - and you can have QOTD for that too smile

Did I take the **** when I noticed you'd picked Melzer to win the tournament? I know I was thinking of doing so, don't remember if I actually wrote anything about it. I'm beginning to regret it now, either way ashamed

SMC1809 · All-time great

steven wrote:

wolf wrote:

This might be the most mundane question ever - but can my winner pick be highlighted in a brighter shade of orange? I'm almost lost in a sea of Fed.
Done - and you can have QOTD for that too

Did I take the **** when I noticed you'd picked Melzer to win the tournament? I know I was thinking of doing so, don't remember if I actually wrote anything about it. I'm beginning to regret it now, either way

And black text too. That's above and beyond...

wolf · Tennis legend

No I don't think you did.

I was going to pick Andy but I wasn't sure he was going to get past Nalby. And my winner picks never win anyway so I thought I might as well not jinx him and go for someone a little crazy. Plus the winner here tends to be someone outside the big guns anyway.

Having Simon reaching the final was the stupid pick.

steven · Tennis legend

Melzer's got me in a bit of a black mood today. Now he looks like he plays for Wolves or Dundee Utd, so it feels like I'm getting my own back ... wink

steven · Tennis legend

wolf wrote:

No I don't think you did.

I was going to pick Andy but I wasn't sure he was going to get past Nalby. And my winner picks never win anyway so I thought I might as well not jinx him and go for someone a little crazy. Plus the winner here tends to be someone outside the big guns anyway.

Having Simon reaching the final was the stupid pick.

I hadn't noticed that, that's Simple-y atrocious biggrin

Actually, when you asked for your winner pick to be a brighter shade of orange, I thought you meant it was Verdasco wink

-- Edited by steven on Thursday 11th of November 2010 03:47:21 PM

indiana · Tennis legend

Good to see Davydenko beat Berdbrain, just he better not go on and win the whole shooting match after my unfulfilled optimism of his title chances for Shanghai ( or did I just have him reaching the final there, the mind's a blur )

Llodra will do just fine as a semi finalist, indeed finalist, to make up for what transpired between him and Djokovic

Anyway, back to this evening and I think it might be called a rather strange looking final set. I am thinking Kolya got some help :

He won it 6 - 0, 24 points to err 4

Berdbrain 1st seve % = 23% , a total of one point won on service, 0 / 3 on first serve and 1 / 10 on 2nd

-- Edited by indiana on Thursday 11th of November 2010 08:25:53 PM

indiana · Tennis legend

Now that I've done OK but can earn no more, I don't particularly see why virtually anyone else should.

Monfils vs Llodra would be a GEM of a final smile

steven · Tennis legend

PARIS MASTERS BOTB - WEEKLY (!) SYNDICATED REPORT

An incredibly busy week at work has prevented me from doing daily reports for Paris (though they should be back for the AO, with any luck) but here is a quick summary of the final results (plus possibilities depending on the result of the Final) and lists of the daily high and low scorers plus risers and fallers, just so that nobody misses out on seeing their name in lights ... or under a cloud!

As I am sure you know, the detailed results can be found at http://www.freewebs.com/britishtennis/Competitions.html

TEAMS
Congratulations to world no. 1s TAT, who have won Paris despite not winning an individual round, their consistency pulling them through in the end. R1 and QF winners the Gasquetaires will finish 2nd, thanks to another show of GEM power, and R3 winners MTF will finish 3rd.

ATP DCC will win the Final round and rise to 4th if Monfils wins the title but Rusedski.co.uk will rise to 4th if Söderling does. The other two round winners were Team CC, who won R2, and the Bangors, who won the SFs and will win the Final round as well if Söderling wins.

Bringing up the rear, AM.com will be the lanternes rouges just behind the Feddies in 12th and Shanghai winners the Bangors in 11th.

INDIVIDUALS

The amazing feat of getting 23/24 winners correct in rounds 2 and 3 combined (plus the vast majority of us failing to pick either finalist) has given Morrycoaster-Corkjock (IN) the Paris title by no less than 6 points despite picking Muzza to win the title, while consistency over the first four rounds sees Manolo (TA) take 2nd place despite not getting either finalist correct. If Monfils wins the Final, --cj-- (TA) will give the team winners two of the top three but if Söderling wins, stefanoW (BA) will take 3rd place.

