2008 ATP Fantasy Tennis Season

[bagpuss]

Anyway its a long haul this competition I guess

I keep telling myself that, but I could do with my luck turning round sooner rather than later!

Welcome Matt - both to the game and to FISO

The prizes and the idea of this competition are very good, but the Granollers mistake (which persists) makes me sad

Glad you are enjoying the game Rui - do you fancy joining the mini-league? Should add a bit of fun to proceedings


Great game going on between Davydenko & Robredo right now - a proper clay court battle

[bagpuss]

Federer out as well
(easy to say after the event, but I was really close to putting Stepanek in this week)

And with Roddick winning the semi final line-up has a bit of a strange look to it.

Just in case anyone hasnt noticed - the deadline is Sunday 10am CET this week

[cam23]

I was really close to putting Stepanek in this week

Of course you were !!

As mentioned its a strange looking semi-final line up. And not a single one of my players made it, very disapointing for a Masters event. Still got the Bryans going in the doubles but some serious catching up to do.

The court seems to be playing quite fast and unlike a typical clay court which goes some way to explaining the unusual line up I guess. Hard to see past Djokovic at this stage, he looked very focused this evening and simply blew Almagro off the court. The spaniard retired with a wrist injury at 6-1 1-0 (with a break) down. Although as Mark Petchey said " his injury got worse the better Djokovic played" !

[cam23]

Just in case anyone hasnt noticed - the deadline is Sunday 10am CET this week

Thanks for the heads up. The draws dont seem to be available on main ATP site yet ? With less than 24 hrs until deadline its leaving it a bit tight!

Edit: Draw is now up , get picking! Heres hoping for more joy than last week!

[kickrem]

Incredible:
1. I still don´t have the points of Granollers in Barcelona
2. Bryans Doubles victory yesterday haven´t been credited. But updates of Hamburg are there.

[bagpuss]

Just in case anyone hasnt noticed - the deadline is Sunday 10am CET this week

Thanks for the heads up. The draws dont seem to be available on main ATP site yet ? With less than 24 hrs until deadline its leaving it a bit tight!

Edit: Draw is now up , get picking! Heres hoping for more joy than last week!

I spent the weekend with friends who have just moved and have yet to sort out internet access - ended up picking blind on Friday evening - I've managed to select 5 fit players this week, and Andreev is already out. The misery continues!

[cam23]

The misery continues!

Indeed, today was a disaster for me. Had been going along nicely and was quite pleased with my progress in Hamburg. Had 5 players in last 16 and realistic hopes for all to make quarters.

F Verdasco (ESP) d [5] D Ferrer (ESP) 76(4) 62
A Seppi (ITA) d [12] J Monaco (ARG) 60 63
A Montanes (ESP) d J Tipsarevic (SRB) 62 61
N Kiefer (GER) d [4] N Davydenko (RUS) 75 63

Only Nadal left now........ gonna need some inspirational choices at Roland Garros to get my campaign kickstarted.

[kickrem]

Me too. Only Nadal and down in 6003...

[bagpuss]

Just checked my position........... 6523rd

To be honest I think the overall leaderboard will still be quite false due to the success of Federer, Djokovic and Nadal in the last few weeks. Still, I think I'll be playing for fun from here on in!

I was interested to see that Djokovic is only 310 points behind Nadal in the rankings after his victory last week. Rafa has to defend 2105 points from Hamburg, RG, Queens and Wimbledon compared to Djokovic's 1045. The Djoker has already improved on last years QF appearance in Hamburg.

I reckon theres a good chance he'll be number 2 in the world by the time Wimbledon is over - irrelevent........ except for the fact that #2 in the world avoids Federer until the final of any tournament


edit - in fact if Djokovic reaches the final of Hamburg, there will be a swing of 350 points and he'll be #2 this weekend. Adds a bit of spice to their semi-final meeting!

[bagpuss]

Its an early deadline again this week. The draw for Poertschach is available, but theres nothing yet for Casablanca.

