Time to start scratching your heads and come up with your predictions for 2021.
Just so everyone is clear, and for anyone who didnt take part last year, here are the competition rules
Select 10 players and give your prediction of their end-of season GB ranking and world ranking.
Following a debate last year, I have decided to allow one substitute player, who must be named as such at the same time as the main selection of 10. Their predicted WR must also be given. The eleventh player may be substituted for any one of your main selections, but only in the two weeks immediately following the end of Wimbledon (i.e. 12th to 26th July only, to be confirmed precisely nearer the time). This will give a little flexibility, particularly in the case of long-term injuries, and will make it more interesting. The substitute will take your prediction of the GB ranking of the player they replace, so for example if you replaced Sam Murray (GB #5) with Tara Moore, Tara would become your #5 prediction so think carefully !
Continuing from last year, there will be two dummy entries, AsYouWere (based on the starting rankings) and Mr Average (based on everyones WR predictions).
Points wll be awarded with a maximum of 10 ponts per player split between GB ranking and world ranking.
GB rankings. 5 points for a correct prediction, 4 for one out, 3 for 2 out, 2 for 3 out, 1 for 4 out or more than 4 out and player finishes in GB top 10. Note you can get points if a player finishes as low as GB14 e.g. You predict 10 they finish 14 difference is 4 so 1 point.
World ranking. 5 points if your prediction is within 5%, 4 if +/- 10%, 3 if +/- 15%, 2 if +/- 20% and 1 if +/- 25%
The reason why world ranking points is on % is that there is a big spread of rankings for GB top 10, so tries to even it out.
The closing date for entries is midnight on Dec 31st to give me time to process the entries before the tours start again. The finishing date for the competition will be the Monday after the ATP finals, although this may be extended further depending on the tour calendars. I won't be putting any entries onto the spreadsheet before Christmas, so until then you can change your entry as much as you like - but please, do it by editing your post rather than posting afresh, to save me some work !
Cheers for sorting this TA. It's going to be another strange year for predictions. Lots of questions - how many events will our girls play, how many will they get the chance to, will points start dropping off around March as expected, or will there be another extended period etc.
The commentator in the Emma-Eden match was saying that she wouldn't be too surprised if Emma ended the year in the top 100 (admittedly when she was coasting before Eden's late resistance), and while that would be very impressive, I didn't think it would be totally beyond the realms of possibility - she'd obviously have to play more than 2 tour events, ha, but it'll be very interesting to see where posters have her year end ranking. The vast majority did of course have her in their top 10 this year, which would have seemed absolutely nailed on in February after that Sunderland W25 final, which turned out to be her last fully competitive match of 2020. Injuries will no doubt be a factor with a lot of the players as well.
I'll have a bit more think about this before and after Christmas before posting - I may even chop and change before committing. Always interesting to see the landscape of predictions.
I have sat here and written out my men's and women's 10 submissions in order plus substitutes ( not done WRs yet ) and am remarkably happy with these ... err for now.
How much though these lists will stand the test of time we shall see.
To the a, can you please allow changes to entries until almost up to the closing date, if not indeed right up to the 31/12 midnight closing time?
Yes, changes are allowed right up to the closing time. It's just that when I start putting the entries on the spreadsheet I will work through the thread from the top, so would rather people edited their posts than reposted again (unless I say otherwise !). Stops me having to enter the data twice.
I've been particularly impressed with Fran's play and results this year, so hopefully she will continue to kick on, and Emma will surely rise fast fairly soon; hope Katie B begins to get back to winning ways and that Katie Swan can overcome the demons of feeling worthless whenever the results haven't gone her way. Hopefully a better all round year for the Brits - we certainly need some cheer.
Well done on being first Andy (and Merry Christmas to you too).
That's probably the 10 players I'll eventually go for, but in a different order. Last year, there were 9 women selected by at least 36 of the 41 entrants, so 88% were looking for one additional player, even though 2 of those 9 (Katie B and Emma) didn't end up making it, for a variety of reasons.
-- Edited by Ace Ventura on Sunday 20th of December 2020 11:47:23 PM
Both my men's and women's substitute players will likely have higher ( ie. better ) predicted WRs than some of my actual main selections.
Having read the T&C, I am assuming that this is OK
-- Edited by indiana on Monday 21st of December 2020 01:26:49 AM
That looks like a very smart tactical move - you could for instance put Harriet Dart as your reserve and then pull out whichever of the top performing players underperformed. This was way too clever for me to have thought of