Okay, let me walk you through how I got into this whole ‘Tristan Schoolkate prediction’ thing. It wasn’t like some big data project, more of a personal pastime that just sort of happened.
How It Started
Honestly, it began pretty randomly. I remember I was stuck indoors for a few days, nursing a really annoying cold, flicking through some obscure sports channels late at night. Saw this young Aussie guy, Tristan Schoolkate, playing in some Challenger tournament. Wasn’t a big name match, but something about his game caught my eye. Maybe it was the energy, or maybe I was just bored stiff.
Around the same time, things at my old side hustle were getting really unpredictable. Deadlines shifting, client demands changing constantly – you know the drill. It was frustrating. So, partly out of boredom from being sick, and partly as a weird way to engage with something unpredictable but low stakes, I thought, “Hey, let me just try and guess if this Schoolkate guy will win his next match.” Just for kicks.
The Actual Process – Nothing Fancy
So, the next time I saw he had a match scheduled, I made a mental note. Then I’d just jot down ‘Win’ or ‘Loss’ on a sticky note I kept near my computer. That was literally it at the start. Super basic.
- Watched a few more of his matches when I could find streams.
- Started checking basic stuff online before making a guess. Like, who was he playing? What surface was it? Had he won or lost his last couple of matches? Took maybe two minutes.
- Kept my little log going. Sometimes in a notebook, sometimes just a text file. Didn’t calculate percentages or anything fancy.
- It wasn’t about being right all the time. More about the ritual of looking him up, making a call, and then seeing what happened.
What I Found (or Didn’t)
Well, I didn’t discover some secret winning formula, that’s for sure. Tennis, especially at that level, feels incredibly volatile. One week he might look unbeatable, the next week he’d lose to someone ranked lower. Made me appreciate how tough it is out there for these players grinding away on the tour.
My prediction accuracy? Let’s just say I wouldn’t quit my day job to become a sports analyst. It was probably hovering around 50/50, maybe slightly better on a good run, but nothing remarkable. It wasn’t really the point, though.
It was more about having this small, contained thing to focus on. A simple prediction game that didn’t really matter, unlike the chaos from that side gig I eventually dropped. It was a decent distraction, and I got a bit more familiar with a player I wouldn’t have otherwise known. Just a simple practice, watching some tennis, making a guess. That’s the whole story, really. Nothing ground-breaking, just a way I spent some downtime.
