Game Week 14 results

 Game Week winner

Tournament winners

Well I guess there is only one place to start the roundup of the final clay court week before RG although there were several great stories this week.

Novak had two big targets this year.  To win 100 titles and to make it to 25 slams.   There have been times when many questioned whether either would happen but as we all know, Novak should never be written off.

Taking the wildcard for Geneva turned out to be an inspired decision by him.  He was desparately in need of some confidence boosting wins and needed to work his best way to his best level again.  And he got exactly that in Geneva.  There were challenges on the way, Norrie pushed him hard in the semi final and Hurkacz probably should have won the final from a break up in the final set. But as he has done on so many occasions in his career, Novak dug deep to secure his 100th title.

25 slams seems a far more difficult task given the level of competition there will be at RG but Novak will no doubt build up his level as the tournament progresses and if it does turn out to be a Djokovic v Zverev quarter final, I am sure many will start to believe he can do it from there.

In the WTA event in Strasbourg, it was great to see the return of Elena Rybakina to match winning ways.  She has had a bit of an up and down season and her personal issues are well documented.  But she seemed in good spirits this week and played a great final to see off the dangerous Samsonova.  Elena has been out of the conversation when it comes to winning the slams in women's tennis but this result might change things and she will be relieved she no longer has to play Belinda Bencic in the 1st round of RG after Belinda's withdrawal.

The Hamburg title was won by Flavio Cobolli who defeated Andrey Rublev in the final.  It has been quite an odd season for Cobolli. Rick sums it up perfectly in this tweet.

Rublev will have been disappointed to lose the final but still pleased that this tournament saw a bit of a turnaround in his fortunes.  He'll be going into RG with a bit of confidence now and no doubt he will once again be the most popular dark horse pick on the men's side.   

Meanwhile, one man who may be doubting his level going into RG is Alexander Zverev.  A defeat in Rome to Musetti where he found a number of unconvincing excuses was followed by him taking a wildcard for Hamburg to get some more game time.  A surprising loss to Alexandre Muller will leave many questions unanswered for Zverev. The French Open may be his best chance of winning a slam but on current form, this one might just pass him by once again and he won't be pleased to see his nemesis Cerundolo looming nearby in the draw.

And last but not least, a huge should out to Maya Joint on winning her first WTA title.   Maya is one of the most promising talents in Australian tennis and looks like she has a bright future.  One of our prominent FTLers has even named his team after her!   Maya did not drop a set all week as she chalked up impressive wins over Konjuh, Volynets, Ann Li, Tomljanovic (via retirement) and Cristian in the final.

So lets have a look at the Game Week 14 leaderboard.

Congratulations to Cam Williams who is this week's game week winner.  For those unfamiliar with Cam, be hosts a popular tennis channel on youtube which features live draw analysis, ball by ball commentary and discussion during the top games and just general tennis chat. 

This seems like the perfect time to give him a plug.  Go check him out folks!

Tennis Talk on twitter

Youtube channel

Here is the head to head between Cam and Jamie Edmundson who was the closest challenger this week.

Cam and Jamie had very strong teams in a game week when even playing 8 was a struggle for many after the predictable barrage of withdrawals.

And the Captain and Key players were identical for both teams.  Both put Zverev as Captain which turned out to be ill advised!  However their Key players delivered with Djokovic and Rybakina winning the titles and Rublev finishing runner up in Hamburg.  

Jamie actually had an extra runner up in Hurkacz but poor performances from Bublik and Baez perhaps cost him the game week. Cam meanwhile benefitted hugely from the return to form of BHM and a decent score from Popyrin gave him the vital points he needed to win the game week.

Congrats to Cam and Jamie and everyone else who had a great game week!