Rome Masters - Game Week 13

 

The Rome Masters commence next week and it will be another 2 week event with WTA qualifiers starting tomorrow.  The Draw for the WTA Event will take place at 7 pm local time in the Colosseum and the ATP will take place tomorrow at the Piazza di Spagna.  We'll bring both draws to you in the usual places as soon as they are released. 

There are a number of considerations for FTL Managers to take in account....

Firstly, we will be cracking on with the FTL Cup 2nd Round which will see the return of the Group Winners from the preliminary stage who received a bye past the 1st Round.  Make sure to check out your opponent using the wonderful H2H function on the FTL app,  A lot of teams are looking very similar now so think carefully about which members of your squad might prove to be a useful differential. Cup draw attached.

Secondly there is some serious thinking to be done around team selections.  The return of Novak from injury is probably the biggest dilemma facing us.  Normally Novak would be a stick on for Rome, RG, Wimbledon and beyond but sub par performances in Monte Carlo and Banja Luka plus concerns around his fitness and match sharpness make trading him in for 22.3m a bit of a gamble.  Jannik Sinner and Ons Jabeur are also due to return after missing Madrid but will they be 100% for this event?

It would seem that the trio of Alcaraz, Swiatek and Sabalenka are a stick on for every team after their success on the clay already this year. But one has to wonder whether fatigue may catch up with Carlos and the conditions in Rome and Paris will perhaps not suit Aryna's game as much as the high altitude conditions in Madrid. 

And then there are players like Zverev and Ruud and Coco Gauff who played so well at the French Open last year but don't seem to be anywhere near the  top of their game just now.

Will you be tempted to gamble on a lower priced differential in your team?  Who would have imagined that in the semi finals of Madrid, we would see Lucky Loser Jan Lennard Struff defeat the man who defeated him in qualifying - Aslan Karatsev.   If you are needing points to push you up the table perhaps now is the time to take a chance on a leftfield option. 

And the final dilemma to take into account when you are doing your trades for this week is the small matter of Game Week 14 (ATP events in Geneva & Lyon and WTA events in Strasbourg and Rabat).  The entry lists for these events have been released but the close proximity to the French Open will mean that late withdrawals are likely.

Many of you may have been dismayed that you only have 2 or 3 players for these events and will be looking to bring in a couple of players to bolster your team in the hope that you can field a team of 7 or 8 in the game week.  But who to chose?  The likes of Sakkari, Ruud and Fritz are some of the bigger name players who could strengthen your squad. Perhaps Norrie with the grass court swing in mind. Maybe Trevisan who defends her title in Rabat or young talent Ben Shelton who is a fairly cheap option at present.  This could be a key week in the FTL Season as the line-ups are likely to vary more than they do at the bigger events.

So grab a bottle of wine and have a good think about what changes you will make to your team before lockout.

Oh......and don't forget you have dark horses to pick as well but lets not go there for now!  ;)