OVERALL STANDINGS - AS OF GW35

As Game Week 35 ended you could hear a massive thud, as Aoun emphatically officially closed the door on his competition for the season.  

 

GW35 was one of the most frustrating weeks of the season, as every time you looked at the Entry List for both events, the list of players that had withdrawn grew.  By the time the dust settled, most managers were left holding the bag without a single player to put into their lineup.  Sadly in the last couple of weeks of the season, trades are scarce, so it makes it even more awkward and frustrating.

 

Even tho Aoun (Fedex Superstars) didn't have a single player to put into his lineup before he made his trades, his lead nearly doubled as his lead jumped from 130 points to 258.  Aoun was able to use 3 trades and finished 13th in GW35.  He finished with both winners - talk about some incredible bang for your buck.

Tricia (Prepare for CzechMate) jumped up one spot this week and now sits in 2nd place thanks to a 10th place finish.  Sadly, she's 258 points behind our leader.  She had a chance to gain some significant ground this week, but Alex De Minaur withdrew after the 2nd round started, and Bublik lost in a 3rd set tiebreak in his first match of the week.  She traded in both winners as well!

 

Sadly, Samir (Mirzini Sinovi) who has been fighting a losing battle with trades as the season has been coming to a close, dropped a spot and now sits in 3rd thanks to a never ending nightmare that was GW35.  He was only able to spare 1 trade for the week, and after De Minaur withdrew, he was left with 1 player for the week and amassed 30 points. As a result, he dropped 170 points to our leader, and to Tricia who jumped ahead of him in the process.  He's now 307 points behind, and in danger of finishing outside the top 3 as a result. 

 

Dragan (Nadal's Forehand) continues to sit in 4th, but thanks to his 2nd GW victory of the season, there is a real possibility that he could finish in 2nd once the dust settles.  He gained 230 points on Samir and 60 on Tricia, so as a result, he's now only 4 points behind Samir and a little over 50 behind Tricia.

GAMEWEEK 35 RESULTS

Huge Kuddos to both of our event winners - Adrian Mannarino and Ugo Humbert.  

Adrian Mannarino won his 3rd event of the season in Sofia (dont ask me why he didn't play his home event in Metz).  Its hard to believe it, but at 35 years old, he reached his career high, 22, in the rankings.  Crazily enough, his results this season has been up and down like a yoyo, he won 2 matches on the dirt out of 10, and the end of his season was no different.  After winning the event in Astana, he didn't make it past the 2nd round in his next 4 events before arriving in Sofia.  He easily made it to the final this week as he quickly dispatched ARV, Ofner, and Kotov, but the final was no laughing matter as he had to face an incredibly talented lefty, Draper.  Draper is easily a top 20 type talent, but has struggled with injuries all season, but came into the final on a 9 match win streak.  Mannarino found a way to get past Draper in 3 tough sets.

Ugo Humbert won his home event in Metz.  He ended the season in style as he won 13 of his final 17 matches, with his 4 losses coming to Medvedev, Rublev, Zverev and Hurkacz.  Not only does he finish the season with a career high, 20, in the ranking, but he's also the highest ranked French player - talk about a crazy accomplishment for someone who's ranking fell outside the top 80 and was forced to play Qualifying this year in MonteCarlo!!  On his way to the title, Ugo was only challenged once - Thiem in R1.  

If we are giving out kuddos to our winners, it feels almost inappropriate to not give a massive kuddos to Alexander Shevchenko as well.  Not only did he make the final, as he dispatched Khachanov in straight sets in the QF, but he finished the season ranked inside the top 50 - rather amazing for a guy who started the season ranked outside the top 150!!

Meanwhile GameWeek 35 was an absolute nightmare for our FTL Managers as everyone imaginable in both Metz and Sofia withdrew.  In both events, we saw players make the Main Draw that were listed outside of the 30th alternate spot when the Entry List was originally posted.  Sadly, even the most prepared manager was left begging n pleading for players to stay in the event.  I'll be honest, I had 7 players withdraw.  By the time the dust settled, ya had to hope that you had 3 trades that you could use for the week.

 

Hard to imagine saying this but Dragan (Nadal's Forehand), had zero players left before making his 3 trades and ended up winning the GameWeek!!!  Talk about the definition of making your trades count!  He accumulated an amazing 264 points thanks to his 3 trades (Humbert, Shevchenko and Draper)

Lucas (Chauvaldo), Kevin (Volley Llamas), Dimitris (Serve the Servants) rounded out our top 4, and are the only managers that were able to stay within 30 points of Dragan