The rest of the top 10 in order (from either 4th or 5th onwards depending on who wins) will be Fedex (GR), KAT (DC), mysterX (TA), sengale (RG), The Hoose (BT) and WimbledonAce (AM), with Elanor (RF) holding onto 10th place if Paris sees a French winner.

DAILY & ROUND-BY-ROUND HIGHEST SCORERS

DAY 1 - 2/2 - almost 50 entrants, i.e. too many to list

DAY 2 - 8/9 - Osmeone (IN) & The Hoose (BT) who remained 1=,--cj-- (TA), MACBORG (CC) & Fedex (GR), vchap (LH) & alex03maccy (BT), all up 44 to 3=, and Puschkin (RG), up 172 to 13=

DAY 3 - 14/15 - marina36 (RG), up 11 to 2nd, and ptmcmahon (TA) & Morrycoaster-CorkJock (IN), both up 90 to 14=

ROUND 1 - 13/16 correct - Fedex (GR), The Hoose (BT), fah51 (CC), Lizzim (AM) and Osmeone (IN)

DAY 4 - 22/22 - cazza99 (AM), up 7 to 1st, Morrycoaster-CorkJock (IN), up 12 to 2nd, erictheblueuk (ML), up 34 to 7th, gazzpash (BT), up 70 to 12=, buddyholly (MT), up 84 to 14=, Elanor (RF), up 78 to 22=, Roy (GR) & Cloudy (AM), both up 114 to 32=, cathmcd (IN), up 105 to 47=, StefanoW (BA), up 124 to 56=, Björki (MT) & Kamui010 (MT), both up 112 to 77=, EdTennisFan (BB), up 112 to 106=, and Racers (JM), up 90 to 132=.

ROUND 2 - 16/16 correct - Morrycoaster-CorkJock (IN)

DAY 5 / R3 - 21/24 (i.e. 7/8 in R3) - Morrycoaster-CorkJock (IN), up 1 to 1st, LINK3 (IN), up 10 to 2nd, Bangkok (IN), up 18 to 4th, Smidster (BT), up 40 to 7th, Honking (IN), Zebra Melanija (IN), jasonblueboy (IN) & Team MTL (ML), all up 47 to 9=, Björki (MT) & Kamui010 (MT), both up 64 to 13=, Fiercehart (TA) & Togtdyalttai (TA), both up 82 to 24=, Ribbons (TA), up 110 to 30th, Big Al (CC), up 110 to 37th, Richard Morris (ASE) (AM), up 127 to 38th, Johnnylad (BT), up 120 to 48th, and AllyB (JM), up 123 to 56th

DAY 6 / QFs - 12/16 (i.e. 3/4 in the QFs) - Manolo (TA), up 3 to 2nd, buddyholly (MT), up 37 to 4th, --cj-- (TA), up 50 to 7th, francky (RG), up 52 to 11th, KAT (DC), up 74 to 17th, dewster99 (AM), up 74 to 23rd, sengale (RG), up 76 to 24th, The Hoose (BT), up 78 to 25th, ForeverDelayed (BT), up 77 to 33rd, Yolita (DC) & KingRogerRules (DC), both up 88 to 49=, and fil-813 (IN), up 87 to 84th

DAY 7 / SFs - 5/10 (i.e. 1/2 in the SFs) - 31 entrants, i.e. too many to list

DAY 8 if Monfils wins - 6/6 - Bowl (DC), who would rise 82 to 109th

DAY 8 if Söderling wins - 6/6 - StefanoW (BA), who would rose 14 to 3rd, mattk77 (SG), who would rise up 44 to 11th, and Marian (GR), who would rise 64 to 22nd

DAILY LOWEST SCORERS

DAY 2 - 2/9 - Bang (BA), down 45 to last

DAY 3 - 4/15 - Pabbers (AM), down 204 to 217=

DAY 4 - 6/22 - andrewjshields (RF), down 9 to last

DAY 5 - 3/24 - andrewjshields (RF), still last

DAY 6 - 0/16 - sallydaisy (JM), down 80 to 95th, wolf (BT), down 44 to 219th, ptmcmahon (TA), down 25 to 225th, eddie (AM), down 6 to 227th, jaysee (AM), down 5 to 228th, and Raven (AM), down 4 to 229th

DAY 7 - 0/10 - over 200 of us!

