The Week Ahead: Up The Ante
Posted by Brodie under: Costa Da Sauipe, Paris, Pattaya City, Rotterdam, San Jose, The Week Ahead
Men – Rotterdam (500)
Official Site: Here
Draw: Here
Top Seeds: Nole, Koala Bear, Sod, T-Rob
Considering EVERYONE AND THEIR DOG (Rafa, Jo, Gilles, Gael…) withdrew from this tournament, the tournament goes from looking like a legit 500 tournament, with 5 or 6 big name players, to only really Nole, Kolya, and Sod who took a wildcard. Nole and Kolya are overwhelming favourites, after the way they’ve been playing.
Women – Paris (Premier)
Official Site: Here
Draw: Here
Top Seeds: Elena, Flavs, Wicky, Franny
Really got to like Elena’s draw for this one, and she comes in as a finalist from last year. I don’t mind Wicky or Shahar for cheaper pick-ups, as well. Definitely worth keeping an eye out for the local faves Gypsy and Aravane. Oh, and I tweeted earlier “Has Serena withdrawn yet or did I make that?” I’m not going to pretend like I’m a prophet, however.
Men – San Jose (250)
Official Site: Here
Draw: Here
Top Seeds: Dick, Nando, The Sex, HaasSauce
Diggin’ Dick’s draw big time, he likes to play well in the US. Old Man Haas ain’t a bad pick either. Take your pick from the top seeds really, the depth of the draw is extremely limited.
Men – Costa Da Sauipe (250)
Official Site: Here
Draw: Here
Top Seeds: JCF, Montanes, Tomasz, Igor A
If Igor decides to play anything like he did against Fed in Melbourne, he’s a solid pick here early in the year. And if you still don’t have the steal that is Richie, now is the time to do so. Otherwise I’m steering wide of this tournament picks wise, due to the lack of top players.
Women – Pattaya City (International)
Official Site: Here
Draw: Here
Top Seeds: Bepa, Sabine, Dushbag, Slava
Sabine is probably an absolute must, at least for me. Great price, solid draw. Bepa is questionable with the injury and the depth of the draw is really just to weak to take anyone else here, I think.
Just on a random point, for picking with the women, nearly every top player is (supposed to be) in action next week in Dubai, so pick away. Going to stop posting the entire MTR tennis pool club rankings, and instead will just do the top 10. Pool trading is now open, and open until Monday, 8pm EST.
1 Dogtown (managed by Tracey) 8324
2 ally_r (managed by Alison) 8024
3 repoman13 (managed by Miguel) 7898
4 AnaTennisGirl (managed by Ana) 7785
5 downtwo22 (managed by Joe) 7564
6 eastcoast (managed by Renee) 7425
7 MindTheRacket (managed by Brodie) 7313
8 phillies07_08 (managed by Brian) 7239
9 Becky2705 (managed by Rebecca) 7065
10 RagingBitch (managed by Jills) 6865
Hello, can you please post a link to the tennis pool that you keep mentioning as well as the rules. Thanks very much. By the way I love your site. Very informative.
Thanks so much! Tennis pool is found here: http://www.tennis-pool.com/trade.asp
Essentially you have 10 ATP and WTA players. Each week you get to drop three from each team, and pick 3 new ones. However, you’re limited to a certain amount of ranking points, so you have to choose wisely (it’s basically impossible to pick over 3 top 10 players, for example.) You then get points awarded to you according to how far each player on your team goes in the tournament, and the caliber of that tournament. It’s really fun and easy to play. It would be tough for you just signing up now, as play for the year has already started, but we’re only a month into the season, so you could definitely still make up a lot of ground
Regardless, it’s a lot of fun to do anyway. If you sign up, and want to join the Mind The Racket club (it’s a private one) let me know, and I’ll send you an invite 