Yoda Cup - 2018 US Open

A QUICK NOTE: I wrote the following before Halep lost.  Almost everyone has her.

MIKE's got a rock solid men's team, with a lot of the same players most of us will surely have. He Has gone with Wawa as his unseeded, despite playing Grigor in round 1! How many will have that same pick?  On the women's he's gone with Sevastova, which is a sneaky-good pick. She's in a fairly open section (watch out for Little Claire, though!) and has performed very well here, historically.  Novak/Kerber.

SNOLLY has the typical men with Struff as his unseeded. Struff had two ok hard court wins coming in, but is 1-5 at this tourney.  Hard to ignore his insanely easy draw, though.  His women's team is pretty conservative with mostly big names, but there is one notable name missing: Serena. Will that pay off?  Has Delpo as runner up.  Novak/Kerber.

JOHNNY!  Good old Johnny, what has he done this time?  Well, he took Anderson instead of Delpo, which isn't that crazy.  But he put Anderson in the final, which is a bit crazier.  Perhaps he's hoping Rafa will get injured?  He also took an extra unseeded in addition to Wawa: Monfils, who hasn't played tennis in a month and hasn't touched a hard court in 5 months.  On the women's side he messaged me prior and said "My women's team is hilarious". So now that I have looked at it, it looks ok!  Until I get to the bottom.  Riske and Bondarenko?  Well... I guess they're not guaranteed -16s at least.  Feddy/Halep.
UPDATE: Bondarenko lost.  Curious what Johnny was hoping for here.

TE has the Standard Men's Team (SMT) including Wawa.  And even his women's team is about as conservative as it gets.  He has included both of last year's finalists and Vika as unseeded.  Pretty rock solid.  Rafa/Halep.

AIUR has some good picks to set himself apart on the men's side with Chung and Thiem. Not too risky and creative enough to give him a big boost if they land. Chung's draw, in particular, is absolute cake for 3 rounds.  His women's team is somehow more conservative than his men's.  Delpo/Halep.

WIMBY has the SMT but has gotten creative on the women's side.  He's jumped on the Sabalenka train, which is probably really smart, but his unseeded is Makarova.  She's been playing better but has a dangerous 1st round and then Goerges in the second.  But it's this kind of creativity that can pay off.  Rafa/Halep.

MARCO has the SMT but instead of Wawa has gone with Andy Murray.  If he's healthy, wow that could really pay dividends!  But that's a huge "if". Not much to report on his women's team (SWT, if such a thing exists), but he does have Sloane as champ.  Rafa/Sloane.

HTS has gone with Wawa AND Murray!  Nice!  Had to leave Raonic off to do it.  His women's team is solid.  No Keys.  Rafa/Kerber.

DRIVERS not only did the Wawa/Murray combo but eschewed Delpo for Kevin!  She's the first since Johnny to make this move, which doesn't bode well for her.  No holes on her women's team, which looks fantastic.  She did take Bertens as runner-up.  Don't you guys know that I'm off that bandwagon now?  Bertens is a passé pick, y'all. jk jk
Novak/Halep.

OL' TENNY has my original Men's team with Coric, Chung, and Stevie J.  Really smart, solid picking with a flair of creativity to boot.  He's gone with Bouchard as unseeded, too, which is another pick I almost made.  I love that pick and think he'll get some great points from it.  At the very least, not a -16, which is good enough on its own.  Novak/Halep.

DWIGHT has the same men's team as HTS with the Wawa/Murray double plus no Raonic. Also picked Makarova, but more interestingly picked 3 mid-tier players: Serena, Masha, Sabalenka.  A nice sendoff to our 17-32 seeds.  Novak/Halep.

OZ has the SMT but instead of Wawa has Querrey.  When Grigor gives us all a -16, OZ will be laughing.  Another laugh he'll be having is not having Halep, who is fighting for her life as I type this.  However, he has Pliskova, who will probably just give him a -16 anyways.  Has Delpo and Svitolina as runners up.  Novak/Keys.
UPDATE: Halep has indeed lost as you all know by now.  Nice non-pick, OZ!

LEXUS has the SMT but with RBA instead of Raonic.  Also has Bertens in the final.  Completely straightforward solid teams.  Feddy/Halep.

ADUNAR has the SMT except with Murray, and has Sloane and Keys on his women's team.  Very safe picking.  Has Barty, which is a popular pick but not nearly as popular as I was expecting.  Rafa/Halep.

CROSSCOURT has the SMT but with one really huge twist: Zverev instead of Cilic.  Wow!  Look for Zverev to lose no later than the 4th round.  On the women's side he's gone a bit nuts.  No Sloane, Kerber, or Petra, but the players he does have are all good so it's not too risky.  Went with Puig as his unseeded who retired from her last match, but could still be dangerous.  Rafa/Halep.

Guess who DTRAIN left off his team?  Roger freaking Federer.  Gutsy move, but will it pay off?  Has Tsitsipas, which is awesome, and Steve Johnson.  No Wawa.  Does Dtrain hate Swiss people?  Find out tonight at 11.  His women's team is solid, but he's gone with Konta, who has CarGar in the first round, as his unseeded.  Some major risks here.  Rafa/Halep.

CHARLES has two unseeded men: Steve and Medvedev, our two Winstom-Salem finalists.  Steve's draw is very kind, while Daniil's is not.  Let's see what happens there.  No Wawa or Nishikori for him.  On the women's side he's taken... Suarez Navarro?  Hmmm. Yes, she made the final of New Haven and plays well here, but the *manner* in which she made the NH final makes me wonder how well she is actually playing.  Also has Giorgi as Unseeded, whose first round is among the easiest.  Rafa/Halep.

BHP has Cameron Norrie as unseeded.  It's risky, just because he's an unproven commodity, but his draw is wide wide open.  He also has RBA, who you can say all the exact same stuff about here.  On the women's side he's taken Anisimova as Unseeded, which proves he's a dang genius.  Delpo/Halep.

EDU has the SMT and a rock solid women's team, including Petra and Sevastova.  Really excellent picking here.  Novak/Halep.

TONO's done the Wawa/Murray combo with no Raonic and has taken Sloane to defend her title.  Pretty straightforward with just enough twist in there to maybe get himself a YC win?  Novak/Sloane.

SPOTEC has also dissed Feddy! He's gone with Kyrgios.  Also has RBA as well who has no hard court matches under his belt since March.  Mladenovic is his unseeded, which is super risky, but she's got an excellent draw.  Novak/Kerber.

MURREE has Murray (lol) and Kevin, but no Cilic.  Cilic will certainly be a difference making player this year, for better or for worse.  Solid women's team but one of the few who has picked Wozniacki.  Rafa/Kerber.

And that idiot ARVIS has Coric instead of Raonic, like a moron, and freaking ANISIMOVA as Unseeded on the women's side!  Is he stupid???  Also has Mertens (who just dropped the 2nd to Nara). Meh.  Feddy/Halep.

Last edited by Arvis (Aug. 27, 2018 1:38pm)

Thanks Arnie and Arvis.

Yep the women will be the decider in this one I think, Kerber and Stephens pickers will be smiling at the moment.

And Felix!  I forgot Felix...

I thought Halep might struggle somewhat with Kanepi. Three sets maybe. But, wow, to get blown out like that.... Congrats to Kaia.