Huge kuddos goes out to our event winners this week - Elena Rybakina, Karolina Pliskova, Ugo Humbert, Tommy Paul, and Luciano Darderi.
Elena Rybakina won her second event of the season in Abu Dhabi. When the draw came out, it looked like the Tennis Gods did her no favours as she was looking at facing either Danielle Collins or Naomi Osaka in her first match, and in most likelihood Jelena Ostapenko in her next match. Shortly before the first ball was set to be played, Jelena withdrew but that didn't make her road to the title that much easier. She came back from a set and a break down to beat Danielle Collins, and after quickly dispatching Cristina Bucsa in her next match, she had to face Ludmilla Samsonova with whom she'd never beaten in their 4 previous matches, and then had to face Daria Kasatkina in the final. Considering their previous matchup, Elena knew she was in for a fight! - For those that have forgotten, her and Daria played possibly the match of the year in 2023 in Montreal. I think the only real question for Elena going forward is can she stay healthy?
Karolina Pliskova's victory in Transylvania is her first victory since January of 2020!!!! YES, 4 YEARS! Hard to imagine but its the truth. Not only had she not won in years, but her ranking over the past year has plummeted. Her ranking was so low (78th) that she was unseeded this week in a 250 level event! When the draw came out, her name stuck out like a sore thumb - She looked like she didn't belong there, and outside of her first match against Sinju Kraus, she made her opposition look like they didn't belong on the same court as her either. She didn't beat the highest of competition on her way to the title, but when a player is looking for matches and confidence, its hard to argue with 5 straight set wins. Could be interesting to see what the rest of her season looks like.
Ugo Humbert's victory in Marseille is his 5th win of his career - interestingly enough is that with this result, he's now the highest ranked player in France. Ugo has been playing at an incredibly high level ever since the US Open as he's now won 20 of his last 25 matches - his only losses are to Medvedev, Rublev, Hurkacz (2), and Zverev. His level of play this week was truly sensational as he made Davidovich Fokina, Hurkacz and Grigor look virtually helpless out there. Considering his current level, the only question is can he keep this up outside of the hard courts?!?! If he can, you would have to think that the top 10 is definitely in his future.
Tommy Paul's victory in Dallas was his first ATP Tour level victory in the United States. His victory this week has to give him and his fans some comfort after a rather poor Aussie swing where he lost early both in Adelaide and at the Aus Open. He played virtually bulletproof tennis on his way to the final as he easily dispatched Taro Daniel, Dominik Koepfer and Ben Shelton (who beat him in their last 2 matches). His final with Marcos Giron was an absolute war, as there was virtually nothing between them in the first 2 sets, but Tommy upped his level, and won the 3rd. When Tommy is on his game, he easily looks like a top 10 player, but when he's not, you see him spraying simple rally balls (especially on the forehand wing). It will be interesting to see if he can improve the floor level of his game this season.
I'd like to offer a huge kuddos to someone that most of us had never heard of before this week - Luciano Darderi! Not only did Luciano win his first ATP Tour Level title, but he did so by coming through qualifying. After this weeks result, Luciano's ranking moved up 60 spots this week and he now sits in 76th! On his way to the title, he beat Sebastian Ofner, Yannick Hanfmann and Sebastian Baez. Last year, Luciano played primarily on the challenger circuit (winning 2 events), so it will be interesting to see what his schedule will look like with his new and improved ranking.
The adage that it isn't over until the Fat Lady Sings or it isn't over until the clock strikes zero or it isn't over until the final ball is played tends to come to mind in FTL, but every once in a while the phrase from the movie Rocky 4 comes to mind - Throw in the Damn Towel!!!
Safe to say, many a manager were thinking that this week as player after player after player decided to withdraw. By the time the dust settled, there were 12 Lucky Losers that were taking place amongst these 5 events. Needless to say the frustration for many of us was at an all-time high - the only good thing was that just about everyone else was in a similar situation. Hell our Defending Champion - Aoun (Fedex Superstars) had 3 players withdraw after the lockout had commenced.
MEANWHILE, as the final Semi Final was taking place in Cordoba, our 3rd GameWeek Winner was looking at the real possibility of having the winner in all 5 events. You can only imagine the 4 letter words that were being uttered by virtually everyone as they looked at his roster - especially when they look at their own and he's ahead of them by 200, 250, 300 points! Vinay had the GW Victory clinched before the Semi's even came to a close.
Vinay (Buttercups) is a rookie manager persay, as its the first time that he's partaken in the nextgenftl, but he's had plenty of experience with the FTL format, needless to say, his team didn't show any rookie hesitation. (the only problem he had was missing the first lockout of the season lol) His team won 3 events (Rybakina, Pliskova, and Paul) and had Dimitrov make the finals. He also had Baez reach the Cordoba Semi's and he's not the only one wondering how he lost to a guy that he's never heard of lol. Vinay amassed an incredible 443 points and won the GW by 36 points - there were only 3 other managers that were within 50 points of him.
Preston (Machiavekic) finished in 2nd (yes thats back to back top 5's - i think someone should give him a drug test ;) ), Greg (Who's Got It Better Than Us? NOBODY) finished in 3rd and Michael Sommer & Eric Zoberman (Rydal 250 Sponsors Exemption) rounded out the top 4.
