INDIAN WELLS - DRAWS AND DARK HORSE BREAKDOWN

 I have attached the FTL Version of the Indian Wells Draws (both Mens and Womens), and the Dark Horse Breakdown.  If you want a copy, click on the link, IW DRAWS.  One you do so, click on FILE, and scroll to MAKE A COPY, and call it whatever you want

Good Luck :)

Game Week 6 results

 

As we approach the sunshine double we are seeing quite a few players starting to make a name for themselves on the tennis circiut.

None more so than the new power couple in tennis.  No - not Tsitsidosa  and not  Mr and Mrs Monfils but rather Alex De Minaur and Katie Boulter who are winning tournaments, reaching career high rankings and playing themselves into consideration for FTL team selection.

De Minaur's is establishing himself as a top 10 player this year and has already notched up wins over Djokovic, Fritz, Zverev, Rublev and Dimitrov in 2024.  He came up just short to Sinner in Rotterdam but in Los Cabos he continued his great form beating  Tsitspas, Draper and Ruud to win the title.

After winning the title in Mexico, Alex jetted straight to San Diego to watch Katie play the final there against Marta Kostyuk.  Katie played her best tennis throughout the event and her opponents just could not cope with her big hitting.  She wasn't quite firing in the final as she lost the first set to Martha but she quickly turned it around to win her first 500 title to add to the 250 she won in the UK last year.  Katie has now broken into the top 32 and should find herself seeding for the French Open and Wimbledon if she keeps up this form.

Talking about form players, its been great to see Ugo Humbert playing at his best again.  We all know he has great potential and if he steers clear of injury he can really make a mark this year. His coach Jeremy Chardy felt that conditions in Dubai would be perfect for his game and so it proved as he saw off veterans Monfils amd Murray before scoring impressive wins over Hurkacz and Medvedev en route to a final with Sascha Bublik.  Bublik himself is having a good season but was a tad fortunate to benefit from the disqualification of Andrey Rublev for poor behaviour at the tale end of a very close match,  Humbert prevailed in the final as he tends to do. He is now 6-0 in ATP Finals.

And then there is Sebastian Baez who has really mopped up on the South American clay following up his win in Rio with the title in Santiago beating home favourite Tabilo in the final. Baez had 52 owners this week and I suspect he will be a popular pick during the European clay season too.

The WTA event in Austin was contested by two Chinese players. Yue Yuan had already defeated compatriot Yafan Wang in the quarter finals and she followed up a semi final win over Schmiedlova by beating Xiyu Wang in the final.  She moves up to 46 in the live rankings which makes her the 3rd highest ranked of the 7 Chinese players in the top 100. This is her first WTA title having been runner up to Jessica Pegula in Korea towards the end of last year.

Here is the FTL table for Game Week 6

Congrats to Ellen on a terrific week.  evlkstennis24 topped the charts with an excellent 515.1 points.  She was almost 30 points ahead of the chasing pack.  Abhishek Puranik Puranik (Foot Fault) took 2nd place on 486 points and Sara Skinner (Ball Bandits) took 3rd place on 482 points.

Here is the head to head stats between Ellen and Abhishek

Ellen had players in 4 of the 5 finals. She had Los Cabos winner De Minaur in her side along with three of the runner ups - Kostyuk (San Diego), Bublik (Dubai) and Tabilo (Santiago).  There were decent totals also from Rublev, Pegula and Rune.

OVERALL STANDINGS - AFTER GW6

Many of the top tier managers don't worry too much about the Overall Standings in the first few weeks of the year as they are taking a long term approach to the season, and realize that as long as they are able to continue to increase their salary cap, while being within striking distance, they are in great shape.  Sadly,  when you look at the very top of the Overall Leaderboard, it gives you a rather ominous feel if you got off to a slow start as we have the 2022 Winner (Alexei - Panthers4Life), the 2023 Winner (Aoun - Fedex Superstars) sitting well inside our top 10, and Mohaib (Dr. peRFect) leading the way.  Everyone knows how dangerous Mohaib can be, so you best not get too far behind him!

 

Lets take a look at how the top 5 managers did this week.

 

After a tough 5th GameWeek, Mohaib (Dr. peRFect) had a great 6th GameWeek as he finished in 6th as he amassed an incredible 446.1 points.  He jumped from 3rd place to the lead as he's accumulated 2656.334 points for the season.  He had De Minaur win and had Xiyu and Tabilo make the final.  If not for the absolute insanity in the Dubai SemiFinals, he might have even had a better week - he had both Medvedev and Rublev..  His team suffered just 1 Round 1 loss (Tommy Paul)

Andrea Russo (Sinner Circle 24)  dropped 1 spot this week as he finished 76th.  He lost 125 points to our new leader this week, and is now 61.5 points behind for the season. Sadly, his team Looked Great on Paper, but only Baez made a final for his team.  Vekic and Collins looked like inspired picks but both only won 2 rounds.  His team suffered 1 Round 1 loss (Taylor Fritz)

Taylor (Stripes VII) dropped 1 spot this week as he finished 61st.  He lost 105 points to our new leader and sits 97.2 points behind for the season. He had both finalists in Santiago.  Sadly Acapulco wasn't quite as kind to Taylor as he suffered 2 Round 1 losses there - Zverev and Thompson

Akiko  (Wimbyfan) moved up 3 places as she finished 33rd.  Sadly, she still lost 73 points to our new leader and sits 109.7 points behind our leader.  I'm sure she'll take some consolation to the fact that she gained ground on both Andrea and Taylor!  She had the winner in both Santiago and Acapulco.  Sadly, its an uphill battle when your Captain (Zverev), loses in Round 1.

Mateusz (<><v3.) had a sensational week as he moved up 12 spots thanks to a 7th place finish.  He did lose 1.9 points to our new leader, but he did gain 120+ points on our previous leader! He's 130 points back of the overall lead.  He had both Baez and De Minaur win their respective events, and had Kostyuk lose in the finals.  If his Captain doesn't get Disqualified, he could have had an even better week.  Taylor Fritz was his sole Round 1 loss.

Vinay (Buttercups) won the 2nd month of the season, and is now up to 14th.  He had 2 Round 1 losses (Zverev and Paul) and it still didn't matter!  It sure helps when you have Baez and Boulter win titles, and have Ruud make the final.

I've always had the belief that you will have a better idea of where you stand after the results of the Sunshine Double come in, so it will be real interesting to see what the Overall Leaderboard looks like in a months time!  Its a safe bet that the Dark Horse selection for both Indian Wells and Miami will be of the uptmost importance - never forget that Kalinskaya made the final in Dubai as a Dark Horse just a couple of weeks ago! So be careful of those selections!