Fantasy Wimbledon: the follow up

By Simon Cambers

Congratulations to everyone who played in the first ever Fantasy Wimbledon, which we hope added to your enjoyment throughout another incredible fortnight of tennis.

More than 25,000 of you took part and more than 1,880 mini-leagues were created, so well done if you out-gunned your work colleagues, friends or family to score those precious bragging rights.

Selecting the idea line-up, and making the best possible changes at the right times was key to success, but a bit of luck never hurt either. Many of you, for example, may have picked Nick Kyrgios, at 50, early on, not knowing that he would go on to be one of the stars of the tournament and without doubt the star bargain of Fantasy Wimbledon.

Indeed, the young Australian was among the top three points-scorers in two of the five categories; in serve, where aces counted for three points and double-faults docked you three points, and on power, where every winner counted double and unforced errors cost you one point each. Kyrgios was second in serve and third in power, not bad for someone who went out in the quarter-finals.

Seven-times champion Roger Federer was a very popular choice, with many people making him their wild card, scoring them double points for his efforts in that attribute throughout the game. Federer made the top three in three categories; second on power, topping the list on net play (two points for a net winner, minus one for a mistake) and third on mind (seven points per break of serve).

Both champions, as you might expect, performed well. Novak Djokovic topped the points scoring in mind and interestingly, second on net play. Ladies' champion Petra Kvitova, whose serve and forehand were keys to her second title, interestingly led the way on returns and was second in mind.

And Milos Raonic was a very popular choice, thanks in part to his terrible poor record in the previous three years making him a bargain to those who knew how good he could be. The Canadian topped the power and serve categories, which rewarded winners.

The top three performers on returns – one point per percentage of return points won – were all women. The fact that there are more breaks of serve in the women’s game than the men’s was not overlooked by many users and Kvitova was followed closely by runner-up Eugenie Bouchard and semi-finalist Simona Halep.

Others to make the top three in categories included Grigor Dimitrov, third in net play and John Isner, who managed to make it to third in serve, despite playing only four matches. Look out for him again next year if he has a good draw.

Thank you to everyone who took part and especially to those of you who made suggestions for how the game can be even more fun next time. We hope you enjoyed the experience.

MIND