[Judio]

Casablanca list of players(three Wild Cards are meant to be El Aynaoui ,Tsonga and Ouahab) Four Qualifiers as well


Calleri, Agustin ARG
Gicquel, Marc FRA
Montanes, Albert ESP
Benneteau, Julien FRA
Monfils, Gael FRA
Garcia-Lopez, Guillermo ESP
Guccione, Chris AUS
Ventura, Santiago ESP
Hanescu, Victor ROU
Clement, Arnaud FRA
Hrbaty, Dominik SVK
Hernandez, Oscar ESP
Ascione, Thierry FRA
Luczak, Peter AUS
Schuettler, Rainer GER
Dancevic, Frank CAN
Daniel, Marcos BRA
Mayer, Florian GER
Pashanski, Boris SRB
Cuevas, Pablo URU
Becker, Benjamin GER
Serra, Florent FRA
Vassallo Arguello, Martin ARG
Coria, Guillermo ARG
Patience, Olivier FRA

[bagpuss]

The misery continues!

Rome: [1] Bryan/Bryan d [2] Nestor/Zimonjic 36 64 10-8 (Match TB)
Hamburg: [2] Nestor/Zimonjic d [1] Bryan/Bryan 64 57 10-8 (Match TB)

I sure can pick 'em

Meanwhile Fed looks like he's gonna walk to victory. Yesterday has clearly taken too much out of Rafa

Edit: And just like that, despite needing treatment & looking far from comfortable out there, Nadal breaks back twice in a row

[met_matt]

I'm currently in 5800th position.
Amazingly all 9 of my selections this week are still in so far
Good win for Gicquel today against Guillermo Coria.
But not much money on offer this week of course.

[cam23]

not much money on offer this week of course.

Which is just as well because I missed the cut-off! All part of my cunning plan to be well rested for the french

Good going so far with 9 men still standing Matt!

[bagpuss]

Im gonna stop wasting selections on Cuevas, thing is I cant resist selecting someone who can do this:

http://www.atptennis.com/3/en/mercedesb ... setID=2617

[bagpuss]

The draw for Roland Garros has been made:

http://www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/score ... index.html

The deadline is Sunday 10am CET

Is it all about selecting the 4th semi-finalist?!

[bagpuss]

I forgot about this prior to the Aussie Open, but if anyone's interested Tennis For Free are doing a French Open tournament

http://www.tffdreamteam.com/frenchopen/login.php

[cam23]

The deadline is Sunday 10am CET

Game over for me folks, missed the deadline again - nobody but myself to blame .

Still using my choices from Hamburg! Nadal, Davy, Ferrer & Robredo give me some hope but the expected good runs from Fed & Djokovic and I will need a miracle over the rest of the season to post a respectable finish.

[bagpuss]

The deadline is Sunday 10am CET

Game over for me folks, missed the deadline again - nobody but myself to blame .

Still using my choices from Hamburg!

You should be happy that you missed the deadline for Casablanca & Poertschach

Nadal should ensure that Djokovic only makes the semis - I guess you're therefore hoping someone upsets Federer. If that happens you have the players who could easily benefit in his half.

I thought Tipsarevic would go well - great draw & has shown he has a GS mentality - but it wasnt to be. Bolelli could still come out of that weak part of the draw.

The challenge is now making the most of your 5 Federer & Djokovic selections!

[bagpuss]

A week into Roland Garros - and as usual, the only ones you can genuinely rely on are the big 3.

Davydenko is another who needs to have a re-think when it comes to his playing schedule.

My tactic of loading up on players in his 1/4, in the hope of ensuring the semi-final money on offer isnt looking great right now. Just Ferrer and the usual suspects left for me now.

[met_matt]

Just Ferrer and the usual suspects left for me now.

Me too.

None of my other singles picks have come good; some quite surprising results with Davydenko and Nalbandian losing.

Still if they all get to the semis there won't be too much damage done.
Stepanek could give Ferrer a close match though as he seems to be in good form.

