Next Gen FTL

2024-04-06

MONTECARLO - MAIN DRAWS AND DARK HORSE BREAKDOWN

I have attached the FTL Version of the MonteCarlo Main Draw, and the Dark Horse Breakdown. If you want a copy, click on the link, MONTECARLO DRAWS. Once you do so, click on FILE, and scroll to MAKE A COPY, and call it whatever you want

Good Luck :)

2024-04-04

OVERALL STANDINGS - AS OF MIAMI

Not a tonne of movement at the top of the Overall Leaderboard this week, as the top 2 managers (Taylor and Mohaib) continue to sit firmly in their positions! Can this result continue? It will be real interesting to see the results of the next few weeks, as its never easy transitioning to a different surface!

The Miami GameWeek was decided by answering the simple question, did you have DanYell Collins in your lineup, and the Overall Leaderboard highlighted this fact, as only 1 of the top 5 managers played her!

Taylor (Stripes VII) has accumulated 3866.28 points and continues to sit in first. He finished 37th this week Miami as he added 610.95 points onto his total. He had a winner (Sinner -KP) and a finalist (Rybakina - KP) and 2 other players reach the semi's (Zverev and Medvedev both as TP). Sadly he ended up with a player losing his first match of the week as Tsitsipas lost to Shapovalov. I'll be honest, it was one of the ugliest performances by anyone all week.

Mohab (Dr. peRFect) continues to sit in 2nd. Thanks to a 59th place finish, he lost 32 points to our overall leader and now sits 58.58 points behind. He had a winner (Sinner - KP) and a finalist (Rybakina -TP), and a Semi Finalist (Medvedev). Sadly, he ended up with a player losing his first match of the week as Rublev lost to Machac. Have to say, I dont think that Rublev is in any hurry to face another young up and coming Czech any time soon lol

Tricia (Prepare For CzechMate) moved up 14 spots and sits in 3rd thanks to a GameWeek Victory in Miami. She gained 163 points on our overall leader and now sits only 103.8 behind. She had both winners (Sinner-C, Collins - TP) and a finalist (Dimtrov -TP), and 2 other players reach the Semi's (Medvedev and Zverev). Tricia is a real interesting addition to our top 5 as she's had some incredible results over the past few years. She's never won tho, could this be the year?

Wayne (Court and Spark) continues to sit in 4th. Thanks to a 46th place finish, he lost 10 poitns to our leader and now sits 105 points behind. He had a winner (Sinner -KP), a finalist (Rybkina - TP) and a semi finalist (Medvedev - kp). Sadly he had 2 players lose their first match of the week - Samsonova toYulia Putintseva and his ATP Dark Horse (Jiri Lehecka) lose to Alexei Popryin.

Mateusz (<><v3.) dropped 2 spots and now sits in 5th. Thanks to a 92nd place finish, he lost 67 points to our leader and now sits 144 points behind. He had a winner (Sinner -C), a finalist (Rybakina -KP) and a semifinalist (Medvedev -KP). These type of top results would normally be enough to have you do incredibly well, but he had 4 players lose their first match of the week - YES - 4!!! Rublev, Fritz, Potapova and his ATP Dark Horse (Lehecka). If this wasn't painful enough, he had the eventual winner, DanYell Collins sitting pretty, screaming at him as an Emergency Replacement selection!

MIAMI - RESULTS

Huge congrats to both of our winners - Jannik Sinner and DanYell Collins. One things for certain, about the only thing that these two have in common is that they won this week lol - well minus the fact that both of them lost a total of 1 set all week.

Jannik Sinner entered the week as a sizeable fave to win the Miami Masters for the first time in his career. Alcaraz may have beaten him the week before in Indian Wells, but Sinner had made the final in Miami in 2 of the past 3 years, and the court in Miami suits his game better than Carlos. Jannik struggled in his 2nd match of the week against Tallon Griekspoor as he lost his first and only set of the week, but from that point forward, the tennis that he displayed was scary scary good, as he lost a total of 20 games in the final 4 matches of the event. In both the SemiFinals and Finals, he made Medvedev and Dimitrov look like they didn't belong on the same court as him. Sinner's played some absolutely incredible tennis since the US Open - hard to believe but he has more event wins (5) than losses (3) in that timeframe. The only players that have a victory over him are Djokovic, Alcaraz and Shelton. Now that the tour moves to the Clay Courts, it will be interesting to see if Jannik can continue to play anywhere near this type of level!

