Huge congrats to both of our winners - Jannik Sinner and DanYell Collins. One things for certain, about the only thing that these two have in common is that they won this week lol - well minus the fact that both of them lost a total of 1 set all week.
Jannik Sinner entered the week as a sizeable fave to win the Miami Masters for the first time in his career. Alcaraz may have beaten him the week before in Indian Wells, but Sinner had made the final in Miami in 2 of the past 3 years, and the court in Miami suits his game better than Carlos. Jannik struggled in his 2nd match of the week against Tallon Griekspoor as he lost his first and only set of the week, but from that point forward, the tennis that he displayed was scary scary good, as he lost a total of 20 games in the final 4 matches of the event. In both the SemiFinals and Finals, he made Medvedev and Dimitrov look like they didn't belong on the same court as him. Sinner's played some absolutely incredible tennis since the US Open - hard to believe but he has more event wins (5) than losses (3) in that timeframe. The only players that have a victory over him are Djokovic, Alcaraz and Shelton. Now that the tour moves to the Clay Courts, it will be interesting to see if Jannik can continue to play anywhere near this type of level!
Now for the real story of Miami - DanYell Collins. For those that are unaware, DanYell announced earlier this year that she was planning on retiring at the end of the season, and after being continually pressed on this fact, she doubled down this week in Miami by saying that because she had Rheumatoid Arthritis that if she wanted to start a family, she'd have to do it sooner than later, as it would make getting pregnant far more difficult. DanYell entered the event unseeded, but everyone on tour is fully aware of her incredible talent - so no one would ever look past her. Her level this season has been incredibly high, but the draw gods haven't been in her favour as she's had to face both Iga Swiatek (twice) and Elena Rybakina in R2 in 3 of her past 5 events! But as we all know, every once in a while, the draw gods help you out, and in Miami everything turned around. She was placed in a Quarter Final section with both Coco Gauff and Ons Jabeur. Ons has looked injured all season, and Coco has really been struggling. Sure enough both lost early and her path to the Semi's opened up and both top seeds in the other Quarter Final - Swiatek and Pegula- lost early as well. DanYell lost the first set of her week against Bernarda Pera, but from that point forward she made the finals and never lost more than 3 games in single set as she easily dispatched Anasatasia Potapova, Elina Avanesyan, Sorana Cirstea, Caroline Garcia and Ekaterina Alexandrova. Sadly, in the final she had to face Elena Rybakina, who had beaten her the last 3 times they had faced off. DanYell had 3 things going for her entering the final, 1- the home crowd, 2 - her level was at an all-time high and 3 - Rybakina had played a tonne of tennis to reach the final. Its hard to suggest that the level in the final was the highest that you'll ever see, but there was some incredible quality from both players in patches. Sadly, it was pretty obvious that Rybakina was simply out of gas, and was making more errors than you would typically see. DanYell took full advantage, and won the match 7-5, 6-3! With this weeks result, I can tell you for certain that she's not the only player thats celebrating her victory lol - This result means that she's now ranked 22nd, which will help ensure that the top players will not have to face her in R1 or 2 of a huge event!
I'd like to offer another huge kuddos to Grigor Dimitrov. He may not have won the event in Miami, hell lets be honest, he wasn't competitive against Jannik in the final, but the level he displayed to make the final deserves some props!! He beat 3 top 10 players (Hubert Hurkacz, Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev) in back to back to back matches!!! His level against Carlos was soo high, that Carlos was basically dumbfounded and at a loss for words. His victory over Zverev might have been even more shocking as it had been nearly a decade since the last time he beat him (ya Zverev was like 16 lol). Meanwhile, around the same time last year, Grigor was ranked outside the top 30, and after this result, he's now ranked inside the top 10. His level over the past 5 months would suggest that he's a top 10 player, so its nice to see that his ranking also displays his current level!
In terms of FTL, the results of the Miami GameWeek was basically determined by 1 simple question. Did you have DanYell Collins. Everyone that finished inside the top 3 had her!
Tricia (Prepare for CzechMate) amassed a ridiculous 774 points this week and she had both winners (Sinner as her Captain), a Finalist (Dimitrov) and had both Medvedev and Zverev make the semi's!! Tricia has long been known in FTL as forever a bridesmaid but never a bride (she's finished 2nd 3 times in the overall), so I'm sure that her victory this week will brighten her spirits and maybe it will help push her to her first overall victory! (long way to go)
Robby (Wise Aces) finished 2nd, just 18 points behind. He was one of the 2 managers (Edd) that had all 4 finalists this week. If Rybakina wins the final against DanYell, he might have had enough points to finish ahead of Tricia this week. Sadly for Robby, a first match loss by his ATP Dark Horse (Jiri Lehecka) is probably what did him in.
Edd (The Bestest), myself (♥ SEE-MO-NA! SEE-MO-NA! SEE-MO-NA!!!♥) and Maire (🎾☘️ For the Love of Leadóg 🎾) round out our top 5. Sadly no one outside of Robby was within 50 points of our winner!
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