STANDINGS:
1) SamuelMertensBertens 12.5 pts
Emma Raducanu 5.5 points: 2.5 pts for winning a Grand Slam, 1 pt for winning her first title, 1 pt for making top 20, 1 pt for making top 10.
Linda Fruhvirtova 1 point for winning her first title.
Diana Shnaider 2 points: 1 pt for winning her first title, 1 pt for making top 20.
Mirra Andreeva 4 points: 1 pt for winning her first title, 1 pt for making top 20. 1 pt for making top 10, 1 pt for making top 5
2) edy 7.5 pts
Marta Kostyuk 2 points: 1 pt for winning WTA title, 1 pt for making top 20,
Qinwen Zheng 5.5 points: 1 pt for making top 20, 1 pt for winning her first title, 1 pt for making top 10, 1.5 pts for reaching Slam final, 1 pt for making top 5.
3) Journeyman 4,5 pts
Leylah Fernandez 3.5 points: 1 pt for winning WTA title, 1,5 pts for reaching Slam final, 1 pt for making top 20.
Linda Noskova 1 point for winning her first title.
4) arrong 2 pts
Clara Tauson 2 points, one for winning her first title, one for making top 20.
5) wisewords 1 pt
Lois Boisson 1 point for winning her first title.

Lois won Good Hamburg

no Mirra Slam in 2025, which most likely was what was needed for this to be decided in 2025. Still an outside shot that some of my other flags reach 3 pts over the next 3 months, but very unlikely. Comp going into 2026 would mean protected flags for flag comp 2 can only be born 2008 or later, meaning no Mirra, Valentova, Jovic, Jamrichova etc (all born 2007).

check her DOB again, edy

woah, what an old player to flag!

She might win Sao Paulo so could be a good strategy.

Team arrong
Clara Tauson 2 pts Current ranking 12 (62)
Daria Lopatetska Current ranking outside top 1000 (outside 1000)

Team nofx
Polina Kudermetova Current ranking 65 (126)

Team edy
Whitney Osuigwe Current ranking 136 (376)
Marta Kostyuk 2 pts Current ranking 25 (17)
Joelle Lilly Sophie Steur Current ranking 484 (702)
Noma Noha Akugue Current ranking 349 (209)
Alex Eala Current ranking 61 (148)
Qinwen Zheng 5.5 pts Current ranking 9 (7)
Nikola Bartunkova Current ranking 228 (397)
Ksenia Efremova Current ranking 703 (868)
Renata Jamrichova Current ranking 272 (468)
Julia Stusek Current ranking 880 (outside top 1000 )
Hannah Klugman Current ranking 531 (515)
Laura Samson Current ranking 320 (370)
Julieta Pareja Current ranking 355 (not flagged a year ago)
Darja Vidmanova Current ranking 161 (not flagged a year ago)


Team Journeyman
Michaela Laki Current ranking outside top 1000 (553)
Leylah Fernandez 3.5 pts Current ranking 28 (28)
Diane Parry Current ranking 100 (50)
Linda Noskova 1 pt Current ranking 29 (25)
Erika Andreeva Current ranking 206 (70)
Robin Montgomery Current ranking 186 (107)
Victoria Mboko 1 pt Current ranking 23 (319)
Kristina Dmitruk Current ranking 254 (437)
Marina Stakušić Current ranking 155 (149)
Mia Ristić Current ranking 300 (412)
Emerson Jones Current ranking 180 (not flagged a year ago)
Tereza Valentova Current ranking 77 (not flagged a year ago)

Team Caramba
Linda Fruhvirtova 1 pt Current ranking 137 (181)
Daria Snigur Current ranking 185 (123)
Brenda Fruhvirtova Current ranking 822 (122)
Katrina Scott Current ranking 561 (292)
Olivia Gadecki Current ranking 129 (83)
Emma Raducanu 5.5 pts Current ranking 34 (57)
Mirra Andreeva 4 pts Current ranking 5 (19)
Lucie Havlickova Current ranking 647 (582)
Barbora Palicova Current ranking 196 (222)
Alina Korneeva Current ranking 163 (227)
Diana Shnaider 2 pts Current ranking 19 (16)
Iva Jovic Current ranking 73 (216)
Wakana Sonobe Current ranking 266 (not flagged a year ago)
Ashlyn Krueger Current ranking 42 (not flagged a year ago)

