Olympics 2012 contest--Rules are on page 7

[Forehand_lob]

I thought Radwanska played a bit better, but it was mostly Serena's level dropping.

In other news, Nadal is out of the Olympics with knee issues. I'm not a fan of Rafa, but I think he's good for the game; it's disappointing that he's not going to be there.

I'm probably going to use this thread for the Olympics contest too. Fed and Serena will only be 10 points as the winner since they just won on the same court a few weeks ago.

[Forehand_lob]

Draws are out on the 26th, so it's going to be a short turnaround for the contest.

I'm going to drop the "winning ugly" and "biggest loser" aspects of the contest. I'm still going to go from the QFs onward, but I'm also going to add medal picks; it'll mean double-counting some awards, but if you match a medalist, I think you should get something.

Also, I'm going to restrict it to singles only. Doubles and mixed doubles aren't going to be included.

Any objections or ideas to add to this?

[funches]

How about the Yanks vs. Murray?

Who will win more matches? The combined American men's team or Murray?

It should be a close call.

[Forehand_lob]

Olympics 2012 Contest - And I never complain!

Again, thank you Serena for the title of the contest.

THE RULES

1. Pick quarterfinalists, semifinalists, finalists, and medalists for both men's and women's draws. You will receive 7.5 points for each correct quarterfinalist, 5 points for each correct semifinalist and finalist, and 10 points for each correct medalist.

2. SUBSTITUTE PICK: Pick a player from each draw to replace one of your quarterfinalists. If this player makes the quarters, they will take the place of whomever you picked in that section of the draw, including the medalist.

3. MURRAY VERSUS THE YANKS: Who will win more singles matches at the Olympics, Andy Murray or the combined American men? A correct pick will get you 5 points. If they tie, then everyone will get 2 points.

Additional rules (no picks necessary):

*** Each bagel set your quarterfinalists bake is worth 2 points. Each breadstick is worth 1 point. This counts your substitute pick, too.

***WTF bonus: if you have a pick that makes it to the quarterfinals that no one else made (not even as a substitute pick), you'll gain an extra 5 points for it.

Draws are up:

Men:
http://www.tennis.com/brackets/2012/oly ... s_men.aspx

Women:
http://www.tennis.com/brackets/2012/oly ... women.aspx

[funches]

ATP

Quarters

Federer over Karlovic
Ferrer over del Potro
Murray over Harrison (Sub: Gasquet for Murray)
Tsonga over Djokovic

Semifinals

Federer over Ferrer
Murray over Tsonga

bronze

Tsonga over Ferrer

Gold

Murray over Federer

WTA

Quarters

Azarenka over Kerber
Paszek over Serena
Lisicki over Clijsters
Pironkova over Kirilenko (sub: Kvitova for Pironkova)

Semifinals

Azarenka over Paszek
Lisicki over Pironkova

bronze

Paszek over Pironkova

[b]Gold[b]

Azarenka over Lisicki

Murray vs. Yanks: tie (Murray 6, Harrison 3, Isner 2, Roddick 1, Young 0)

[Forehand_lob]

funches, don't forget to list the bronze medalist. That's 10 points for each draw that you're missing a chance at!

[Forehand_lob]

Men

Federer v. Isner
Ferrer v. Del Potro
Berdych v. Murray
Tsonga v. Djokovic (Roddick)

Federer v. Ferrer
Murray v. Djokovic

Bronze
Ferrer d. Djokovic

Gold
Federer d. Murray

Yanks over Murray

Women

Azarenka v. Kerber
Serena v. Paszek
Clijsters v. Sharapova (Shvedova)
Kvitova v. Kirilenko

Azarenka v. Serena
Clijsters v. Kvitova

Bronze
Clijsters d. Azarenka

Gold
Serena d. Kvitova

[HoB]

Hope I'm still on time, haven't heard any tennis news yet:

Men

Federer d. Isner
Ferrer d. Del Potro
Murray d. Harrison (Berdych)
Tsonga d. Djokovic

Federer d. Ferrer
Murray d. Tsonga

Bronze:
Ferrer d. Tsonga

Gold:
Federer d. Murray

Yanks have more wins than Murray (but only just)

Women:

Azarenka d. Kerber
Serena d. Paszek
Sharapova d. Clijsters
Watson (Radwanska) d. Kvitova

Serena d. Azarenka
Sharapova d. Watson

Bronze:
Azarenka d. Watson

Gold:
Serena d. Sharapova

[Forehand_lob]

You're good HoB.

