THE VADER TROPHY! (Vader League 2019)

Ah, yes!  Well, as long as I have the time, I'll do it.

Thanks!  Now I just have to figure out how to hack the site and make it look like I actually did pick Karlovic.

For the record it was Dtrain with Anderson & Karlovic

Great work Arvis, thanks for the summary!

Haha...8 might not be enough Arvis.

Auckland
Well, well, well.  Johnny Incognito wins his first Vader tournament back from (mental) injury with a prescient Sandgren pick.  Nicely done, Johnny!  That pick got him a total of 295 points, beating 2nd place BHP by 55 and FOUR last place entrants who managed no points at all.  Fun.

Sydney
Adunar and Tenedab got the win here with a pretty impressive 405 points, which included the winner and a SFist.  They both beat 3rd place Murree by essentially one match win.  Last place went to Edu, who only managed 40 points total, losing 365 points to our winners.

Vader Standings - Week 2
1. Murree: 1415 ↑25, ↑1 rank
2. Tono: -150 ↓20 ↑2 ranks
3. BHP: -255 NEW
4T. Drivers: -285 ↓95
4T. Adunar: -285 NEW
Arvis knocked off

Unlike Arvis, who went from #1 to off the board, Murree followed up his excellent Week 1 with an excellent Week 2!  Let's see how Murree does at the AO!

Yes, nice job Charles and Snolly, will we have more upsets before the second week?

Yep, not the normal high results at a GS that we are used to eh Arvis, I think the odd "dart pick" might be worthwhile trying this year at the Slams and a few Masters events.

Australian Open

None of us got anywhere near a PT here, but almost all of the Jedi Masters scored pretty well here, with everyone having the winner, Novak, and only 3 leaving off Rafa.  Snollygoster's team was the highest scoring one, as not one single player on his team lost before the 4th round.  But the margins in the Top 10 were extremely close, with Snolly beating T8th players Arvis, TE, and Johnny by only 270, which can easily be overcome in one week.  2nd place Dwight lost to Snolly by only 90.
However, Drivers, Spotec, and BHP all expected that Rafa would not be healthy, so they left him off.  This put BHP in last place, 1290 points behind Snolly.  Mega ouch.  Still, there are 3 more Slams to go and plenty of Masters!

Vader Standings - Week 2
1. Murree: 5560
2. Tono: -150
3. Adunar: -285 ↑1 rank
4. Tenedab: -330 NEW
5. Arvis: -455 BOUNCE BACK
--- BHP, Drivers knocked off ---

Interestingly, Murree, Tono and Adunar did not gain or lose any ground on each other at all over the course of the AO.  Arvis jumped back into the Top 5 thanks to BHP and Drivers getting absolutely torpedoed by Rafa.
Can Murree keep up this January consistency in February?

After leading the Vader Competition for 8 consecutive months I must congratulate Tono for taking over the top spot this week - Well done Tono...!!!

I look forward to the battle for 2019 as I do not want to relinquish the Lord Vader Trophy easily..!!!

PS: What is the record for longest consecutive months leading Vader..???

Montpellier
Lots of Tsonga pickers here making for lots of points being accumulated by many of us!  Unfortunately, six of us left him off, with Johnny bringing up the rear, achieving only 3 match wins from his 4 players and only 65 total points.  That put him 425 points behind our two winners, Tono and Edu, who were close to a PT.
When asked for a comment, Johnny exclaimed "I can't believe Antoine Hoang didn't win the tournament!"
Tono and Edu's win was less about Tsonga and more about Herbert, as they were the only two to have both finalists on their team.  That's 400 points just between the two of them.

Sofia
Only 3 (Adunar, Arvis, Johnny) failed to have the Winner, Medvedev, on their team here.  But it was Drivers who ended up with the highest score, thanks to her clever Verdasco pick, which is what separated her from the rest of the RBA/Med/Monf pack commonly seen here.  Drivers totaled 430 points, good for 320 over the last place Iceland Bros.

Cordoba
Well... Tenedab had Pella, so that was a cool 150 right there, helping him finish with 195 total.  That means he beat last place Adunar by... (counts on fingers) ...195 points.  That's right: between high-level clay-court experts Fognini, PCB, Andujar, and Cecchinato, Adunar managed zero points.  What a stupid tournament.

Overall Vader Standings
1. Tono: 6240 ↑150, ↑1 rank
2. Tenedab: -180 ↑150, ↑2 ranks
3. Murree: -205 ↓205, ↓2 ranks
4. Edu: -405 NEW
5. Snolly: -480 NEW
--- Adunar, Arvis knocked off ---

Adunar's and Arvis' inability to pick winners last week took them out of the Top 5, to the benefit of Edu and Snolly, who played well.
But the real news is Murree being knocked out of the #1 spot finally!  If anyone was gonna do it, it was gonna be either Tono or Tenedab, who have always excelled in this format.  And wouldn't you know it, BOTH of them are ahead of Murree now.  How long will it last?  Rotterdam could possibly be worth a fortune in points!