2014 Slam Challenge - US Open Edition

[El Dude]

OK folks, here's your last shot at greatness. The draws aren't out for a few days but might as well give everyone a shot to start thinking about it.

If you haven't played so far, or missed a round or two, don't worry! Just get in here and try to win the US Open for bragging rights.

Here are the rules:

2014 SLAM PREDICTION CHALLENGE - RULES

• How to Play - Pick a Winner, Runner-up, two Semifinalists, four Quarterfinalists, one Dark Horse and one Wildcard candidate for each Slam.
• Points - 12 Winner, 8 Runner-up, 3 Semifinalist, 1 Quarterfinalist for a total of 30 possible. Note that points are not cumulative, but you do get points if a player finishes lower than what you picked (e.g. If you pick Djokovic to win but he's the runner-up, you still get 8 points; if you pick Murray to be the runner-up but he wins, you only get the 8 points you picked him for).
• Dark Horse - Gets points for whatever their final position is; they cannot have won a Slam within the last two calendar years, or eight Slams.
• Wildcard - Gets points as the Dark Horse, but cannot be ranked in the top 10 at the beginning of the tournament.
• Tiebreakers - After the US Open will be handled by predictions for the World Tour Finals.
• Missing Slams - Members who want to join after the AO or miss a later Slam get a total number of points equal to the lowest score for the missed Slam, minus one point. The default points for the three Slams so far are AO: 9, RG: 1, Wim: 4, or a total of 14.
• Late Penalty - You can make your picks without penalty until the first serve of Round 1 on Monday, August 25th. After that there will be a -3 point penalty per round (or two days), so if you're late by a few days you still can accrue some decent points!

Here are the rankings through three Slams:

65 ftan
58 secrettennisjunkie
57 El Dude
56 nehmeth
53 Kieran
52 Denisovich
52 Riotbeard
52 Moxie629
51 crystalfire
48 rahulpawar
46 TennisFanatic7
46 britbox
46 fashionista
42 tented
41 kstake2
37 TsarMatt
34 Bounce It!
33 Moose
32 fedfan
25 1972Murat
23 askh
22 GoldenBoy
21 Aung Aung
21 Luxilon Borg
20 The AntiPusher
19 rafanoy1992
19 askh
17 zalvar
16 GameSetAndMath

The winners of the three rounds so far are:

Australian Open: ftan (runner-up: secrettennisjunkie)
Roland Garros: Fashionista (runner-up: Kieran)
Wimbledon: Nehmeth (runner-up: ftan)

Oh yeah, its worth noting that Roger Federer is actually qualified for the Dark Horse as he hasn't won a Slam within the last two calendar years, going back to the 2012 Wimbledon. The only players not qualified for the Dark Horse are Nadal, Djokovic, Wawrinka, and Murray.

Anyhow, good luck!

p.s. Remember to pick different players for each slot. And remember that Nadal and Del Potro aren't playing, so don't pick them!

 

[El Dude]

My initial picks, before draws and much thought but just put here as a place-holder and example:

Winner: Djokovic
Runner-up: Dimitrov
Semifinalists: Raonic, Tsonga
Quarterfinalists: Ferrer, Murray, Wawrinka, Gulbis
Dark Horse: Federer
Wildcard: Cilic

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

A copy of 2014 US-open-series Media notebook is the prize for the winner.
This way you can always remember you won the challenge.

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

I always go for the big upsets and end up sucking. I will watch from the sidelines

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Seeing my favourite player is missing in action,I will pick my 2nd favourite player to win Novak,though I would not mind seeing a 'suprise winner' this year,a player not named Novak or Federer.

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

Seeing my favourite player is missing in action,I will pick my 2nd favourite player to win Novak,though I would not mind seeing a 'suprise winner' this year,a player not named Novak or Federer.

Come on, Federer would be a great "surprise winner" at age 33, father of four...

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Seeing my favourite player is missing in action,I will pick my 2nd favourite player to win Novak,though I would not mind seeing a 'suprise winner' this year,a player not named Novak or Federer.

Come on, Federer would be a great "surprise winner" at age 33, father of four...

