i just signed up for tennis.com's grand slam fantasy tennis event. i believe this makes me a superfan of tennis and tennis.com.
i've only enlisted in 2 fantasy sports enterprises before today--and both were related to football (soccer), a sport i know next to nothing about. i joined out of "fantasy sports curiosity" but mostly because one of my best friends and her husband were starting a league and the promise of weekly updates -- brit trash talk!--by rich was too fun to pass up. (he's so good, he was able to parlay it into a paying gig, blogging the world cup for men's health magazine.) i hovered around the basement of the our league's standings, though i eventually pushed myself to a more respectable 3rd or 4th from the bottom. but to be truthful, all the things that real football fans probably geek out about--assembling a "dream team," mulling over "contracts" and managing the injuries and substitutions, week to week--turned out to be way beyond my level of interest.
will my fandom translate into points? meh. i just want to see if they could make a fun fantasy version of a sport i already love. and i need one more tennis distraction during my work day.
here's part of my team:
nadal. jan 15, 2011. photo © mark baker/ap via tennis.com
djokovic on jan 12. photo © ben solomon via australianopen.org
verdasco, with his cool hair. on jan 13. photo © getty images via australian open.org
and don't think i picked them for anything but their potential winning ways.
otherwise i might have picked...
tommy
marcel granollers (l), tommy robredo (r) after winning the heineken open doubles tourney.
in nz. jan 15, 2011. photo © wayne drough (ap/nzpa)
murray, because he'll go just far enough (and i won't ever pick federer or soderling. for anything);
almagro and isner, not because i actually like them or their games, but because nadal seems to have trouble against them (like my barometer?)...
i wanted to pick baghdatis, but a groin injury heading into the fortnight is not promising.
so: troicki, who (despite a loss yesterday) has been riding a good, strong wave. also, he makes the most desperate faces:
and my wild wild card? nishikori. 'cause he's with BG now, and i just like that pairing.
jan 15 © ap photo/rob griffith
photo © ap/rob griffith
photo © ap photo/rick rycroft
and my wild wild card? nishikori. 'cause he's with BG now, and i just like that pairing.
***
so that is fantasy.
this is compulsory (real tennis world insight from señor tignor):
men's preview: "can anyone kill off that ambidextrous euro-beast called fedal?"
the women's draw: "this whole women’s draw prediction is one massive caveat"
and
the "rivalry"(rafa/fed presser): guess who said, “i for sure am feeling less favorite than him,” he said, “and not more favorite than djokovic, murray, soderling, these kind of players, no?”
read up. it's "game on" soon...
