Hopefully RobC will post his table soon! (Yep, that's a very cleverly veiled hint )
I'm really really busy this week and so won't be able to contribute very much at all until Thursday at the earliest. I will still be making time for pin sticking, of course.
Hopefully Andy can gain some points and make the task of defending at Wimbledon slightly less daunting.
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To look at a thing is quite different from seeing a thing and one does not see anything until one sees its beauty
Players in italics improved their ranking on Saturday -- Edited by RobC at 08:42, 2006-06-19 -- Edited by RobC at 09:05, 2006-06-19 -- Edited by RobC at 09:46, 2006-06-19 -- Edited by RobC at 16:15, 2006-06-19 -- Edited by RobC at 18:59, 2006-06-19 -- Edited by RobC at 21:43, 2006-06-19 -- Edited by RobC at 17:25, 2006-06-20 -- Edited by RobC at 19:47, 2006-06-21 -- Edited by RobC at 20:22, 2006-06-21 -- Edited by RobC at 20:38, 2006-06-22 -- Edited by RobC at 19:54, 2006-06-23 -- Edited by RobC at 13:55, 2006-06-25
The bad news is that Greg's already lost a place, but before that, a couple of things to note:
Firstly, Tim's table has been recombined with Andy & Greg's as he rises far enough up the rankings for it to fit on the same post Unfortunately, I've still got to watch the Challengers, as Ruben Ramirez-Hidalgo is playing in Braunschweig.
Secondly, Most of the people on the table are playing this week, meaning that Tim and Greg sitting it out may prove costly , as could a first round loss against Dmitry. Further, the points on offer this week are relatively cheap, as the top players are generally sitting it out, waiting for Wimbledon. In Nottingham, for example, the top seeds are Johansson and Hrbaty, and Andy missed out on seeding by one place.
Andy's Pins: (which little voodoo dolls to stick them into)
Andy will only improve his ranking if he reaches the quarter finals (past Tursunov, then Mirnyi or Boggo), as his 18th result is 16.
If he does manage it, he can gain up to four places, as long as Almagro crashes out in R1, and Santoro doesn't make the QF.
If he loses to Bloggo or Boggo (or Max), he could lose up to four places by the end of round 2. None of his competitors can overtake by winning round 1, but Serra, Simon, Soderling and Lopez will all go past if they reach the QFs.
Only Simon plays today (against Kunytsin at Nottingham), so we can provide concentrated pin fire on him.
Greg's Pins:
Novak Djokovic sneakily played and won his R1 match last night while we weren't looking, and has advanced past Greg (& Moya &Youzhny) into the top 40.
Greg's other worry in rounds 1 & 2 is Almagro, who goes past if he reaches the QF.
After that we're in Semi- finalist territory, and there Greg can lose his British number 1 postion, as Andy Murray (and all his R1&2 competitors) can overtake if they get there.
Almagro doesn't play today.
Tim's Pins:
Tim is also safe in R1. He could lose up to three places if Goldstein, Wawrinka and Gasquet make it through R2 to the quarters.
Wawrinkaplays Seppi at Nottingham today: He's the other target for our hexes.
Rob, you have mentioned Djoko winning yesterday, but not altered his points in the table.
Melzer won as well, off the bottom of the table now, but we will have to keep an eye on the ones just outside the table if they keep winning. I'll try hexing the lot of them!
Oh - and Starace isn't out, he is playing that dratted Challenger as well as Ramirez Hidalgo.
Simon wins in straight sets. Worse news - he was due to play number 1 seed Johansson next, but he's just been knocked out by Jan Vacek (Lucky loser), which should make life a lot easier for Simon. Expect him to get that quarter final place.
Bad news about Simon, hopefully he loses against Vacek (who took out T Johannsson so can't be playing that badly at the moment, plus lucky losers can go far, look at Big Arvs in Rotterdam). Major pins for that one!
Andy needs to get to the quarters before he gains any places so loads of pins into Tursunov tomorrow. If he does win he'll will gain 1 ranking point but that will not do anything places-wise.
As for the others to pin, Rob covered it in his long post, helpfully putting those who require attention in bold, thanks
So, happy pinning everyone
__________________
To look at a thing is quite different from seeing a thing and one does not see anything until one sees its beauty