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As the 2024 M.I.A. stakes proved popular and participants requested one for next year, here is the 2025 motley crew.
This is a simple challenge. Predict whether each of four players will play at least 20 competitive singles tennis matches in 2025.
One point for each correct prediction.
Maximum score is 4 points but can anyone land the perfect score?
Deadline for guesses 21st December 2024.
Previously asked questions - Matches played on any tour count. Matches played in team competition count. Exhibitions do not count.
Note. This competition will only run with at least six entrants but hopefully we get a few more participation this year.
I will post my own selections in late December. Here's a little more information about the 2025 players.
Simona Halep. Reason for inclusion - Simona has played very few matches since her return and has been losing in the first round of several events. George Cosac of the Romanian Tennis Federation is quoted by spotmedia.ro as having said to Prosport that 'Her major problem now is the ranking. Without a ranking, she cannot participate in tournaments. It will depend on the organizers. Some give her wild cards, others do not! You cannot make a clear schedule because these wild cards come every 2, every 4. The chance would be to receive a wild card at a big tournament, otherwise she cannot improve and reach a better position. Otherwise, there is no other option'
Richard Gasquet. Reason for inclusion - The French star (considered by many to have the best one handed backhand in open era tennis but who has never won a slam) is retiring after the French Open in 2025 which means participants have to consider if he will play enough matches by 8th of June 2025. He does seem to be enjoying his final year of competitive play and has been entering a relatively high number of tournaments.
Bianca Andreescu. Reason for inclusion - The 2019 US Open champion is something of an enigma. She has had well documented injury issues. This year has been a mixture of absence, early losses and the occasional eyecatching scalp (beating Linda N en route to reaching the third round at Wimbledon and taking down Osaka en route to her only final of the year in June.) After Canada won the BJK Cup in 2023 without Bianca, she expressed eagerness to participate this year but pulled out two weeks ago (5 November). Before this in the summer she had written an extremely interesting article called 'I found my joy in tennis again and wrote about it', source link included below. Well worth a read. She's also a childrens author.
https://www.theplayerstribune.com/posts/bianca-andreescu-tennis
Nick Kyrgios. Reason for inclusion - Kyrgios seemed to enjoy commentating on matches in 2024 but aside from playing in Patrick Mouratoglou's Ultimate Tennis Showdown event (in which he played quite well) he didn't play competitive tennis in 2024. The BBC website confirmed three days ago that 'Nick Kyrgios says he feels "fit and healthy" after announcing he will return to competitive tennis at the Brisbane International at the end of December.
.../.."It has been a long journey of recovery to be where I am today," Kyrgios said. "One of the goals I had set was to be able to play during the Aussie summer so I am excited that I get to start in Brisbane, which is one of my favourite tournaments."
As the Brisbane International starts on 29th December, it seems fair that all entries be posted at least a week in advance so please enter by midnight on 21 December 2024 CET. Also due to Brisbane, any competitive matches played from 29 December onwards will be counted towards the final total.
How to play
To enter simply type a yes or a no for Halep, Gasquet, Andreescu, Kyrgios in that order.
eg typing 'NO YES YES NO' would be taken to mean that you think Gasquet and Andreescu will reach 20 matches but Halep and Kyrgios will not.
If there is a tie first place will be shared. (I considered including the round Gasquet reaches at the French open as a tiebreaker but decided against this to keep things simple and encourage participation.)
Everyone is welcome to play! The tennis phorum have spent 2024 spewing nonsense all over the politics phorum so you don't have to be a tennis phorum regular to take part in this.
This is a simple challenge. Predict whether each of four players will play at least 20 competitive singles tennis matches in 2025.
One point for each correct prediction.
Maximum score is 4 points but can anyone land the perfect score?
Deadline for guesses 21st December 2024.
Previously asked questions - Matches played on any tour count. Matches played in team competition count. Exhibitions do not count.
Note. This competition will only run with at least six entrants but hopefully we get a few more participation this year.