Now for the real story of Miami - DanYell Collins. For those that are unaware, DanYell announced earlier this year that she was planning on retiring at the end of the season, and after being continually pressed on this fact, she doubled down this week in Miami by saying that because she had Rheumatoid Arthritis that if she wanted to start a family, she'd have to do it sooner than later, as it would make getting pregnant far more difficult. DanYell entered the event unseeded, but everyone on tour is fully aware of her incredible talent - so no one would ever look past her. Her level this season has been incredibly high, but the draw gods haven't been in her favour as she's had to face both Iga Swiatek (twice) and Elena Rybakina in R2 in 3 of her past 5 events! But as we all know, every once in a while, the draw gods help you out, and in Miami everything turned around. She was placed in a Quarter Final section with both Coco Gauff and Ons Jabeur. Ons has looked injured all season, and Coco has really been struggling. Sure enough both lost early and her path to the Semi's opened up and both top seeds in the other Quarter Final - Swiatek and Pegula- lost early as well. DanYell lost the first set of her week against Bernarda Pera, but from that point forward she made the finals and never lost more than 3 games in single set as she easily dispatched Anasatasia Potapova, Elina Avanesyan, Sorana Cirstea, Caroline Garcia and Ekaterina Alexandrova. Sadly, in the final she had to face Elena Rybakina, who had beaten her the last 3 times they had faced off. DanYell had 3 things going for her entering the final, 1- the home crowd, 2 - her level was at an all-time high and 3 - Rybakina had played a tonne of tennis to reach the final. Its hard to suggest that the level in the final was the highest that you'll ever see, but there was some incredible quality from both players in patches. Sadly, it was pretty obvious that Rybakina was simply out of gas, and was making more errors than you would typically see. DanYell took full advantage, and won the match 7-5, 6-3! With this weeks result, I can tell you for certain that she's not the only player thats celebrating her victory lol - This result means that she's now ranked 22nd, which will help ensure that the top players will not have to face her in R1 or 2 of a huge event!

I'd like to offer another huge kuddos to Grigor Dimitrov. He may not have won the event in Miami, hell lets be honest, he wasn't competitive against Jannik in the final, but the level he displayed to make the final deserves some props!! He beat 3 top 10 players (Hubert Hurkacz, Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev) in back to back to back matches!!! His level against Carlos was soo high, that Carlos was basically dumbfounded and at a loss for words. His victory over Zverev might have been even more shocking as it had been nearly a decade since the last time he beat him (ya Zverev was like 16 lol). Meanwhile, around the same time last year, Grigor was ranked outside the top 30, and after this result, he's now ranked inside the top 10. His level over the past 5 months would suggest that he's a top 10 player, so its nice to see that his ranking also displays his current level!

In terms of FTL, the results of the Miami GameWeek was basically determined by 1 simple question. Did you have DanYell Collins. Everyone that finished inside the top 3 had her!

Tricia (Prepare for CzechMate) amassed a ridiculous 774 points this week and she had both winners (Sinner as her Captain), a Finalist (Dimitrov) and had both Medvedev and Zverev make the semi's!! Tricia has long been known in FTL as forever a bridesmaid but never a bride (she's finished 2nd 3 times in the overall), so I'm sure that her victory this week will brighten her spirits and maybe it will help push her to her first overall victory! (long way to go)

Robby (Wise Aces) finished 2nd, just 18 points behind. He was one of the 2 managers (Edd) that had all 4 finalists this week. If Rybakina wins the final against DanYell, he might have had enough points to finish ahead of Tricia this week. Sadly for Robby, a first match loss by his ATP Dark Horse (Jiri Lehecka) is probably what did him in.

Edd (The Bestest), myself (♥ SEE-MO-NA! SEE-MO-NA! SEE-MO-NA!!!♥) and Maire (🎾☘️ For the Love of Leadóg 🎾) round out our top 5. Sadly no one outside of Robby was within 50 points of our winner!