Team n88
Ane Mintegi del Olmo Current ranking 458 (544)
Sara Bejlek Current ranking 113 (125)
Petra Marcinko Current ranking 127 (303)

Team wisewords
Victoria Jiménez Kasintseva Current ranking 123 (152)
Taylah Preston Current ranking 259 (156)
Sofia Costoulas Current ranking 173 (286)
Priska Madelyn Nugroho Current ranking 319 (562)
Clervie Ngounoue Current ranking 176 (255)
Mia Pohánková Current ranking 460 (not flagged a year ago)
Lois Boisson 1 pt Current ranking 47 (not flagged a year ago)

I'd like to forget about that Pareja one.

STANDINGS:
1) SamuelMertensBertens 13.5 pts
Emma Raducanu 5.5 points: 2.5 pts for winning a Grand Slam, 1 pt for winning her first title, 1 pt for making top 20, 1 pt for making top 10.
Linda Fruhvirtova 1 point for winning her first title.
Diana Shnaider 2 points: 1 pt for winning her first title, 1 pt for making top 20.
Mirra Andreeva 4 points: 1 pt for winning her first title, 1 pt for making top 20. 1 pt for making top 10, 1 pt for making top 5
Iva Jovic 1 point for winning her first title.
2) edy 7.5 pts
Marta Kostyuk 2 points: 1 pt for winning WTA title, 1 pt for making top 20,
Qinwen Zheng 5.5 points: 1 pt for making top 20, 1 pt for winning her first title, 1 pt for making top 10, 1.5 pts for reaching Slam final, 1 pt for making top 5.
3) Journeyman 5,5 pts
Leylah Fernandez 3.5 points: 1 pt for winning WTA title, 1,5 pts for reaching Slam final, 1 pt for making top 20.
Linda Noskova 1 point for winning her first title.
Victoria Mboko 1 point for winning her first title.
4) arrong 2 pts
Clara Tauson 2 points, one for winning her first title, one for making top 20.
5) wisewords 1 pt
Lois Boisson 1 point for winning her first title.

Jovic won Guadalajara.

Emiliana cried during her speech and said nice words about Iva so she started crying a bit too.

So it's now confirmed this comp won't be decided this year. If it were to be decided in 2026, that would mean that for Flag comp #2 one protected pick of players born 2008 and later can be used and all other picks would be players born 2009 and later.

The first few months of 2026 could have been a really dramatic crescendo in this epic bunfight.
With Mboko, Noskova and LAF pushing hard towards the top 10 and Valentova looking like the real deal I could have had a real charge.

Caramba's ongoing refusal to put back the Schnaider points that BOTH his main rivals objected to (plus not adding points for anyone but himself, Vicky went top 20 two months ago) has dampened my enthusiasm for making serious (ie not established on the tour) picks

Instead of going on about it (especially without edy to back me up now) I'll just make two picks that give me the best chance in the circumstances. I don't really care about any of Joint, JBM or Lys (who N88 should have picked years ago) but they're all obviously going to go top 20 imminently so I'll roll a die to decide. 1 or 2 is Joint, 3 or 4 is JBM, 5 or 6 is Lys.

I've rolled a 5 then a 4. So

Pick 1 Eva Lys
Pick 2 Jéssica Bouzas Maneiro

Pity it ends like this. It was fun for a while.

Maya Joint looks in good form and will get enough from the Oz swing to go top 20
It doesn't make sense for you not to pick her and take the free point (the same with my silly Lys and JBM picks above)

There's no skill involved though, the same as picking Schnaider 20 minutes before she won a WTA title

However I'm aware I'm now just moaning on this thread so this will be my last post on either thread and I'll end on a positive thought

The format under its current rules doesn't work because contestants can just hijack it a few years in by making free point grabbing picks (which you did with Schnaider) but the experiment was interesting and the point values seemed about right. In particular the 1.5 points for reaching a slam final was well thought out. There's the makings of a good format contest if the rules were stricter and flags had to be picked before they became established. For example the rule could be no picks once a player plays a main draw match on the main tour which would still allow someone to pick a player that looked exciting in qualies. If there was something like that I would get involved in the future although the other issue is that the phorum seems to be fading away!