I will post my own selections in late December. Here's a little more information about the 2025 players.
Simona Halep. Reason for inclusion - Simona has played very few matches since her return and has been losing in the first round of several events. George Cosac of the Romanian Tennis Federation is quoted by spotmedia.ro as having said to Prosport that 'Her major problem now is the ranking. Without a ranking, she cannot participate in tournaments. It will depend on the organizers. Some give her wild cards, others do not! You cannot make a clear schedule because these wild cards come every 2, every 4. The chance would be to receive a wild card at a big tournament, otherwise she cannot improve and reach a better position. Otherwise, there is no other option'
Richard Gasquet. Reason for inclusion - The French star (considered by many to have the best one handed backhand in open era tennis but who has never won a slam) is retiring after the French Open in 2025 which means participants have to consider if he will play enough matches by 8th of June 2025. He does seem to be enjoying his final year of competitive play and has been entering a relatively high number of tournaments.
Bianca Andreescu. Reason for inclusion - The 2019 US Open champion is something of an enigma. She has had well documented injury issues. This year has been a mixture of absence, early losses and the occasional eyecatching scalp (beating Linda N en route to reaching the third round at Wimbledon and taking down Osaka en route to her only final of the year in June.) After Canada won the BJK Cup in 2023 without Bianca, she expressed eagerness to participate this year but pulled out two weeks ago (5 November). Before this in the summer she had written an extremely interesting article called 'I found my joy in tennis again and wrote about it', source link included below. Well worth a read. She's also a childrens author.
https://www.theplayerstribune.com/posts/bianca-andreescu-tennis
Nick Kyrgios. Reason for inclusion - Kyrgios seemed to enjoy commentating on matches in 2024 but aside from playing in Patrick Mouratoglou's Ultimate Tennis Showdown event (in which he played quite well) he didn't play competitive tennis in 2024. The BBC website confirmed three days ago that 'Nick Kyrgios says he feels "fit and healthy" after announcing he will return to competitive tennis at the Brisbane International at the end of December.
.../.."It has been a long journey of recovery to be where I am today," Kyrgios said. "One of the goals I had set was to be able to play during the Aussie summer so I am excited that I get to start in Brisbane, which is one of my favourite tournaments."
As the Brisbane International starts on 29th December, it seems fair that all entries be posted at least a week in advance so please enter by midnight on 21 December 2024 CET. Also due to Brisbane, any competitive matches played from 29 December onwards will be counted towards the final total.
How to play
To enter simply type a yes or a no for Halep, Gasquet, Andreescu, Kyrgios in that order.
eg typing 'NO YES YES NO' would be taken to mean that you think Gasquet and Andreescu will reach 20 matches but Halep and Kyrgios will not.
If there is a tie first place will be shared. (I considered including the round Gasquet reaches at the French open as a tiebreaker but decided against this to keep things simple and encourage participation.)
Everyone is welcome to play! The tennis phorum have spent 2024 spewing nonsense all over the politics phorum so you don't have to be a tennis phorum regular to take part in this.
Show More
I'll do my own selections now to get things started (and in case I get hit by a car or something before Brisbane)
NO NO YES NO
NO NO YES NO
Good luck to you in regards to not getting hit by a car before (and also after!) the start of Brisbane.
I once posted a thread for the mouse trap comp on the politics forum by accident (
), but it didn't gain any additional entries. It was even Wimbledon I think....
), but it didn't gain any additional entries. It was even Wimbledon I think....
Bianca Andreescu. Reason for inclusion - The 2019 US Open champion is something of an enigma. She has had well documented injury issues. This year has been a mixture of absence, early losses and the occasional eyecatching scalp (beating Linda N en route to reaching the third round at Wimbledon and taking down Osaka en route to her only final of the year in June.) After Canada won the BJK Cup in 2023 without Bianca, she expressed eagerness to participate this year but pulled out two weeks ago (5 November). Before this in the summer she had written an extremely interesting article called 'I found my joy in tennis again and wrote about it', source link included below. Well worth a read. She's also a childrens author.
