Who Can't Win Jack contest - 2008 Aussie Open

[Jack]

Who Can’t Win Jack Contest - 2008 Australian Open
(Finally a contest where it’s worth picking Pin!!)
(Plus we haven't reached our contest max yet - have we?)

Anyone can pick the men’s and women’s singles winners of the 2008 Australian Open, but it takes real talent to spot the ultimate LOSER of the event. The Wooden Spoon Award goes to the last place finisher of a competition – in tennis terms, it’s the player whose conqueror loses in the next round, whose conqueror loses in the next round, whose conqueror loses in the next round, etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wooden_spoon_%28award%29

So for example, in the recent Sydney event, Obziler was the last place finisher. She lost to Golovin in the 1R, who lost to Jankovic in the 2R, who lost to Vaidisova in the QF, who lost to Kuznetsova in the SF, who lost to Henin in the finals. So Obziler won the booby prize of being the “last place” finisher in Sydney.

Get it? It’s tougher than it looks.

ENTRY: To enter the 2008 Australian Open Wooden Spoon contest, pick the names of four men’s singles contestants and four women’s singles contestants who you think are the most likely to finish in “last place” in their respective draws. Rank those players 1-4, with #1 being your most likely to finish “last”.

These picks carry through the rest of the tournament. So if your picks lose in the first round – and you hope they do! – the players who beat your picks become your new selections in the 2R, and so on, until the finals (if you’re lucky…).

SCORING: For each round that one of your entries remains in the running for the Wooden Spoon, you earn a point.

BONUS POINTS: Based on your selected rank of your four picks, you’ll get a multiplier for bonus points – your number 1 pick gets a bonus of (x4), #2 pick gets a bonus of (x3), #3 pick gets a bonus of (x2) and #4 pick gets a bonus of (x1).

EXAMPLE: Let’s say Federer is my #1 pick in the Wooden Spoon contest. If Federer wins, I get no points. But if Federer loses to Hartfield, I get a point for Federer’s loss, and Hartfield automatically becomes my 2R pick. In round 2, if Hartfield wins, I earn no more points from my Federer pick, but if Hartfield loses to Santoro, I now have another point added to my score, and Santoro automatically becomes my new pick. As my #1 pick, any points I earn from Federer and his conquerors get multiplied by (x4).

HINTS: To make it easy on yourself, fill out a full drawsheet, then trace backwards through the draw to find your ultimate losers!

It’s not enough to pick players who you think will lose first round. For instance, there’s a very good chance that Nakamura will lose in the 1R against Henin, but then Henin becomes your pick TO LOSE in the 2R. Unless Olga Poutchkova has a career day Down Under, it’s not likely to happen. You want to find the trail of loser, after loser, after loser…

Entries are due before the start of play in Melbourne on Monday (Sunday night, 7:00pm Eastern Time Zone). Good Luck to all entrants!

[GVGirl]

Cool! Sounds like fun! So will you be giving out a wooden spoon as a prize?

[aedra1119]

This sounds great, Jack! Time to fill out the draw...

[dryrunguy]

Sounds like a blast! Looking forward to playing!

Dry

[jjnow]

1. Alejandro Falla
2. Jiri Vanek
3. Sergio Roitman
4. Mischa Zverev

1. Petra Cetkovska
2. Clarisa Fernandez
3. Ashley Harkleroad
4. Mathilde Johansson

Does this look right, Jack?

[Jack]

1. Alejandro Falla
2. Jiri Vanek
3. Sergio Roitman
4. Mischa Zverev

1. Petra Cetkovska
2. Clarisa Fernandez
3. Ashley Harkleroad
4. Mathilde Johansson

Does this look right, Jack?

Indeed it does!

[nelslus]

The "Who Can't Win Jack Contest?" THAT'S a contest? SHEESH- All ya have to do is dress up like Wendy Turnbull and become especially adept with your western forehand grip, and he's all yours. Big Deal.

[mmmm8]

Ladies:
1. Petra Cetkovska
2. Akiko Morigami
3. Dominica Cibulkova
4. Klara Zakopalova/Qualifier facing Klara Zakopalova (TBD)


Risking it a bit.



Boys later

[Kirkus]

I'll see to it that the winner(s) receive a wooden spoon as the prize.

[Aziza]

Haha! I love this one!!

Patience
Slanar
Gicquel
Zverev

Johansson
Kudryavtseva
Kleybanova
Cetkovska

[Charlie02123]

I'll see to it that the winner(s) receive a wooden spoon as the prize.

Or perhaps a medal? If there are 30 contestants?

BTW Jack, I SWEAR I was planning on posting a thread asking who people thought the wooden spoon would be. I didn't think about making it this wonderful tapestry of predictions, though, so I'm very glad you beat me to it.

[JTContinental]

Women

1 Angelique Kerber
2 Virginia Ruano Pascual
3 Anastasia Rodionova
4 Flavia Pennetta



Men

1 Nicolas Almagro
2 Marc Gicquel
3 Juan Martin del Potro
4 Bobby Reynolds

[Jack]

Women:
1. Tu
2. C. Fernandez
3. Linetskaya
4. Dellacqua

Men:
1. Lu
2. Slanar
3. Ventura
4. Klein

(The Tu-Lu picks were just the way my draws worked out!)

[Jack]

The "Who Can't Win Jack Contest?" THAT'S a contest? SHEESH- All ya have to do is dress up like Wendy Turnbull and become especially adept with your western forehand grip, and he's all yours. Big Deal.

Wendy had me at hello.

[GVGirl]

Here is goes on the fly...

Men

1. Vanek
2. J.Levine
3. B. Klein
4. Roitman

Women

1. Malek
2. Meusburger
3. Kerber
4. Harkleroad