First off, for those in Tennis Pool, a big congrats to a great first week! For those who are doing well, awesome, for those who aren’t, you likely have a lot of players in action this week. Also, keep this in mind. Points are awarded to you as they’re awarded to players in ranking points. In other words, 250, and international and small premier events aren’t huge in comparison to slams and bigger events. You’re likely going to want to pick this week both with the tournaments in the week in mind, and with AO in mind, as you only have 12 total changes (6 each) until we get to Melbourne. Here we go.
Joint – Sydney (Premier & 250)
Official Site: Here
Draws: Men & Women
Top Seeds: Men: Monf, Berd, Stan, Rusty Lawnmower
Women: Serena, Dina, Kuz, Caro
Holy smokes. The WTA side of things is insanely hard if you’re talking tennis pool picks, and insanely exciting when you’re considering watching. It’s Premier, but not Premier 5, so there’s only 5 rounds. That means you have a TON of high ranked players who are on course to play each other pretty damn early in the tournament. Likely, you’re going to want to pick with AO in mind, as you only have 6 changes until Melbourne. So if you’re thinking for taking a top 10 player, specifically a top 5 player for Melbourne, it might not be a bad idea to grab them now and roll the dice with them for Sydney. Otherwise, barring some big upsets, it’s unlikely lower ranked players will make it very far in this tournament. Think big.
As for the men, you’re in a bit more luck. With a lighter draw, the chances of doing better with lower ranked players is much higher. Of course Monf, Berd, and Stan are all great ideas, and did awesome last year. Dark horses Reeshman and Marcos might get you some surprise wins as well.
Women – Hobart (International)
Official Site: Here
Draw: Here
Top Seeds: AMG, Shahar, K-Bond, A-Bond
The draw here is actually pretty solid. You’re not going to make as many points here as in Sydney, but you can take cheap players who will likely make it pretty far for you. Sorana and Alize are solid dark horses, and I don’t mind second seed Shahar, with her draw. Though of course, keep in mind with what you want to go for come Melbourne.
Men – Auckland (250)
Official Site: Here
Draw: Here
Top Seeds: T-Rob, Ferru, JCF, Almagro
Holy Spaniards Batman. Not much to say, there’s not many people in play this week that were last week, and unless there’s people who you’re seriously thinking about taking in AO, not a whole lot here to grab. I do like Tree’s draw though, and isn’t a bad, cheap pickup.
Here’s the rankings so far for the MTR Club. If you’re still interested in getting in, just post in the comments, and I’ll invite you. 1) It’s still early! Don’t give up hope. These tournaents are worth nothing compared to slams, masters events, etc. TONS of time, and chances are people with a lot of players going last week have fewer this week 2) WTA points ARE fully updated, ATP are NOT. Once that’s fixed, I’ll update it. 3) Curtos7 actually should be winning, he has the wrong account in. Once we figure this out, I’ll update it again. 4) People with zero points aren’t taken into account. 5) You can update your team until Sunday, 4pm eastern time. 6) I’m going to update my team and post it in the comments. If you guys want to discuss it, your teams, or whatever, go nuts.
1 downtwo22 (managed by Joe) 1786
2 ally_r (managed by Alison) 1768
3 AnaTennisGirl (managed by Ana) 1757
4 MaruVR (managed by Maria) 1676
5 Yellybean (managed by jelena) 1611
6 cosmic_jive (managed by Claire) 1583
7 Becky2705 (managed by Rebecca) 1562
8 MindTheRacket (managed by Brodie) 1551
9 JustinBartha (managed by Carl) 1511
10 RagingBitch (managed by Jills) 1507
11 Oh Dina… (managed by SA) 1448
12 eastcoast (managed by Renee) 1412
13 phillies07_08 (managed by Brian) 1361
14 dollymix (managed by Nick) 1346
15 Atiras (managed by Sarah) 1338
16 van£ss (managed by vanessa) 1253
17 Dogtown (managed by Tracey) 1247
18 ihanglikeastar (managed by rishita) 1237
19 repoman13 (managed by Miguel) 1158
20 Moneyhoney87 (managed by Sabrina) 1118
21 tennisdeva (managed by Erin) 1002
22 Taffy (managed by Tiff) 1001
23 tennisetviola (managed by Emily) 1001
24 PinkPooding (managed by Vanessa) 946
25 Pink Coconut (managed by Maryam) 908
26 Parkupdates (managed by Parker) 897
27 MN Tennis (managed by mi) 871
28 Beau27 (managed by Alexandra) 862
29 rileysteam (managed by Neil) 790
30 jellybean221 (managed by Emma) 776
31 zoejrogers (managed by Zoe) 766
32 RubyTheWriter (managed by Ruby) 758
33 VikaFTW! (managed by Lily) 726
34 TennisGrrls (managed by Sheryl) 717
35 Maratsmaiden (managed by Sherri) 702
36 Masochistic Lions (managed by Mango) 635
37 Stoogle (managed by Stella) 566
38 julesdc (managed by Julie) 230
what the hell, I’ll play. =) my name on tennis-pool is meretricula as well.
