Growing up I watched Borg, Lendl, Connors, and McEnroe to name a few but was very fond of Lendl and now exciting to watch Djokovic who has a similar demeanor. It is a great sport to watch and also fun to bet on if you know the players well.
I picked Novak Djokovic to win last years Australian Open and was researching the brackets that was just released for 2009 and saw some amazing possible 4th round match-ups. The typical Aussie Open sites that display the brackets have printable versions but these are impossible to read and a mess to tape up and manage. Then I came across a crude but useful “You Pick Em” site that challenges users to pick their favorites:
http://www.britishtennis.net/pickem/pickemef%20128.htm
It helped me make my picks for winner (men’s only but looking for women’s bracket) and along the way am predicting this 4th round matchup:
- Rafael Nadal vs. Lleyton Hewitt
- Gael Monfils vs. Gilles Simon
- Andy Murray vs. Radek Stepanek
- James Blake vs. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
- Andy Roddick vs. David Nalbandian
- Marcos Baghdatis vs. Novak Djokovic
- Juan Martin del Potrovs. David Ferrer
- Stanislas Wawrinka vs. Roger Federer
Mardy Fish has ben playing some exceptional tennis and may be in the 4th round instead of Baghdatis. I have to see how they are playing the first and second rounds. As for the women, a clear favorite is Elena Dementieva who is due for a Grand Slam title.
As for the bracket tools, I did some research and saw some installable PC software that looked lame but found it strange that there are not easy to find online tools or apps to use that were fun and social.
If you stumble across this post and know of some tools please share them. Also check out the converted spreadsheet where you can check off the prediction and see how engaging and simple this is to create. The user-interface is horrible but nothing a nice pixel bedazzling could not cure.
Enjoy the Aussie Open and if you have DirectTV you will be able to see the games on Channels 701 – 707 from January 18 – 25th. This is a great user experience to see the early matches before it goes to the networks and is one great reason to have DirectTV – and also a Slingbox.
Filed under: Experience Design, Usability , bracket, data, information, match-ups, predictions, slingbox, Usability
This has to be the worst Australian Open I have watched in 10 years. I hope they have a good final to save “the show.”
The announcers are as dull as a dishwasher. They look bored and disappointed in the level of play. The players seem more reserved and not getting the fans into things. The most exciting match had to be the Gonzalez vs. Gasquet match which kept me up after “date night” and felt the grand slam had finally gotten started.
Closing the roof should have been done during the Djokovic match so the fans and viewers can watch some tennis. Whoever is in charge of the roof is going to be hunted down by bookies all over the world.
The roof closed makes it better television also. The shadows make it impossible to see the ball and the players get into the match instead of hiding in the shadows slowing down the pace of the game.
A note to Andy Roddick: you had the stuff to win this year but you did not bring it against Federer. If I had a serve like that I would learn a serve and volley game. You waited three seconds for the return of serve to get the ball in play instead of killing the floater.
Federer is on a mission to beat Nadal and send a message and it shows. Rafa is all business as well and looks frustrated that he has to play these amateurs just to get to the final.