A massive kuddos goes out to both of our winners this week - Coco Gauff and Novak Djokovic. I'm not going to lie - giving kuddos to both of these players is like rinsing my mouth out with soap - damn what a horrible aftertaste.
The US Media has talked about Coco like she walks on water for years, and has talked about her in the vein that its a guarantee that she'll win 20+ slams. I've never understood this type of talk for someone that had never won an event higher than a 250 level as we came into the US Hard Courts. She's had some great results over the years, but her record against top 10 players over the past couple of years has been abysmal. Her opponents have treated her Forehand wing like it was their own personal bullseye and have taken bigtime advantage of it. She started working with Brad Gilbert just after Wimbledon, and things are a changing. She won Washington (500 level), and not only did she win Cincinnati (Masters 1000 level) but she also beat Swiatek and Muchova in the process. I'm not going to tell you that either of them played very well, but the point still remains, Coco beat both. As we enter the US Open, the hype from the US Media will be ridiculous, but this year, at least there will be a legitimate reason for it - she's definitely one of the faves to win.
Novak is a rather strange player, as you are either in love with him, or you simply cannot stand him. Personally, I have huge issues with his behaviour on court, and his entitled attitude. I also think that his lockdown style where he flat out tells his opponent and the fans, that his opponent can't beat him is a bad look for the sport. Regardless, everyone that follows tennis respects him and will tell you that he's been the best player in the sport for well over a decade. The flourishing rivalry with Alcaraz is extremely entertaining though. Alcaraz has the weapons that Novak knows that he can't simple go into lockdown mode because if he does, Carlos will gladly hit winners off him. Novak is forced to play aggressively against him, and the matches that they've played over the past couple of years have always been incredible to watch. How Novak won today, only he knows. Carlos was a set and a break ahead with Novak looking dead on his feet, and the next thing you know, Carlos took his foot off his throat and Novak won the 2nd set tiebreak, and the game was on. Novak was the much better player in the 3rd, but it still took a 3rd set tiebreak in order to get across the line!
There was a couple of truly impressive performances this week - Karolina Muchova, Hubert Hurkacz and Max Purcell. Not only did Karolina Muchova make the final this week, but as a result, she entered the top 10. Her road to the final was incredible as she beat Beatriz Haddad Maia, Petra Martic, Maria Sakkari, Marie Bouzkova (midmatch retirement) and Aryna Sabalenka. Hubert Hurkacz had one of those weeks where you wonder why he's not ranked in the top 5. After using smoke and mirrors to get past Thanasi Kokkinakis (he didnt generate a single break chance), he dominated both the defending Champion (Borna Coric) and Finalist (Stefanos Tsitsipas), and then had Carlos Alcaraz dead to rights late in the 2nd set, and missed a midcourt FH on MP where Carlos was basically out of the point. Sadly for Hubert, he had a 4-1 lead in the tiebreak and let himself get passive n well, Alcaraz got hot n the match was over in a hurry lol. Max Purcell, yes i know, Max who? If you didn't know who Max was entering Canada, maybe its time to learn. He's reached 6 Challenger finals this season, and with his success in the North American Masters Double his ranking is now inside the top 50!!! He's beaten FAA, Ruud, and Wawrinka in the past couple of weeks and gave Carlos a tonne of troubles with his Serve and Volley.
Meanwhile in FTL, most of the GameWeeks this season have come down to a single match where IF one thing happened, 2 or 3 managers could have easily won, well this week wasn't one of those weeks lol. Our Twitter Presence Manager/FTL Cup Creator (Jer Hetherington) showed off some incredible skills this week, and the Game Week was decided before all the SemiFinals had even been completed!!! Jer has really struggled this season, but he's still somehow won 2 weeks this year!! (rather amazing considering I don't think he had won a single week before)
Dukla Pumpherston (Jer) amassed a ridiculous 717 points for the week, and won by over 60 points!!! Hell there were only 8 other managers that were even within 100 points of him! All he did this week was have his captain win (Djoker), a KP win (Gauff), another KP make the Final (Alcaraz), and his other KP make the Semi's lol. If that wasnt enough, he also had Hurkacz make the Semi's. Its hard to imagine this but he actually could have accumulated more points as both of his Dark Horse's (Bouzkova, McDonald) retired midmatch.
Normally, I'd like to throw out a huge list of kuddos to everyone that did well, but when everyone else got dominated by Jer, its hard to do so lol
The only problem for Jer this week is that he's not signed up for Option 2, so he's not eligible to win the prize for winning the GameWeek. As a result, although Canuckaducks (Derek) was 60+ points behind Jer, he will still receive that prize. He had a hell of a Game Week as well by having both Winners and having Alcaraz make the finals, but having both his winners as a Team Player instead of a Key Player and having his ATP Dark Horse (Arthur Fils) lose in R1 was just something he couldnt overcome
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