Sorry I am not buying that 'hype'...... nice try though.....

 

[ftan]

I am leading really I will wait for the draw, But I know who my winner's pick is

 

[GameSetAndMath]

For those of you interested in a more substantial prize, there is a contest in the official
website of USO. You need to fill up the whole draw though. The first prize winner (separate
for Men's event and Women's event) will get something like flight trip, hotel accommodation
and tickets (for two persons) to few days of US Open 2015. You cannot submit the entries
late. You need to submit the entries before the first ball is struck.

I am not sure whether there is a way to set up a group for us in there. Moderators
might want to look into it.

This is not the racquet bracket challeng of tennis tv. This is different.

 

[crystalfire]

I am leading really I will wait for the draw, But I know who my winner's pick is

so does your prof picture

 

[TsarMatt]

Thanks for doing this again! When does the draw come out? I've been so stacked up with university lately...

 

[mrzz]

For those of you interested in a more substantial prize, there is a contest in the official
website of USO. You need to fill up the whole draw though. The first prize winner (separate
for Men's event and Women's event) will get something like flight trip, hotel accommodation
and tickets (for two persons) to few days of US Open 2015. You cannot submit the entries
late. You need to submit the entries before the first ball is struck.

I am not sure whether there is a way to set up a group for us in there. Moderators
might want to look into it.

This is not the racquet bracket challeng of tennis tv. This is different.

GameSetAndMath, you are in the LAST position! This is completely unacceptable if you have MATH in your moniker. This is outrageous. I will dislike all of your posts.

You should follow the example of El Dude, who does not have STAT on the moniker, but might have it in his own name, who is up there fighting for the top places (to be honest, he should be leading).

I guess I'll have to find the time to get in and show how it is done. Do you know if they test the contenders for illegal substances?

 

[GameSetAndMath]

For those of you interested in a more substantial prize, there is a contest in the official
website of USO. You need to fill up the whole draw though. The first prize winner (separate
for Men's event and Women's event) will get something like flight trip, hotel accommodation
and tickets (for two persons) to few days of US Open 2015. You cannot submit the entries
late. You need to submit the entries before the first ball is struck.

I am not sure whether there is a way to set up a group for us in there. Moderators
might want to look into it.

This is not the racquet bracket challeng of tennis tv. This is different.

GameSetAndMath, you are in the LAST position! This is completely unacceptable if you have MATH in your moniker. This is outrageous. I will dislike all of your posts.

You should follow the example of El Dude, who does not have STAT on the moniker, but might have it in his own name, who is up there fighting for the top places (to be honest, he should be leading).

I guess I'll have to find the time to get in and show how it is done. Do you know if they test the contenders for illegal substances?

Oh, that does not show my real score. I submitted my entry only for one of the
three slams this year. Although I came up with perfect prediction for the other two
slams, unfortunately I did not have time to submit the perfect entries that I created.
You can verify this (well at least half of what I am saying) with El Dude, who runs
this contest.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Just to make sure that I have an entry, I am filing one right away without seeing the
draw. I reserve the right to modify it in time, if I do get time to look at it again.

Winner: Djokovic
Runner-up: Ferrer
Semifinalists: Raonic, Monfils
Quarterfinalists: Murray, Wawrinka, Grigor, Berdych

Darkhorse: Federer
Wildcard: Cilic

p.s. edited to conform to the rules and to take draw into account.

 

[Federberg]

^ GSM.. just trying to understand your thinking. How can Federer be both your bet for the winner and your darkhorse? Surely your darkhorse is a leftfield bet, that comes good. I can't see how Federer as a second favourite can be a darkhorse...

 

[Kieran]

Federer qualifies to be a dark horse, so it would be a brave or foolish poster who didn't try cash in twice...

 

[britbox]

When's the draw? Tomorrow?

 

[tented]

When's the draw? Tomorrow?

Today, at noon local time -- three hours from now.

 

[britbox]

Cool. I'll make my picks post draw.

 

[El Dude]

You can't cash in twice. I suppose it should be clarified in the rules, but you only get points for a player once. So GSM, you'll want to swap someone in for Federer in one of those two places.