Where am I listed?
Nevermind, I just read your post. LOL
Can I join the club? My tennis-pool name is ravenclaw.
Here’s my team for Week 2:
WTA: Flavs, Kim, Justine, Ana, Sabine, Dani, AMG, Shahar, CanWoz, Lucie
ATP: Elf (oh hell yes), Radek, Gael, Marin, Stan, Chardy, Tree, Ivo, Baggy, Richie
My team for Week 2:
WTA: Vika, Flavs, Kim, Ana, AMG, Peer, K-Bond, Pavs, Kiri, ALG
ATP: Gael, Berdy, Ferrer, T-Rob, Wawrinka, Cilic, Jeremy, Querrey, Janko, Richie
Heh, we’re pretty similar. I really dig your ATP team, though I’d be afraid of running into problems for AO. But that’s just cause I want Elf on my team and don’t want to have to worry about grabbing him next week
I’ve figured out a way of picking Elf next week, probably Nando too
I’m more worried about my WTA team though. :p
Team Parkupdates for week #2:
WTA: Masha, Justine, Petrova, Ana, Cibulkova, Safarova, Peng, Melanie, Alize, Makiri.
ATP: Gael, Ferru, Berdych, Hweitt, Sam Q, Almagro, Troicki, Jeremy, Tree, Ivo.
Vamonos!
My teams (same as last week)
WTA: Vika, Masha, Kim, Justine, Ana, Sabine, Pavs, Sorana, Kiri and Burrito
ATP: Nole, Jo, Gael, Gilles, Stan, Viktor, Jeremy, Isner, Igor, Blah, Feli, Nalby, Ernie
I honestly don’t know how I have 13 people on the ATP side. Blame the fucking site for this mess.
Fuck! If I could have 3254646 players I’d be winning too! Asshole!
LOL this is f*cked.
I’m going to kick Curt’s ass
Kick tennis-pool.com ass
Week 2 team…
WTA: Vika, Na Li, Schiavone, Razzano, Licky, K-Bond, Agnes, Oudin, Alize, Dokic
ATP: Nando, Gilles, Monfils, T-Rob, Ferrer, Stanly Manly, Lleyton, Querrey, Tree, Gasquet
I know Nando and Gilles aren’t playing this week but they will NEVER not be on my team. FACT!
And yes, I said “NEVER not” and I’m a teacher. DEAL ;P
Apparently not an English teacher.
I love that your faves are Gilles and Nando too
That’s why we’re 91% in love XD
Brodes, Curt, Packrat: I love that you guys all have Jeremy :’) Makes me really happy that you have faith in him
Team RagingBitch: Week 2
Boys: Monf, T-Rob, T-Berd, Stan, Lleyton, JCF, Sam Q, Vik, Jeremy, Richie. (and 4000 bucks saved for Delpo
)
Girls: Flavs, Masha, Kim, Vesnina, Dani, Aravane, AMG, Pavs, Alize, and Dokic.
Uh, that would be 4000000 bucks, actually. Elves are expensive XD
Thanks for the invite.
Only Vika and Alize have won for me. I just traded for Gael and he pulled out.
Question about the player values – I assume that player values change every week as their rankings change. So if your week 1 lineup costs exactly $15 million, and then all of your players increase in value, do you have to sell back down to $15 million in the next trading window or can you keep the benefit of your unrealized gains?
To put it another way, if I was clairvoyant and knew that in one year from now, the players currently ranked #50-#59 would be the world’s top 10, could I buy those ten players now and hold them throughout the year so that I have a stacked lineup at the end?
I actually wondered this myself and have no idea. I’d guess that if players on your team go up in ranking, and you’re over the limit, you have to switch.
While we’re at it, my players:
WTA: Pennetta, Clijsters, Henin, Razzano, Lisicki, Rezai, Peer, K. Bondarenko, Cornet, Groenefeld
ATP: Davydenko, Stepanek, Monfils, Cilic, Robredo, Wawrinka, Querrey, Tipsarevic, Gasquet, Nalbandian
Is my Week 2 team also my AO team since you can’t trade before majors? If so, boo to Nalby’s injury. Introducing. . . the Masochistic Lions:
WTA: Flavs, Masha, Yanina, Kim, Ana, Sabine, Aravane, Pavs, Sorana, Olaru
ATP: Elf, Jo, Marin, Gilles, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Pico, Chardy, Benneteau, Chuidinelli, Nalbandian
You CAN’T trade before majors? I checked the rules and didn’t see anything on that… I sure hope that’s not true!
You’re right. My bad. You can’t make trades DURING a major, which makes perfect sense. I’m now debating whether to keep Elf and his injured wrist.