US OPEN DRAWS AND DARK HORSE BREAKDOWN

I have attached the FTL Version of both the Mens and Womens US OPEN Main Draw, and the Dark Horse Breakdown for each event. Please note that both the Mens and Womens Qualifiers and Lucky Losers have been placed as well.

 

If you want a copy, click on the link, US OPEN DRAWS  Once you do so, click on FILE, and scroll to MAKE A COPY, and call it whatever you want

Good Luck :)

CINCINNATI RESULTS

 Huge kuddos goes to both of our winners this week - Aryna Sabalenka and Jannik Sinner.

Our winners have a few things in common.

• Both were forced to skip the Olympics
• Due to injury, neither of them have looked quite right for a few months
  
• Interestingly enough, both of them won the Aussie Open earlier this year! 

 

Aryna Sabalenka's victory in Cincinnati was nothing short of dominant.  Not only did she not lose a set all week, but she made Samsonova, Swiatek and Pegula look uncomfortable and helpless.  Its been quite some time since we've seen Aryna look this dominant, so it will be interesting to see if she can continue this level at the US Open.  Realistically speaking, if her nerves don't get the best of her in last years US Open final, we would be discussing the possibility of her defending her title in a couple of weeks.

Jannik Sinner's victory in Cincinnati was the furthest thing from dominant.  In fact, just days before the start of Cincinnati, there was plenty of discussion as to whether or not Jannik was even going to play.  He's been struggling with a hip injury ever since the start of the clay court season and hasn't looked right since Miami.  All that being said, every time he's entered an event this year, he's reached at least the QF.  Jannik's level this week wasn't anywhere near close to what it was in Miami, but it still didn't matter.  It was impossible not to notice that he was struggling with his hip, and he was hitting more unforced errors on simple rally balls, but it still didn't matter as he found a way to win the big points when it mattered most.  Michelsen outplayed him for big stretches in his first match, n still didnt win a set.  Rublev (who beat him the week previous in Montreal) outplayed him for big stretches, but Sinner dominated the final couple of sets after losing the first.  Zverev was the better player for significant stretches, but Sinner was the far better player in the big moments of both Tiebreaks, and as a result Jannik made the Finals.  Tiafoe gave Sinner serious problems in the first set, but Jannik found a way to win it in a tiebreak, and that was it.  Jannik is the #1 player in the world for a reason right now, as he's able to win matches and tournaments even without playing anything close to his best.  He'll be a tough tough out at the US Open, but I'm not sure if I'd classify him as the favourite over either Djoker or Alcaraz.

I'd like to offer some huge kuddos to our finalists as well - Frances Tiafoe and Jessica Pegula.  Frances is an incredibly talented player thats had an absolutely horrific season.  He looks like he's finally starting to turn it around just in time for the US Open.  Him hiring Jessica Pegula's old coach, David Witt, is probably a big part of his resurgence.  Frances had an incredible week as he beat 3 top 15 players (Musetti, Hurkacz, and Rune) and 2 other incredibly talented players (Davidovich Fokina and Lehecka).  He beat both Lehecka and Rune in 3rd set tiebreaks.  Safe to say this week should help his confidence going forward.  After winning the Canadian Open in Toronto, Jessica Pegula seemed to be on fumes all week, but still managed to make the final this week.  Aryna was dominant in the final, but its a safe bet that Jessica can take plenty out of her week as she beat Muchova, Leylah Fernandez and Paula Badosa.

In terms of FTL, this week was an absolute nightmare for many an FTL Manager as every time you turned around, a top player lost in Round 1.  In fact, our Overall Leader (when the week started) (Tricia - Prepare for CzechMate) had 6 players (Alcaraz, Rybakina, Medvedev, Gauff, Fritz, Arnaldi) lose in Round1!!!

 

I'd like to offer a huge kuddos to Flo (Micro Tennis) for his victory this week.  He somehow managed to accumulate 653.67 points this week!  To highlight how rare this point total is, he won the week by 80+ points and beat our previous Overall Leader by nearly 330 points! Its hard to believe that he did this while having 2 players lose in Round 1! - Grigor Dimitrov and his DH (Matteo Arnaldi).  Otherwise his week was truly special as he had both winners selected as a KP.  He also had a TP (Pegula) make the Finals and also had his Captain (Swiatek) and his other KP (Zverev) make the Semi's.   Its Flo's first every event Win, so I'm sure he'll be cherishing this result for quite some time!!

Christopher Powell (Titanium Pigment), Mike P (San Diego All-Stars), Tosh (Love Means Nothing to Me) and Cam Williams (Tennis Talk) round out our top 5.  Sadly, the event winner was decided before the Finals had even started.  Its also interesting to note that they were the only 4 managers that were within a 100 points of our winner!