Great reason :)
Great reason :)
YES YES YES YES (very unsure about Simona, fairly confident about the others)
Just to clarify: Competitive matches are all ATP, WTA and ITF sanctioned professional matches, right? So including Davis/BJK Cup, WTA125, ATP challengers, ITF tournaments and qualification draws of tournaments?
Good question about qualifiers. that wasn't really much of a factor last year but it could well be this year. I'd prefer to keep things as simple and clear as possible so let's exclude qualifiers. (If that affects Caramba's decision on Simona I'll accept any correction he wants to make this week).
Main draw singles matches of all tours acceptable. If a tennis player wants to drop down below their usual main tour level to get matches under their belt that should be encouraged so WTA125, ATP challenegers, ITF tournaments (aka 'Brendas') all count.
For the BJK cup and Davis cup all singles matches count to keep things simple.
Main draw singles matches of all tours acceptable. If a tennis player wants to drop down below their usual main tour level to get matches under their belt that should be encouraged so WTA125, ATP challenegers, ITF tournaments (aka 'Brendas') all count.
For the BJK cup and Davis cup all singles matches count to keep things simple.
Just 2 weeks left to get enough entries last date to enter 21st December. Anything less than six and it's scrapped so hopefully we get some posts. There are 16 possible combinations so Caramba did well to get a perfect score last year.
So far we have
NO NO YES NO
YES YES YES YES (Wisewords won't be happy!)
So far we have
NO NO YES NO
YES YES YES YES (Wisewords won't be happy!)
I'm guessing caramba was relying on qualies when doing his Simona calculations.
(In case you missed it I've said you can resubmit if you want to this week)
Meanwhile Bibi has pulled out of Auckland as reported by Stephanie Myles
'Andreescu, who was announced a little over a month ago as a big name for the season opening ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, withdrew last week.
The tournament director, Nicolas Lamperin, said Andreescu withdrew “for personal reasons“. And when asked to elaborate, he would not.'
Full article here
https://opencourt.ca/2024/12/04/bianca-andreescu-2025-late-withdrawal-auckland/
(In case you missed it I've said you can resubmit if you want to this week)
Meanwhile Bibi has pulled out of Auckland as reported by Stephanie Myles
'Andreescu, who was announced a little over a month ago as a big name for the season opening ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, withdrew last week.
The tournament director, Nicolas Lamperin, said Andreescu withdrew “for personal reasons“. And when asked to elaborate, he would not.'
Full article here
https://opencourt.ca/2024/12/04/bianca-andreescu-2025-late-withdrawal-auckland/
Not just Simona. Every pick I make I take qualies into consideration. Well, maybe with the exception of Nick.
Hmm, pregnancy would be a personal reason.
Hmm, pregnancy would be a personal reason.
Personal reasons for Andreescu tend to be mental health timeouts imo.
YES! YES! YES! YES!
least likely to make it for me is Bianca, but with 20 matches being such a low threshold I think she'll probably end up with a total between 25 and 30 matches for the season.
the one I find most boring out of your 4 selected players is Gasquet. I would have preferred Raducanu over him, and other interesting contenders would have been Ons (always getting injured/dodgy knee), Kenin (career seems to be flopping hard) and Sloane (seems near the end)..
lastly, I don't think we're going to get at least 6 entrants before the deadline
least likely to make it for me is Bianca, but with 20 matches being such a low threshold I think she'll probably end up with a total between 25 and 30 matches for the season.
the one I find most boring out of your 4 selected players is Gasquet. I would have preferred Raducanu over him, and other interesting contenders would have been Ons (always getting injured/dodgy knee), Kenin (career seems to be flopping hard) and Sloane (seems near the end)..
lastly, I don't think we're going to get at least 6 entrants before the deadline
It's not a WTA only comp. Richard is a fun selection because we know he's only playing til Roland Garros.
