GAMEWEEK 14 FINAL RESULTS

Game Weeks the week before a Slam tend to be some of the most difficult to know what to expect, and GW14 showed to be no different.  Once Madrid and Rome became multiple week events, the thought by many was that due to the calendar being significantly shorter for many players, this week might see an uptick in the quality of field, as anyone that had poor results in either event would be keen to play.  Sadly this was not the case - especially in the womens events.  The events in Geneva and Lyon had pretty solid fields to be honest, and were helped out when FAA, Dimitrov and Zverev took WC's.  Meanwhile between Rabat and Strasbourg there were 20+ withdrawals, and not a single top 20 player ended up playing in either event.  The WTA has been difficult to predict at the best of times, but I cannot imagine being a fan trying to buy tickets in advance when there is no information as to who is actually set to play in an event.  Neither event posted any sort of update as to who had withdrawn before the Main Draw was created.  Its hard to argue that false advertising didn't take place at both events.  

Meanwhile, I'd like to give a shoutout to our 4 event winners - Elina Svitolina, Lucia Bronzetti, Arthur Fils and Nicolas Jarry.  All 4 have one thing in common - of them were unseeded. 

Elina Svitolina won for the 17th time in her illustrious career.  I'll be honest, she looked done n dusted in her SemiFinal match with Burel - Burel led a set n 4-1.  I know I know, a lot of people would say who cares and mention that she's a former top 5 player and she did nothing but win a Mickey Mouse 250 level event.  Well I dunno, I think she deserves some serious props.  She's only been back on tour for 7 weeks, and after her win this week, her ranking is now inside the top 200 - not bad for just having a baby a short time ago.  Elina has had some great results at the French Open, but Martina Trevisan awaits her in R1.  Trevisan has had the best results of her career at the French, so their matchup should definitely be interesting.

Lucia Bronzetti's victory in Rabat is her first WTA Tour level victory of her career.  Just think she has something in common with a former top 5 player, Maria Sakkari lol.  If she wins again, maybe Sakkari will just be a side note but for now, its rather cool to have that in common.  Her week was rather strange to be honest.  In her last 4 matches, she either played a 2.5+ hour 3 set war, or she lost 2 games lol.  Her victories over Tatjana Maria and Jule Grabher are something that she truly had to dig deep for, meanwhile I am not sure if Alycia Parks or Sloane Stephens actually showed up for their match lol  Now the question, can she cause Ons Jabeur problems in R1 in Paris?

Nicolas Jarry winning an event on the dirt in altitude? hmmmm I think I've heard this before.  Yup, just a couple of months ago, Nicolas won his home event in Santiago  - on the dirt in altitude.   At the time, it seemed like his best win of the week was over Diego Schwartzman, but as the season has gone on his best win that week was over either Yannick Hanfmann or Tomas Martin Etcheverry.  Well in Geneva, he showed just how dangerous he can truly be again as he beat Casper Ruud, Alexander Zverev and Grigor Dimitrov in successive matches.  Should we expect a deep run in Paris? hmm hard to tell, as Jarry had a record of 3 wins and 5 Losses between Santiago and Geneva.

Arthur Fils first ever ATP Tour victory is something that he'll never forget.  I'll say this tho, it didn't have some strange controversy n twists n turns along the way.  He told the press after that he didn't believe he was actually going to win until the final ball was struck.  His week started with chaos - Mikael Ymer got defaulted for smacking his racquet against the Umpires chair.  He then got a WalkOver from Felix Auger Aliassime, and then played a 3 set war against Brandon Nakashima that he had to win in a tiebreak.  He then beat Francisco Cerundolo in the final.  Arthur has had some absolutely incredible results in France over the past 6 months - SemiFinal results in both Montpellier and Marseille.  So now the real question, can he continue this type of run in Paris?? Alejandro Davidovich Fokina stands in his way in R1.  Its never easy to play just a couple of days after your first victory, so it could be a big ask. 

Now onto the FTL, our FTL CUP brainchild and our Twitter Account genius (YES, ITS THE SAME GUY!)  had his first win in a little over 2 years.  Jer Hetherington (Dukla Pumpherston) has struggled mightily all season, but maybe just maybe this is the week that he points to where everything changed for the better.  He finished last year inside the top 5, so its definitely possible.  He amassed an incredible 344 point this week - there was only 1 manager that was even within 40 points of him.  His week got off to a bit of an auspicious start as one of his Team Players, Elise Mertens, withdrew well after the first Main Draw match had started.  Jer only had 1 winner (Jarry) but he did have another finalist (Dimitrov).  He also had Taylor Fritz and Sloane Stephens reach the SF.

 

Billy B (Iga's Bakery) finished 2nd just 5 points behind our winner.  Billy would have won the GW if Anna Blinkova had managed to have beaten Elina Svitolina in the Strasbourg final.  Billy played more women, 5,  this week (Linette, Blinkova, Stephens, Putintseva, Parks) than I have on my entire roster lol. 

I normally give a shoutout to the remainder of our top 5, but when you are 40+ points back in a short week, I'm not sure you deserve it ;)