[bagpuss]

Still if they all get to the semis there won't be too much damage done.
Stepanek could give Ferrer a close match though as he seems to be in good form.

Stepanek is the one Im most concerned about. Cant believe how easily he dispatched Robredo yesterday

IMO he's also the player that would give Federer most to think about in the semis

[kickrem]

i´ve got the big 3 plus Ferrer and Stepanek...my doubles are out (Erlich/Ram), but Bryans went out today, so no big damage...maybe I can break into top 5000...

[bagpuss]

Well, I can quite honestly say that I wouldnt have selected Monfils even if Id gone for five players in that quarter of the draw.

In fact, Id have gone for Wawrinka ahead of Gonzo, never gave Gulbis a seconds thought (though he did make it into my tff dreamteam) and would always have left Nadal's quarter alone, so I cant be too upset.

Still got Nestor & Zimonjic as well, so hopefully they can go on and win it now the rest of the seeds have made their early exits.

Bad defeat for Ferrer today, cost him the chance of moving up to #4 in the rankings. I wonder if Monfils will try to be a bit more adventurous against Fed, he'll get destroyed if he relys on getting it back and waiting for an error like he did today.

[cam23]

Monfils against Fed, he'll get destroyed

I have taken the liberty of editing your post and I totally agree!

To be fair to the lad he has done extremely well to reach semis, exceeding most peoples expectations of him (certainly mine!).

Really looking forward to Nadal - Djokovic semi, if it is half as good as their last encounter we are in for a treat.

Can anyone see Rafa losing though ?? I am a massive fan of Djokovic and I think he is a better player than Rafa. But Nadals will to win & toughness combined with his clay court game is a formidable mix and I think he will take the honours once more. As I say cant wait though !

[bagpuss]

I hate to say it but I think tomorrow is a foregone conclusion. Nadal seems to be better than ever right now, and having seen Federer choke when in control of sets at both Monte Carlo & Hamburg, I just can see how he's gonna win this one.

I would love it to be a five-set classic, but its Rafa in three for me.

[cam23]

I hate to say it but I think tomorrow is a foregone conclusion, its Rafa in three for me.

Good call.

Was a demolition! Actually felt a bit sorry for Fed, it wasnt pleasant viewing. He can not come to terms with Nadals game on clay at all and he knows it. His head dropped very early on and any other result never looked likely.

Sad that his career may be tainted if he never wins in Paris.

[bagpuss]

Fed can not come to terms with Nadals game on clay at all and he knows it

I totally agree - he's let Nadal get inside his head & simply doesnt have a game plan against him on clay. He'll still be the man to beat at Wimbledon, though theres no doubt he's started to lose his air of invincibility.

Its another early deadline this week, and the draws are up. Not much money on offer, but I'll be keeping a close eye on events in 's-Hertogenbosch as I've got tickets for finals day. Whilst there'll be plenty in the field who are happy just to get a couple of games on grass under their belts, Im hoping that Ancic & Gasquet go well.

[met_matt]

Ancic and Gasquet do look like probable finalists in Holland.
But I also had Nieminen and Soderling in my team - both WD.
Still, wins for Ljubicic, Karlovic and Tursunov today.

[Judio]

The Draw for wimbledon will be on Friday at 10

The (Adjusted) seeds will be

Seed Rank Name
1 1 Federer
2 2 Nadal
3 3 Djokovic
4 4 Davydenko
5 5 Ferrer
6 6 Roddick
7 7 Nalbandian
8 9 Gasquet
9 8 Blake
10 25 Baghdatis
11 19 Berdych
12 11 Murray
13 10 Wawrinka
14 16 Mathieu
15 14 Gonzalez
16 15 Stepanek
17 17 Youzhny
18 22 Karlovic
19 12 Almagro
20 27 Hewitt
21 23 Ferrero
22 21 Verdasco
23 18 Robredo
24 26 Ljubicic
25 28 Nieminen
26 31 Tursunov
27 33 Kiefer
28 29 Simon
29 30 Seppi
30 32 Monfils
31 35 Lopez F
32 34 Llodra