OVERALL LEADERBOARD - AFTER GW14

GameWeek 14 didnt create a tonne of movement inside the top 10, but there was a bit of movement inside the top 3.

Aoun (Fedex Superstars) continues to lead, and thanks to his  46th place finish this past week, his lead continues to grow as he now leads by a little over a 100 points.    He will tell you that he had a frustrating week, as he had 3 Round 1 losses (Ramos Vinolas, Muller, and Schwartzman) and when you combine that with Fritz's horrible loss, it just left a bad taste in his mouth.  Must be nice to struggle and still increase your lead by 40+ points lol

Tricia (Prepare for CzechMate) moved up a spot and now sits in 2nd.  She finished 23rd this week and gained approx 35 points on our leader.   Her continued faith in Nicolas Jarry paid off this week.   I'm sure she's still wondering why Tomas Martin Etcheverry withdrew after the lockout!!?!?!

Robyn (Thanks But No Shanks) has really struggled the past couple of weeks, as she hasn't finished inside the top 75 in either week.  She finished 92nd in Rome and 99th this past week.  She lost 50 points to Aoun at Rome and another 70 this week.  She's now a 135 points behind our leader.  Robyn started the GW with only 4 players, so she already knew that she was going to lose ground, the only question was just how much.

The biggest movement inside the top 10 was Dragan (Nadal's Forehand) as he moved up 4 places and now sits in 9th thanks to a 7th place finish.  The craziest part about this result was that he did so without having a single player make a final!

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 ;)

 

 

FRENCH OPEN DRAWS - FTL VERSION

The French Open Main Draw is available for both the Men and Women.  I have provided the FTL Version for both plus the Qualifying Draws as well.  I have also broken down the Dark Horse category for both the Men and Women.  FRENCH OPEN DRAWS

If you to have your own version, simple click on FILE, scroll to MAKE A COPY, and rename it.  

 

OVERALL RESULTS - AS OF ROME

At the top of the Overall Leaderboard, there's finally starting to be a bit of sameness.  Our top 3 remained the same this week.  As a result, Aoun (Fedex Superstars), Robyn (Thanks But No Shanks), and Tricia (PREPARE FOR CZECH MATE) round out our top 3 again.

Aoun didnt have a great week as he finished 45th, but it was still good enough to pick up 50 points on his nearest chaser, and now leads by 62 points.  I am sure its one of those weeks, where he's just wondering WHAT IF.  He had 2 players lose their first match of the week (Pegula and Sabalenka).  He also benched Rybakina, and traded out Medvedev in order to bring in Djokovic.  I believe the expression is, it looked good on paper.

Robyn had a similar week to Aoun, as she finished 92nd.  She had the same 2 players lose their first match as Aoun, but interestingly enough, she left one of her fave players (Tsitsipas) on her ER.  Definitely a tough pill to swallow.

Tricia picked up 20 points on our leader and 70 on 2nd place, as she finished 32nd.  She had 2 players lose their first match, and I'm willing to bet that she was hoping that Fritz would have withdrawn from Rome lol, as her ER1 was Daniil Medvedev.  She did have a very inspired selection for her WTA Dark Horse (Kudermetova) tho, and its a huge part of why she gained ground on the leaders.

The biggest mover in the top 10 was Martin Hofmann (Sptec) as he moved up 7 places and now sits in 10th. He finished in 7th for the week, and that was mostly because he decided to play Rybakina with his last Team Player selection!.  It turned out to be very inspired considering he made Swiatek his Captain! (Showing that it never hurts to cover your ass!)

ROME RESULTS

The Rome Masters 1000 tends to be a great harbinger of things to come for the French Open in just a few days.  The list of players that have won Rome in both the ATP and WTA tends to be the who's who of clay court tennis.  

 

If you told me that Daniil Medvedev and Elena Rybakina were going to be added to the list this year, I would have suggested that you were suffering from crazy dillusions and you had taken too many real strong pain killers lol.  

 

I will be honest, I traded out Rybakina this week (she has looked injured the past few weeks) and placed Medvedev as an Emergency Replacement, and I can tell you for certain that I wasnt the only one that did something similar.

 

Rybakina has had a sensational season, as she's reached 4 of the biggest finals of the season (AO, IW, Miami and Rome), but hasnt looked right since she got hurt in Stuttgart just a few weeks ago.  Her victory was aided by 3 players (Kalinskaya, Swiatek, Kalinina) retiring midmatch.  I'm not telling you that she doesn't win without any of those players being forced to retire, but I can tell you for certain that not one of those matches was going to be an easy Win (Especially Swiatek on her fave surface).  Rybakina's victory may have huge ramifications for the French Open, as she's now ranked 4th, and I'll be honest, I'm not sure who's happier about that fact, herself, or Swiatek, Sabalenka or Pegula.  I am sure that all 3 of them are very happy that they will not have to face Rybakina going forward until at least the SF of a big event.

Medvedev winning a clay court Masters is something that I am not sure even himself saw coming.  Medvedev's game has vastly improved on the dirt over the years, but he had NEVER won a match in Rome before this week.  His victory this week adds to an already crazy record where he's now won 20 events and not one of them has he won more than once!  Medvedev's victory this week is also incredibly important for the French Open as he's now ranked ahead of Djokovic and will be seeded 2nd at the French.

When giving kuddos to players, its hard to only give it to the winner in a Masters event.  Anhelina Kalinina may have been forced to retire midmatch against Rybakina in the Final (after she twisted her ankle), but that doenst mean that she didnt have a sensational week.  She beat 3 seeds (Kudermetova, Haddad Maia, Keys) and a former Slam Champ (Kenin) along the way to reaching the final.  Her ranking jumped 20+ spots and she'll now be ranked 25th for the French.  Holger Rune continues his incredible play on the dirt over the past few weeks.  He may have lost to Medvedev, but its hard to look past his 2 victories over top 5 players (Ruud and Djokovic).

In FTL action, one of our GOATs showed that altho he's truly struggling this season that maybe just maybe, we shouldn't look past him for the remainder of the season.  Vlad (Rafa) had a truly special week and won the ROME GameWeek going away.  He amassed a ridiculous 662.9 points and had all 4 mens SemiFinalists.  He even selected Borna Coric as his Dark Horse.  Its kinda funny saying this, but his worst pick of the week was making Carlos Alcaraz his captain lol. Im sorry but what was he thinking?!?!  Carlos only had a record of 30-2 coming into the week  (massive sarcasm)

Jere Alwin (Slice & Swarm) finished 2nd, but was never really in contention for the win.  He was one of the few managers to have both winners, hell he even did one better and had Rune also make the finals.  Sadly for him, he had 2 players lose their first match of the week (Pegula and Sabalenka) and it wasnt something his team could overcome!

I'd like to give another shoutout to our 3rd place finisher, Vicki (Carlitos' Way).  She finished 52 points out of first, but still had a sensational week.  Sadly her Dark Horse selections were the nail in her coffin, as between the 2 of them, they barely accumulated 25 points!.  Regardless, its still Vicki's best result of her FTL Career, so its definitely something to celebrate.  (not going to lie, I'm real happy for her)