2024-03-18

MIAMI - DRAWS AND DARK HORSE BREAKDOWN

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

Good Luck :)

OVERALL LEADERBORD - AFTER INDIAN WELLS

We have a new leader at the top of the Overall Leaderboard!!! Not only was there a change at the very top, but there was also some dramatic movement throughout the Overall Standings with multiple managers moving 40+ spots

Thanks to a 6th place finish, Taylor (Stripes VII) is our new leader. He moved up 2 spots this week and has a 27 point lead over Mohaib. He's amassed 3255.324 points for the season. Taylor had a winner (Swiatek), and 2 finalists (Medvedev and Sakkari).

Thanks to a 42 place finish, Mohaib (Dr. peRFect), dropped 1 spot and now sits in 2nd. He lost a 125 points to our new leader. He had a winner (Swiatek) and a finalist (Medvedev)

Thanks to a 14th place finish, Mateusz (<>< v3.), moved up 2 places and now sits in 3rd. He's currently 76.57 points behind our leader, sadly even with that result this week he lost 42 points to our leader. I'm sure he'll take plenty consolation that he's closer to the lead after this week than he did coming in! He had a winner (Swiatek) and 2 finalists (Medvedev, Sakkari)

Thanks to a 2nd place finish, Wayne (Court and Spark) moved up 18 places and now sits in 4th.. He's currently 94.9 points behind our leader and picked up 72 points on him as well. He picked up nearly 200 points on our previous leader!! He had all 4 finalists this past week!

Thanks to a 10th place finish, Anthony (Alcarazian Domination), moved up 10 places and now sits in 5th. He's currently 150 points behind our leader, but lost 24 this week to our leader. I'm sure he'll take plenty consolation that he's closer to the lead after this week than he did coming in. He had both winners and a finalist (Medvedev)

There was some major movement inside our top 15 as Voltan (TC Choker) now sits in 11th. He moved up 30 places thanks to a 3rd place finish. He picked up 32 points on our current leader, and a 150+ points on our previous leader! He's now within 230 points of the overall leader!

The biggest movement in FTL history (outside of a week 2) is from Jeremy (Kalininasaurus Rex). Thanks to a GW Victory, he moved up a ridiculous 77 places and now sits in 51st. He gained 98 points on our overall leader, and 220 points on our previous leader.

Sadly its not all great news in terms of movement. Alexei (Panthers4life) missed the lockout and dropped 47 places and now sits in 54th! There's nothing quite like missing a lockout after a small week, and not having a preliminary roster set in place just in case! He lost 450 points to our leader!

INDIAN WELLS - RESULTS

Massive congratulations goes out to both of our winners at Indian Wells this week - Iga Swiatek and Carlos Alcaraz. Both of them were nothing short of mesmerizing this week.

When you watch Iga Swiatek play, you are left to wonder, was she built to play on the dirt or on the hard courts of Indian Wells?!?!? She's now won 16 of her last 17 matches at Indian Wells, as she's won the event 2 of the past 3 years. There were legitimate questions for her coming into the event, as she played a truly horrible match in the Semi Finals of Dubai as she spewed error after error after error in a 3-set loss to Anna Kalinskaya and then when the draw came out, she was looking at the same set of matches (Danielle Collins and Linda Noskova) that she faced to start the season at the Aussie Open that sent her home early as well. The surface in Indian Wells is completely different to the Aussie Open tho, and Iga made quick work of both Danielle and Linda. By the time the dust settled, Iga reminded everyone just how dominant she can be as she won every match this in dominant fashion. Its hard to believe, but she lost a TOTAL of 3 games this week in the second set!!!! She played 6 matches and I will say this again, she lost a total of 3 games in those second sets. I am not going to pretend that she played the who's who on her way to the title, but its impossible not to take notice of how dominant she was in her matches against Danielle Collins, Linda Noskova, Yulia Putintseva, Caroline Wozniacki, Marta Kostyuk and Maria Sakkari. The only question is, could she do so against the likes of Rybakina, Sabalenka, Gauff and Pegula. She's only had to face one of them this season, and Rybakina was ill in their matchup. Maybe we'll get an answer to that question this coming week in Miami! Just a heads up, she won the Sunshine Double in 2022, could she do it again?