Thanks for running it anyway. It was an interesting experiment

Taylah Preston in a WTA semi final!

https://x.com/AustralianOpen/status/2017478829124571371

no points for making a juniors final, but possibly a sign of good things to come.

STANDINGS:
1) SamuelMertensBertens 14.5 pts
Emma Raducanu 5.5 points: 2.5 pts for winning a Grand Slam, 1 pt for winning her first title, 1 pt for making top 20, 1 pt for making top 10.
Linda Fruhvirtova 1 point for winning her first title.
Diana Shnaider 2 points: 1 pt for winning her first title, 1 pt for making top 20.
Mirra Andreeva 4 points: 1 pt for winning her first title, 1 pt for making top 20. 1 pt for making top 10, 1 pt for making top 5.
Iva Jovic 2 points: 1 point for winning her first title, 1 pt for making top 20.
2) Journeyman 8.5 pts
Leylah Fernandez 3.5 points: 1 pt for winning WTA title, 1,5 pts for reaching Slam final, 1 pt for making top 20.
Linda Noskova 2 points: 1 pt for winning her first title, 1 pt for making top 20.
Victoria Mboko 3 points: 1 pt for winning her first title, 1 pt for making top 20, 1 pt for making top 10.
3) edy 7.5 pts
Marta Kostyuk 2 points: 1 pt for winning WTA title, 1 pt for making top 20,
Qinwen Zheng 5.5 points: 1 pt for making top 20, 1 pt for winning her first title, 1 pt for making top 10, 1.5 pts for reaching Slam final, 1 pt for making top 5.
4) arrong 2 pts
Clara Tauson 2 points, 1 pt for winning her first title, 1 pt for making top 20.
5) wisewords 1 pt
Lois Boisson 1 point for winning her first title.
5) n88uk 1 pt
Sara Bejlek 1 point for winning her first title.

when do you gain your last points needed? when Iva makes top 10 or when Mirra wins RG?

STANDINGS:
1) SamuelMertensBertens 14.5 pts
Emma Raducanu 5.5 points: 2.5 pts for winning a Grand Slam, 1 pt for winning her first title, 1 pt for making top 20, 1 pt for making top 10.
Linda Fruhvirtova 1 point for winning her first title.
Diana Shnaider 2 points: 1 pt for winning her first title, 1 pt for making top 20.
Mirra Andreeva 4 points: 1 pt for winning her first title, 1 pt for making top 20. 1 pt for making top 10, 1 pt for making top 5.
Iva Jovic 2 points: 1 point for winning her first title, 1 pt for making top 20.
2) Journeyman 8.5 pts
Leylah Fernandez 3.5 points: 1 pt for winning WTA title, 1,5 pts for reaching Slam final, 1 pt for making top 20.
Linda Noskova 2 points: 1 pt for winning her first title, 1 pt for making top 20.
Victoria Mboko 3 points: 1 pt for winning her first title, 1 pt for making top 20, 1 pt for making top 10.
3) edy 7.5 pts
Marta Kostyuk 2 points: 1 pt for winning WTA title, 1 pt for making top 20,
Qinwen Zheng 5.5 points: 1 pt for making top 20, 1 pt for winning her first title, 1 pt for making top 10, 1.5 pts for reaching Slam final, 1 pt for making top 5.
4) arrong 2 pts
Clara Tauson 2 points, 1 pt for winning her first title, 1 pt for making top 20.
5) n88uk 2 pts
Sara Bejlek 1 point for winning her first title.
Petra Marcinko 1 point for winning her first title.
6) wisewords 1 pt
Lois Boisson 1 point for winning her first title.

Marcinko won Rabat.

and that might not even help with Shnaider also having a great shot at making the final.