And no, we are not getting six entrants. We could have a date with Genie Bouchard as first prize and all these fun phorum comps would still only get four entrants :(
No No Yes No (JM)
Yes Yes Yes Yes (SaMeBe)
Yes No Yes Yes (edy)
Yes Yes Yes Yes (wisewords)
Okay, just in case there's a bit of post-Christmas interest from others let's extend the deadline till the end of the 28th.
Yes Yes Yes Yes (SaMeBe)
Yes No Yes Yes (edy)
Yes Yes Yes Yes (wisewords)
Okay, just in case there's a bit of post-Christmas interest from others let's extend the deadline till the end of the 28th.
Dec 19, 2024 -- 7:10PM, SamuelMertensBertens wrote:
And no, we are not getting six entrants. We could have a date with Genie Bouchard as first prize and all these fun phorum comps would still only get four entrants :(
A date with Rafa and we'd get 5 (if Grant got to know about it and someone relayed his choices).
https://twitter.com/TheGxcn/status/1872267711293898786
Simona withdraws from Aussie/NZ events
Simona withdraws from Aussie/NZ events
actual link here
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GfubTsrXEAAjtq3?format=jpg&name=900x900
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GfubTsrXEAAjtq3?format=jpg&name=900x900
delaying the start of her season due to shoulder and knee pain. not good signs at all
A few days ago I was going to brag how brilliant my Halep "yes" was after she had been given the wild cards. Good thing I refrained.
While we haven't had confirmation on whether this is going ahead or not due to not reachign six contestants, I can't help but notice there's a lot of this going on at the moment.
[ This image is no longer available. ]
[ This image is no longer available. ]
Even though we didn't get 6 entrants, and this presumably didn't go ahead, these are the numbers so far with a few weeks left of the season.
Gasquet 11
Andreescu 16 (22 if qualifiers had counted like last year)
Halep 1
Kyrgios 5
so could be four no's unless Bianca gets a bunch of matches in.
I would have preferred Raducanu over him, and other interesting contenders would have been Ons (always getting injured/dodgy knee), Kenin (career seems to be flopping hard) and Sloane (seems near the end)..
Kenin already made nearly 50 matches, Less Rich Emma 50, Ons and her dodgy knee made 30 matches despite not having played since Wimbledon (this surprised me), Sloane just 6 matches.
Gasquet 11
Andreescu 16 (22 if qualifiers had counted like last year)
Halep 1
Kyrgios 5
so could be four no's unless Bianca gets a bunch of matches in.
I would have preferred Raducanu over him, and other interesting contenders would have been Ons (always getting injured/dodgy knee), Kenin (career seems to be flopping hard) and Sloane (seems near the end)..
Kenin already made nearly 50 matches, Less Rich Emma 50, Ons and her dodgy knee made 30 matches despite not having played since Wimbledon (this surprised me), Sloane just 6 matches.
yay, 5-way tie due to comp not happening! Enjoy your shared win!
In hindsight it would have been good to play this out as having a year of predominantly 'NO' (2025) after a year of predominantly 'YES' (2024) would have demonstrated the 20 singles match target was pretty much spot on.
If at least six potential contestants post on here 'I will play' before the end of the Australian Open, I will run a 2026 edition.
That seems fair and keeps the window open during one of the busiest times of year. If there's no interest then I won't run it.
If at least six potential contestants post on here 'I will play' before the end of the Australian Open, I will run a 2026 edition.
That seems fair and keeps the window open during one of the busiest times of year. If there's no interest then I won't run it.
To clarify I'll obviously play so the minimum requirement is Jm plus six
I'm open to suggestions for the four players to use, ideally two men and two women. Do we use Nick again
I'm open to suggestions for the four players to use, ideally two men and two women. Do we use Nick again
NK will be back in another 10 years, to obliterate the reigning ladies no.1 on a pickleball court.
His performace against Sabalenka in that novelty exhibition did at least generate a lot of column inches for the sport compared to his other vaunted appearance of 2025 in the UTS. He actually played better in that but at least in the UK it didn't seem to get very much press attention that I saw.
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