INTRODUCING PER-EVENT LOCKOUTS
For those of you that have been wondering what the monumental change to the website was that I mentioned in the PS of the Madrid post, this is it. As promised, here's the full explanation.
First off, the basic premise: your roster does not lock all at once anymore. Each event in a game week now locks on its own, separately, when the first match of that event's MAIN DRAW gets underway. Until that moment, every player in that event - main draw and Qualifiers alike - is still editable on your team.
Secondly, and this is important enough that I want to spell it out clearly - Qualifiers and Lucky Losers also lock together with the main-draw players, at the moment the Main Draw of their event begins. So even if the qualifiers are not known/placed yet, they still lock when the main draw starts.
Thirdly, the rest of your roster is unaffected until each of its events lock individually. Any players on your roster that aren't in a draw at all this week stay editable too, right up until the LAST event of the week starts - at which point everything locks together. So in a game week where the events start on different days, you'll see your roster lock in stages over the course of the week rather than all at once.
ROME AS AN EXAMPLE
Rome is a great one to walk through, since its a classic split-week. WTA Rome's Main Draw starts on Tuesday and ATP Rome's Main Draw starts on Wednesday. Qualifying for both runs over the weekend before. Heres how it will play out under the new system:
- Monday - both events are open. Edit anything you want, including any WTA or ATP Qualifiers on your roster, even ones that have already played their qualifying matches over the weekend.
- Tuesday, the moment the first WTA Rome Main Draw match starts - every WTA Rome player locks. Main draw and Qualifiers, all at once. Your ATP Rome players (main draw and Qualifiers) are still wide open tho.
- Wednesday, the moment the first ATP Rome Main Draw match starts - ATP Rome locks too. The full game week is now frozen for the rest of the week.
So if a WTA Qualifier you were counting on withdraws on Monday night, you've got until Tuesday's first Main Draw match to make a swap - even if their qualifying match was already on the weekend. And if an ATP player pulls out on Tuesday afternoon, AFTER WTA has already locked, you can still make that move before Wednesday's first ball.
A TRADE EXAMPLE
Heres a quick trade scenario to drive the whole thing home. Lets say before the initial lockout this Rome week, I trade out Rybakina (WTA) and trade in Djokovic (ATP). Then on Tuesday, after WTA Rome has locked, I get a hesitation and decide that I don't actually want Djokovic on my team after all. What are my options?
1st off - Rybakina is leaving regardless. She's a WTA Rome player and that event is now locked, so the trade-OUT side of my move is set in stone. She's off my team for the week, end of story.
2ndly - I'm NOT locked into trading IN Djokovic specifically. I traded him in for an ATP Rome slot, and ATP Rome hasn't started yet. So if I want to ditch Djokovic and trade in DeMinaur instead (or anyone else thats still available), I'm more than welcome to do so, right up until Wednesday's first Main Draw match.
In other words - only the side of the trade that involves a locked event is set in stone. The other side is still up for grabs until that event locks too.
THE COUNTDOWN TIMER
Please note that the countdown timer at the top of your team page is NOT changing with this update. It still counts down to the FIRST lockout of the game week, and only the first one. Once that timer hits zero, its done its job for the week, even if you have other events that haven't locked yet.
My strong recommendation - keep doing what you've always done. Set your FULL roster before the timer hits zero. Per-Event Lockouts are meant to give you a chance to fix things when news breaks during the week, they're not an excuse to leave half your team unset on Monday and figure it out later lol.
WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE ON THE TEAM PAGE
A few new visuals to keep an eye out for:
- A small lock icon will show up next to each event in your team header once that event has locked.
- While a game week is partially locked, you'll see a note that reads "Some players are locked. Locked players cannot be moved or traded." Once the game week is fully locked, the note goes away.
- Locked players appear dimmed in your roster, with a lock icon where the drag handle (or remove button) used to be. You wont be able to drag, swap, or trade them out.
- In the player picker, anyone whose event has already locked will show up grayed out n not selectable. They stay visible so search still finds them, but theyre off the table for the rest of the week.
WHY WE MADE THIS CHANGE
The big reason here was to put a stop to blind lockouts. Plenty of game weeks have events whose Main Draw hasn't even been released by the time the FIRST event of the week starts - and GW29 coming up later this season is going to be probably the most extreme example we'll see all year. ATP Shanghai's Main Draw starts on October 7th and WTA Wuhan's Main Draw doesnt start until October 12th - a full 5 days later. The Wuhan draw wont even be released until just a couple days before the event begins. Under the old all-or-nothing system, your whole roster would have locked at Shanghai's first ball on October 7th, which means you would have been forced to commit to your Wuhan players nearly a week before the Wuhan draw was even publicly available. Total guesswork.
Per-Event Lockouts fix that. Each event's slots stay open until that events own Main Draw begins, so you wont ever be forced to set a lineup for an event whose draw hasnt dropped. As a nice bonus, you can also react to late-breaking withdrawals and injuries for any event that hasn't started yet.
Good Luck :)
PS. As always, feel free to reach out when/if you need further clarification. Its a real change to how the league has worked for years, and I want everyone to be comfortable with it before Rome week.