And Harrison and Berdych are already out! So are Stosur (no surprise), Li (sadly, not that surprising), and Cibulkova.

American men are 1-2 for the day, with Young and Harrison going down.

[Forehand_lob]

As an update for the Yanks vs. Murray contest, Isner won in the second round and Roddick beat his first-round opponent. It's 3-1 with the Americans leading.

[Forehand_lob]

With Djokovic d. Roddick and Murray d. Nieminen, the count is 3-2, advantage Yanks.

[HoB]

I found the Berdych/Harrison/Almagro section of the draw by far the most unpredictable, as I saw everybody lose, but not win. Even using my wildcard to make 2 picks didn't pay off.
Really counted on Harrison to win against Giraldo for my Yanks vs Murray prediction as well. As the tournament unfolds, it appears that Isner needs to reach the same round as Murray for the Americans to win. Next opponent for Isner is Tipsarevic, and if he wins that one Federer looms. Murray on the other hand faces Baghdatis and then the winner of the Almagro/Darcis match. I think the Americans can be happy if they manage a tie.

Meanwhile, there's some controversy in Belgium about the mixed doubles event. Kim Clijsters and Olivier Rochus were hoping to receive one of the four wildcards, but were denied. That the host nation gets one (Murray/Robson) is understandable, and Australia (Hewitt/Stosur) was a certainty too. The choices of Russia (Vesnina/Youzhny) and Sweden (Lindstedt/Arvidsson) over Belgium are more controversial. OK, as a Belgian, I'm not neutral of course, but I'm surprised that the ITF didn't honor Clijsters' request. It's her last year on tour, she's a multiple slam winner (including two slams in doubles), former number one in singles and doubles, and as one of the most popular players worldwide she's good for the image of tennis. Granted, Rochus may not have as much star quality, but he also has a grand slam victory in doubles. And it's not that Sofia Arvidsson can boast a lot of star quality or a terrific grand slam record.
The most popular conspiracy theory is that the tournament referee, who's Swedish, has lobbyed to get the Swedes in. I'm not a fan of conspiracy theories myself, but I can understand that Clijsters and Rochus are quite upset about this decision. Not a nice farewell gift.

[funches]

So there were two directions Serena could have gone in the Olympics singles competition.

Seeing as how she actually played mediocre at Wimbledon aside from serving better than any woman anywhere ever, she could have stopped serving as well and had the rest of her game exposed. That was my pick. Or she could have played to her potential from the ground and continued to serve incredibly well. That was her pick.

Wow. She was positively awesome from start to finish. If she can do that at the U.S. Open, she really will become a viable candidate for greatest player ever. But I'm not sure she can duplicate her performance on grass on a hard court.

By the way, Sharapova has squeezed every ounce of talent she has into a remarkable career. As an athlete, she's not top 100 on the women's tour. No speed, bad hands, little court sense. But she returns incredibly well, hits hard and is a terrific competitor. What an amazing stat that she is undefeated for the year in matches that go three sets. As a normal Sharpy trasher, there's nothing I can say negative about that. I'm not sure how she got past Lisicki after falling behind 4-3 in the second set of the third round (Bravo was showing an interminable tiebreak between Tipsarevic and Isner), but she cruised in her other matches before running into Serena.

[funches]

Wonderful day for Murray.

Now those Murray-Wozniacki comparisons that were so common at the start of the year are gone forever. Murray is an unbelievable talent who finally has learned he has to hit out on every point instead of playing cat and mouse and letting opponents back into the point after he has taken control. I'm not sure he is as good as Djokovic, Federer or Nadal, but it's a much closer call that the results to this point had indicated.

And with him winning, at least I feel like I deserve the bronze medal I will get by default from the Wimbledon contest. F_Lo and Hob were burying me until today with nearly flawless picks.

[Forehand_lob]

Well, all participants made the podium!

GOLD: HoB 203 points
SILVER: Forehand_lob 188.5 points
BRONZE: funches 165.5 points

Despite my picking more quarterfinalists (13), HoB cleaned up the medals, correctly picking 3 of the 6. funches got 2 medals correct, and I got a whopping 1. Serena was the head baker, with a whopping 10 points in baked goods.

Congratulations HoB! In only a few weeks, I'll be completing my golden slam of running contests with the US Open contest!