CINCINNATI DRAWS AND DARK HORSE

 I have attached the Cincinnati Open Draws for the Upcoming Game Week.  Both the Mens and Womens Main and Qualifying Draws are accessible, and so too is a break down of the Dark Horse selection.  Click on the link CINCI OPEN in order to access it.  If you want to create a copy, Click on FILE, Scroll down to CREATE A COPY.  

 Plz note that there are a large number of players in the Womens draw that have been out a significant period of time or got hurt in Montreal, so there could be some drastic changes to the Draw before the first ball is played.

Overall standings after Game Week 22

 

This is turning into one of the closest FTL seasons on record with less than 300 points separating the top 9.  

Muhammad still leads the way but Dragan is the main mover in the top 10 moving up 2 places to 2nd place while Robyn drops 2 places to 4th.

A lot of very similar teams for Game Week 23 and this is likely to be the case for Cincinnati and the US Open as well so could well be that the awkward game weeks immediately pre and post the US Open could be pivotal! 

Monthly Standings for July

 Here are the top performers in the month of July which covered Game Week 19 thru to Game Week 22.

Congratutions to Mikhail (Roger That) on winning the month by just 8 points frrom Dragan. (Nadal's forehand)  Both had en excellent final week finishing in the top 10 but Mikhail managed to hold on to finally win the month by the narrowest of margins.

Dragan had started this month the strongest with a 1st place finish in Game Week 19.  Consecutive 3rd place finishes for Craig (Over Served) in Game Weeks 20 and 21 put him in pole position going into the final game week but he missed out due to a 35th place finish in Game Week 22.

Ultimately, Mikhail was the most consistent performer throughout the month managing a top 20 finish in all 4 game weeks!

Game Week 22 Results

 Here are all the champions from Game Week 22

It was a timely return to form for Stefanos Tsitsipas in Mexico.  Having failed to take a set in his last 5 finals (including the AO defeat to Djokovic), he managed to secure the Los Cabos title, his first trophy since the Mallorca title in June 2022.  It was a great week too for Alex De Minaur who finished runner up.

And it was a very unexpected return to form for Dan Evans in Washington.  Evans by his own admission has been on a lousy run of late but he was inspired this week and managed to come through a tough double header against Shevchenko and Tiafoe on the Friday before defeating Dimitrov and the impressive Griekspoor in the final. 

The women's title in Washington was to go to Coco Gauff who entered the tournament with a new coaching team this week with Brad Gilbert mentoring. She definitely had a lot more confidence and swagger about her this week and the forehand was no longer as vulnerable looking as it has looked for the large part of this season.  It was a good week too for Maria Sakkari who came through some tough battles  to reach the final but she was understandably disappointed not to add to the Rabat title that remains her only triumph to date.

The weather in Prague made the tournament a bit chaotic with the 2nd semi final having to be completed on the Monday before the final could even be played.  After coming through a tough match against Ankita Raina,  Linda Noskova made short work of her next 2 opponents and it appeared she was odds on to win a home title.  Nao Hibino had other ideas however and after finishing off a semi final over Jacquelin Cristian, she managed to defeat an out of sorts Noskova in the final - perhaps Linda was thinking about that missed flight to Canada.   Hibino managed to secure the doubles title as well so a good week for her.

And finally - what a great week for Sebastian Baez in Kitzbuhel as he defeated home favourite Dominic Thiem to secure his second clay title of 2023. He told Dominic what an inspiration he had been and said he hoped Dominic would play better in the next tournament.  😂  We knew what you meant Seb!  

So here is the final FTL table for Game Week 22

Congrats to Adnan (Advantage Infinity) on the game week win.  Adnan just managed to beat Sebastian (Phenomenadal)  by 3.215 points with James (fighting fantasies) just 14 points further back in 3rd place. 

 

Here is Adnan's winning team

Adnan had two winners in Coco Gauff (Washington) and Stefanos Tsitsipas (Los Cabos) as well as two runners up  in Alex De Minaur (Los Cabos) and Dominic Thiem (Kitzbuhel).  Otherwise the rest of his team delivered decent results with the exception of Hurkacz who was a 1st Round casualty. 

Sebastian's team was pretty strong too and deserves to be highlighted

Congrats to Adnan and Sebastian and all 8 teams who broke 400 in what proved to be a tricky game week to prepare for!

CANADA OPEN DRAWS AND DARK HORSE SELECTION

I have attached the Canadian Open Draws for the Upcoming Game Week.  Both the Mens and Womens Main and Qualifying Draws are accessible, and so too is a break down of the Dark Horse selection.  Click on the link CANADA OPEN in order to access it.  If you want to create a copy, Click on FILE, Scroll down to CREATE A COPY.