DAILY BIGGEST RISERS

DAY 2: Puschkin (RG), up 172 to 13=

DAY 3: Sound (AM) & rf8r9 (RF), both up 116 to 61=

DAY 4: StefanoW (BA), up 124 to 56=

DAY 5: Richard Morris (ASE) (AM), up 127 to 38th

DAY 6: Yolita (DC) & KingRogerRules (DC), both up 88 to 49=

DAY 7: Bryan (IN), up 74 to 59th

DAILY DODGIEST DROPPERS

DAY 2: Porlock (BB) & J. Alfred Prufrock (Mrs) (BB), both down 176 to 177= (*)

DAY 3: Pabbers (AM), down 204 to 217=

DAY 4: RobH (BT), down 131 to 194=, and MrSwizz (IN), down 131 to 213=

DAY 5: cathmcd (IN), down 161 to 208th

DAY 6: sallydaisy (JM), down 80 to 95th

DAY 7: 9 entrants fell 14 places

(*) Husband and wife, if my memory serves me right - if not, apologies if I've just married off two entrants against their will!

steven · Tennis legend

Before the year-end ranking report, a quick correction - for the first time, I didn't look at the check total after doing the Shanghai rankings (it had been 2 years since there was an error, but now you can be sure I won't forget to check it again!) and there was an error in Kamui010 (MT)'s Shanghai ranking points score. When it was corrected, he turned out to be the fastest riser in the top 100, up 69 to WR 34.

YEAR-END (POST-PARIS) 2010 BOTB PICK 'EM RANKINGS

The new overall ranking list (which shows all 714 players who entered at least one BOTB pick 'em this year) and the pick 'em 'Hall of Fame' after the 2010 Paris Masters can now be found at http://www.freewebs.com/britishtennis/Competitions.html

TEAMS

N.B. References to 'best' and 'all-time' ignore 2007 when very few teams played a full year.

Congratulations to TAT, who increased their lead at the top to 131 points by winning Paris (their fourth win of the year after the AO & RG team KOs and the Wimbledon teams league) to finish as year end no. 1s for the first time (2008: 6, 2009: 2) - they have now been on top six times in a row since the end of Roland Garros 2010. This is also their 9th time on top overall, beating Team CC's record, though the latter's 8 consecutive no. 1s between RG 2008 and Miami 2009 is still the record streak.

AM.com, stay at WR 2 for the third tournament in a row, equalling their best year-end finish from two years ago. This is their 9th time at WR 2 without ever having quite made it to the top spot. A top three finish in Paris could have done it for them if the TATers had not done as well as they did, but a spectacular choke (even worse than my chokes whenever I've had a chance of being individual no. 1!) saw them finish last at Bercy.

BT.net and MTF stay at WR 3 and WR 4 respectively, their best year-end finishes yet, while Paris runners up the Gasquetaires rise 2 to WR 5, equalling their best year-end ranking from 2008.

2009 year-end no. 1s Rusedski.co.uk finish the year at WR 6, their worst-ever ranking (though to their credit, they are the only team that has never been out of the top 6 in the team rankings after any tournament) and 2009 year-end no. 3s the Feddies have fallen 2 more places to WR 8 after Paris. The only other movers after Paris are MTL, up 1 to an all-time high for them of WR 12, with Tennisopolis dropping behind them to an all-time low of WR 13.

21 boards/forums managed to produce a team of 5 or more entrants for at least one BOTB this year with 9 teams managing to do it for all 9 events.

TOP 100 PLAYERS BY TEAM

16 - TAT, AM.com (the top two in the team rankings)
13 - BT (3rd in the team rankings)
6 - MTF, Rusedski.co.uk (4th & 6th in the team rankings)
5 - JM.org
3 - BBC 606, Team CC, Gasquetaires
2 - GBTG, MatchPoint, MTL, SteveG
1 - Bangors, Daily Forehand, Feddies, Tennisopolis, T4Y, VamosBrigade

The other 15 top 100 players are individual-only entrants.

NEW INDIVIDUAL TOP 10

Congratulations to eblunt (BT), whose top 10 finishes in the last three slams have enabled him to finish 2010 as year-end no. 1 by over 200 points with nothing to defend until Roland Garros despite failing to take part in two Masters events this year! Ed finished the previous 3 years at WR 27, WR 22 and WR 47, one of just three players who have finished every year in the top 50, so he had always been a decent player even before his spectacular run over the last 8 months.

