At last the final slam of the year arrives and we have our own prediction competion to run along side this. :clap: Some of you will be old hands at this, but some of you might be new so I'll explain everthing from scratch. :) The glamourous LiamValid (aka King of Hard :D )and I will be running this comp.

How Points are Awarded

A list of matches is put up every day; you have to predict the score in sets - best of 3 womens and best of 5 mens; some doubles will also be involved, best of 3. If you get the correct score right, e.g 2-0, 2-1,3-2, 3-1, 3-0 you will receive 3 points. If you get the right winner but in the wrong number of sets you get 1 point. Scores added up each day and there will be a Daily Winner, announced on the results thread, along with all scores for that day. I will accumulate all points over the duration of the USO and produce a league table of scores, updated daily, awarding trophies for the winner and runners up. It is therefore in your interests to ensure you play daily to to stand a chance of winning the whole tournament. :ok: However if you cannot do so OR prefer not to do so you can still take part in the daily competition as and when you wish. :ok:

There will also be additional scores for the mens and the womens side of the tournie, so if you favour one over the other, you should still enter as you just might win. If you prefer to enter one side only that is fine. :ok :

Matches Selected

We do a selction of matches, more in the early stages as more to chose from. But in the earlier stages we don't do every match as it is too many really. There might be less womens that mens esp. early on but that is because the early round womens' are generally less competitive than the mens and posters have agreed they prefer more mens.

CheckingYour Scores / Disputes Over Scores

There are a lot of points to add up and I do double check. However, i do make mistakes so would prefer it if everyone can keep an eye on their own scores please, and if there are any discrepancies please send me a PM or add it onto the results thread; I'll check it out and let you know, and pleeeeeasee don't be embarrassed to do so - you won't be penalised if you are wrong - although a :cheers: might make me more amenable roflmao


If You Want to Enter the Whole thing But Will Miss a Day ........

I understand folks will have days when it is just not possible to get on line to predict. In the past we've used the 2-0/3-0 system to allow you to predict in your absence. It means that you take the favourite to win 2-0 or 3-0 only. And by the favourite we mean the highest seeded and then higest ranked of the two players involved. Sometimes this pays off. sometimes it doesn't, but it is the only fair way we can think of to do such a thing. :) We call this the 2-0/-0 System.

Use of 2-0/3-0 System

Obviously we must put limits on the use of this to be fair to regular predictors. If you wish to take advantage of this, please let me know in advance of start of play. However, you may only do this 4 times throughout the course of the tournie in total. Sorry but no exceptions will be made. :) If you have predicted every day so far by the end of week one (Sun 2nd Sept) and don't notify me in advance that you want to 2-0/3-0 system BUT miss a day without explanation I will award you the system automatically; however you will still need to stick to the maximum of 4 times in the tournie rules and any such days missed will be included in that. Sorry if this sounds complicated but it is to avoid a player going AWOL as it were for a long period or most part of the tournie and not actively predicting BUt winning to the annoyance of some posters who have made an effort to participate on a more regular basis.

Time Predictions Will be Diplayed on CC/Matches In Progress

The USO will generally begin at 4pm GMT, 11 am local time. Myself and Liam live in England and every effort will be made to get the day's predictions on here asap, but due to the time difference we are looking at doing this in general no ealrier than about 10am but by 12 noon. The order of play is often out after I've gone to bed so it's hard to get it up earlier. If any problems are anticipated getting this out on time we might ask for a volunteer to put the mtches up. Thanks :) We will always do our best to get the matches out as soon as we can, thanks. :)

If you predict after start of play that is fine BUt any matches in progress will be VOID. If you could be so kind as to check that when you predict and declare it it will be appreciated. Ta :ok:

ANYWAY, everyone is welcome no matter what they deem thier skill level to be, it's a fun comp and the more the merrier so PLEASE enter. We often have a laugh over the day' s poor scores! roflmao So do join in, you are most welcome. And any queries on the rules, please do not hesitate to contact me by PM or post here.

Hope this is not too formal - I'm just laying the ground rules to avoid any diputes.

Thanks a lot :ok:

SB :D

PS it starts later today so I'm posting the matches to predict now .

Just an update on use so far of the 2-0/3-0 System

To let you know where you are as at Mon 3rd Sept, Day 8 of the USO, in terms of how many more times you may use the system. :)

Felix - 0
Sam - 1
Liam/Dark - 2
Scolios/Pebs/Fah/Jo/WB - 3
Everyone else - 4

If anyone goes missing for a day without warning, at this stage they will now get an automatic use of the system provided they have enough left to use.

Any disputes, let me know but I'm pretty certain I've got this right as I've checked the records. Cheers :)

Have only just read the ground rules, SB - as clear as a bell and very fair :bow:

I suggest we keep these for every prediction contest, with necessary minor adjustments (e.g. when all the matches are best of 3, as in the ATP /WTA tour)

Thanks Scolios :)

Maybe they will need the odd tweak here an there but at least so far there have been no disputes, and confusion over the rules leading to unfair awarding of points etc. In fact all the predictors have been good as gold, stuck to the rules, been honest etc. and I'm not paying them! roflmao

The rules are already around somewhere, i remember DJ pinning them up for me a while back. I cant remember where she put em though roflmao

they';re around here somewhere.....i remember putting them somewhere very safe, so that they wouldn't get lost......and at some point i'll remember where that place was :blink:

i think SB's rules go a bit further with the way the 2-0/3-0 rules work and about what happens if you predict late :ok:

i'm still sure she missed a line out that said "any admin will be awarded and extra 10 points a day, and any admin with a chainsaw will automatically win" - but never mind :unsure: :P

Now that is extortion Jo :lol:

I wished I'd put a rule in that said Wise Analyst gets a 300 point deduction at the end to give us a chance of winning! :lol: Onyl kidding Wise.

I dont understand this.Can you PM me and explain!Maybe Im being blonde!

I'm blonde so shut it! roflmao

Any particular part you don't understand or do you wan tme to go through the lot? :)