2024 US Open Forum Comp (Mouse Trap Trophy) - men's Edition

Ayo, with the US Open main draw starting on Monday it's time for y'all to get yourselves some mad props by participating in this fire comp and winning it. Going into the tournament we have snowynoon and SamuelMertens with two titles each on the year so far, trailed by Blencathra and stocks with one each.

HOW TO PLAY:

Rule changes compared to Wimbledon - None (Veterans need not necessarily read the below):

Basic rules:

For each day of play, pick one player that you think will win their match. If your player wins, you advance to the next day and get to pick again. If your player loses, you are out. Each player can only be chosen once over the course of the tournament. The picks continue every day until only one person is left, everyone has been eliminated, or the tournament has finished. Each pick has to be submitted before the relevant match starts and once you've submitted the pick, you are stuck with it unless the match did not happen due to a prematch withdrawal. In that case you get to submit a new pick. That's the basic rules already.

Tiebreaker:

If multiple people go out on the same day and no-one remains, these last people to go out submit their best educated judgements regarding the outcome of the final match of the tournament - winner of the final, amount of sets lost by the winner, amount of games lost by the winner, points won by the winner. Judged also in that order. If both are the same in winner, then we go to sets. If both also had the same number of sets, then we go to games. If that's also still the same or the same difference to the actual number, then points won. That should hopefully always lead to a conclusion.

To enable that, those tiebreaker judgements will be sent to me per private message (or maybe X in some cases) instead of being publically announced in the thread. If the tiebreaker involves me, we'd have to find someone else who accepts the private messages, but I'm positive that will not be a problem.

Onto the cases:

Case: A pick I made became invalid because the match didn't happen due to a withdrawal. I have a life and don't sit on the computer all day to monitor such things, so wasn't able to submit a replacement pick. Am I screwed?
Decision: No, there is a backup solution. The last to start eligible favourite (I will use average odds on tennisexplorer.com) of the day is automatically entered for you. Eligible means player that had not been picked yet on a previous day.

Case: There was a retirement. Does the pick still count?
Decision: Yes, picks count the moment 1 ball has been played in the match.

Case: I looked at the wrong schedule and picked a player that doesn't even play. What now?
Decision: Please submit a new pick.

Case: A lot of matches were rescheduled for the next day due to rain. Can I pick from those on the new day?
Decision: No, rescheduled matches are not eligible to be picked from. If this situation arises, I will try to post a list of ineligible matches.

Case: I have the same amount of winning picks as someone else, but I ran out of picks whereas the other person was able to make another pick (which then lost). What happens?
Decision: The other person finishes ahead of you. Think of it this way. The moment you ran out of picks to make, you navigated your bicycle into a big mountain of dung. You are unharmed, but you cannot continue your ride on the bike. The other person only rode their bike into the pile of dung the moment their pick lost, which is a long time after you did it. Therefore the other person made it further and gets to finish ahead of you.

Case: I have a great suggestion for the comp. Am I allowed to tell you and others?
Decision: Sure, suggestions are always welcome!

At the end, glory, lots of forum cred, and an entry into the competition's Hall of Fame awaits the ultimate winner. The Hall of Fame can be found at:

https://community.betfair.com/tennis/go/thread/view/94186/30945693/suicide-pool-winners-throughout-the-years

I hope that covers everything. If there are any additional questions, feel free to ask.