Shabba (IN) started 2010 by moving to the top spot, which he held onto until RG, but as the only player in the pre-Paris top 15 to have been defending points, he drops 5 to WR 7 - his previous year-end finishes were WR 208 in 2008 and WR 20 last year, so that is some progression!

That drop enabled Sparkey (GB) (new to BOTB this year!) and Roy (GR) (following on from previous year-end rankings of 224, 359 and 74) to move up 1 to new career highs at WR 2 and 3 respectively and Scratchy (BT) (who started the year at WR 57 and topped the rankings after RG 2010) to regain a place and finish the year at WR 4.

The highest-ranked player to gain a counting score from Paris and now the highest-ranked female player, cazza99 (AM) moves up 2 to rejoin the top 5 more than 3 years after she hit the no. 1 spot post-Miami 2007. This follows previous year-end rankings of 9, 14 and 63, which also make her one of the two most consistent female players of all time.

There are two Rusers in the top 10, the second of them being TimS (GR), who stays at WR 6, having reached a career high WR 2 after Toronto 2010. BT, the 'hosts' of BOTB have the most top tenners though, with four. The last two, Imoen (BT) and The Knight (BT), end the year at WR 8 & 9 respectively, staying at the career highs they hit after Shanghai.

With a rise of 15 places to a new career high of WR 10, Borovnia (TY) has managed to edge out t12j23r90 (AM) by just 8 points to prevent an English monopoly of the top 10 places, though 9 of the top 10 places is pretty good going for a country that produces just under 1 in 3 of the entrants, especially when the no. 1 team is mainly US-based.

In fact, you have to go down to nelslus (TA) at WR 19 to find the top TATer in the individual rankings - strength in depth (the 16 in the top 100 mentioned above) is their thing.

ON THE RISE

The biggest risers into the top 30 are Kamui010 (MT), up 20 to WR 14, and --cj-- (TA), up 20 to WR 22 after finishing 4th in Paris. The fastest riser into the top 50 is andys_ipod (AM), up 35 to WR 44, and the biggest climber into the top 100 is former Feddie Zebra Melanija (IN), up 63 to WR 63 after finishing 14th in Paris.

The fastest riser into the top 200 is marian (GR) - one of just three entrants who picked Söderling to win Paris, she rises 67 to WR 140. However, the biggest risers into the top 250 are Paris winner Morrycoaster-Corkjock (IN), up 95 to WR 239, and sengale (RG), up 72 to WR 206 after finishing 8th.

Paris runner-up Manolo (TA) is the first 3-figure riser, up 116 to WR 289, but the biggest riser of all is StefanoW (BA), up 235 to WR 415 after finishing 3rd in only his second BOTB, while the highest new entrant is KAT (DC), in at WR 459 after finishing 6th in Paris.

LAST YEAR'S PARIS

The biggest faller I can find is EKGuy39 (AM), down 137 to WR 534, but the biggest 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.

Paris 2009 winner Jelena Jankovic fan (IN) has not played in 2010 so has dropped out of the rankings and runner-up BillBaker (TN) has only played four events since, so falls 102 to WR 372.

After finishing 3rd in Paris last year, Scotsguy (ML) built on that success with a top 10 finish at RG and even became world no. 1 after Wimbledon, holding onto the top spot through Toronto as well, but bottom 20% finishes in the last three Masters events of the year have resulted in a fall to WR 99, though at least that is still in the top 100, if only just!

2010 YEAR-END SPECIAL REPORT

This will follow in the next few days, with details of those who have done well in more than one year - e.g. do you know (or can you guess) who is the only player to have finished in the year-end top 20 for each of the last four years? the only player to have been in the top 15 at the end of three of the last four years? the only four players who have finished in the year-end top 10 twice?

THE NEXT PICK 'EM

The next pick 'em is of course the 2011 AO, with entries opening on or around Friday 14 January.

We hope to see as many as possible of the 714 players who between them produced a total of 2800 entries across nine BOTB pick 'ems in 2010 back in action, plus no doubt a few newbies too. Many thanks to everyone who took part this year, not least the 91 entrants who managed to play all nine events!