FTL Cup Draw Update

 Hi folks - after lengthy consultations with Rick and Jeremy we have amended the cup format quite a bit from previously intimated.

The Group Stage weeks will be 4,6 and 8!

All 37 group winners will be given a bye to Round 2.

All 37 2nd placed will progress to Round 1 as will 17 lucky losers from the remaining teams who accumulate the most points during cup weeks.

This will give us a 1st Round of 54 teams. This will be a free draw (no seeding)  27 will progress from this knockout phase to join the 37 teams already in Round 2.

In Round 2, the 32 best 1st placed teams will be seeded 1 to 32 like a regular tennis draw. Ranking will be based on match wins first and then points accumulated. There will be no further draws after this so everyone will know their path to glory and what obstacles may lie in the way.

I'll update the spreadsheet ASAP to show the first set of fixtures for each group.

FTL Cup Draw

FTL Cup Draw

 The FTL Cup Draw has been made and you can find details of your groups at the following link.

FTL Cup Draw

Apologies in advance if I've landed any of you with a stinker.  

First fixtures will be in Game Week 4 and it will be 1v2 and 3v4 in each group. 2nd set of fixtures will be both winners against each other and both losers against each other.

There are 2 groups with 3 teams at the moment. Teams in those groups will only play 2 matches but each Cup week will still count for points for lucky loser purposes.

More details to follow but please comment below if you have any questions at this stage.

FTL2023 - AO thoughts

Soooo the AO is always one of the trickiest weeks of the season.  Interestingly enough, many managers have completely different perspectives as to how to play it.  Some only prioritize the AO n dont worry about the following weeks (n pray for withdrawals), n some load up their bench n just try to get as many points at the Ao as they can.

Soo how did our Top teams from last season do?

Alexei Ilinykh our defending champ who took everyone to task last year by winning both Months 1 and 2, didnt have the greatest AO this year, so it will be tough to replicate that start to the season as he finished 85th this week.  He Captained Djoker, but beyond that, nothing else really panned out for players that were in his starting lineup!  As a result, he's 313 points behind our leader!

TRICIA finished 2nd last year, n wasnt much better than Alexei as she was 56th (237 points behind).  She had Djoker as her Captain, n played Rybakina, but beyond that, everything else sorta fell flat.  The team looked good on paper, but we know that doesnt always work

Mohaib Idrees was in the same boat as the top 2 as he finished 67th (267 points behind).  He captained Djoker as well, n played Tsitsipas as a KP, but having 3 players lose in R2 was a nail in an early coffin.  U have to wonder, if he's considering changing his team name back to his old n trusty one!

Mat Mermoud had a great week as he finished 11th. Hes within a 103 points, and truly within striking distance if he has a good GW2.  Safe to say, he was beyond preturbed with Coric's MIA performance against Lehecka, n u had to know that he was begging n praying that Coric was going to retire midmatch lol  - Ben Shelton would have been a hell of a replacement!  Apparently he had a conversation with our top 3 managers at the AO, n had Djoker, Sabalenka and Tsitsipas!

Jer Hetherington had a week that he'd like to forget!  His team looked good on paper but finished 117th and now sits almost 400 points behind!.  Hard to imagine having a team with Medvedev, FAA, Fritz, Pegula, Bencic, CarGar, Collins n Rune that he literally didnt have a single player left with once Pegula got bounced in the QF!

Hard to believe that in our top 5 managers from last year, only one manager was able to finish inside the top 50! Needless to say its a very long season, so dont fret if you struggled at the AO, as you are in some good company!

FTL2023 - AO

A massive congratulations to both Sabalenka n Djoker for their victories this week.  Its pretty old hat for Djoker (especially at the AO), but a huge accomplishment for Sabalenka, who many of us knew had the talent to win a Slam title, just wasnt sure that she had the nerves to get it done!.. (hint hint Sakkari - it can be done 😉 lol)

I will not lie, Sabalenka tore out my heart this week as she took out 2 of my players (Bencic n Rybakina) but what she did this week was truly special.  Her match with Rybakina is the best womans Slam final in quite some time.  Rybakina's level was soo high that its hard to fathom that she lost, but when Sabalenka hits 17 aces, 50+ winners, keeps the UE count low, n serves over 70%+ for the 2nd n 3rd sets, it was just 2 much to overcome.

Now, Im going to be honest, im not sure what offended me more, Rybakina's court schedule (playing in the parking lot for her first couple of rounds is beyond inappropriate for a Wimbledon champ), Djoker's ridiculous Draw (almost felt rigged), Djoker playing every match at night (not a single match looked competitive on paper) or Djokers gamesmanship.  I am not telling u that Djoker doesnt win this week (he was the best player by a mile), but every player had to adjust between playing day n night matches.  Hell Rybakina will tell you that the court played completely differently depending upon the time of day.  I really have issue with the crazy preferential treatment that Djoker received.  

Now to the FTL side of things.  Leander Oldenburger had a dominant week as he amassed a ridiculous 972 points!   How dominant do u ask? well there was only 2 other managers that were able to stay within 50 points of him, n only 9 managers that were within 100!

Interestingly enough, the entire top 12 had both the mens and womens winners!  Apparently the rest of us that didnt have that should be ashamed n asked what were u thinking!?!?

The top 3 (Australian Army), and Kei TO even managed to have both winners and a finalist (Tsitsipas).

btw Leander was sooo happy with his victory this week that he changed his team name to illustrate his incredible result!!