There are a few other things that I'd like to mention in terms of the womens event this week. Maria Sakkari has always loved it in Indian Wells, but she had been horrendous this season, as she'd had more losses (4) than wins (2) - It was soo bad that she fired her coach. She won 4 three set matches this week as she made the finals in Indian Wells for the 2nd time. She beat Diana Shnaider, Carolina Garcia, Diane Parry, Emma Navarro and Coco Gauff before she ran into the buzzsaw that was Swiatek in the final lol. Here's hoping that this result, will be a great omen of things to come. I'd really like to give Emma Navarro some much deserved love as well. Many of us thought that her ranking this season was over-inflated due to some late season vulturing of some small events, but if you watch her play against some top level opponents, your eyes will tell you something different. With this weeks result, she's now ranked inside the top 20, and as Aryna Sabalenka said, it would be easy to see her be ranked inside the top 10 this season. She may have lost in the semi's to Maria, but on her way to getting there, she beat both Aryna and Elina Svitolina in 2 incredible matches. Now on the other side of the coin are 2 Americans - Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff. Jessica was injured to start the season, and just doesnt look right out there. She's lost early in back to back events, but Miami is a place that should suit her game, maybe her season could turn around there. Coco Gauff continues to win matches, but she's been an incredibly difficult watch. Her serve and her forehand were missing for almost the entire season, yet she's still made the Semi's of both the AO and Indian Wells. The draw gods have been very generous to her this season, but when you are playing this poorly, its hard to imagine continuing to have these types of positive results - She hit a mind boggling 17 double faults against Yue Yuan in a straight set win!??!!? Honestly, her forehand might be the worst ground stroke on either tour for anyone thats ranked inside the top 100.

There was nothing but questions surrounding Carlos Alcaraz as the event started. Even he had questions regarding how his ankle was going to hold up (He sprained his ankle in Rio just a couple of weeks ago). Hell, from all accounts, he didn't look right in most of his practice sessions before the start of Indian Wells, and didn't look right in his exho against Rafa (to be fair, its hard to read too much into an exho). Then the draws came out, and it was going to take something amazing for him to defend his title. Sure enough he came out rather sloppy in his first match against Matteo Arnaldi and lost the first set in a tiebreak, and you could hear nothing but chaos from TT talking about that he wasn't out there trying to win matches, that he was just out there to try to entertain. That he needs to stop trying to hit a winner on damn near every point, and just start playing tennis to win! Well, apparently he got the memo, because from that point forward, Alcaraz was borderline unplayable!! He absolutely massacred Matteo for the remainder of the match losing a total of 1 game, and then beat 3 players (Felix Auger Aliassime, Fabian Marozsan, and Alexander Zverev) that have given him all sorts of trouble in the past in incredibly dominant fashion - barely losing points on his serve in the process. Next was a matchup with Jannik Sinner in the Semi's - I'll be honest, its my fave matchup on either tour right now. Jannik hadn't lost a single match all season, and when he went into god mode in the first set and quickly raced out to a 6-1 first set, ya had to think that Alcaraz's title defense was going to go up in smoke. Jannik, played a poor service game early in the 2nd set, and the momentum changed on a dime. Alcaraz found some confidence and the next thing you knew, Jannik struggled to win points, forget games. Alcaraz won the final 2 sets 6-3,6-2. The 3rd set is something that Jannik and many of us will want to forget as he couldnt find the court on simple rally balls, and hit nearly 20 unforced errors. The final against Medvedev wasn't quite as one sided as the last time they played in Indian Wells, but it wasn't much better. Medvedev ran out to win the first 3 games of the match, but from that point forward, it was all Alcaraz. Their matchup for Daniil is a real ugly one to be honest, as if Carlos plays well, he has no chance. There are alot of pundits that are going to have eat some major crow after this week - as he got his first win since Wimbledon. There was some crazy highlights from Carlos this week (his athleticism is truly ridiculous), but at the same time, you didnt see him just give away point after point after point with a tonne of bad errors.

In terms of FTL, its a reminder to anyone thats having a tough start to their season, that in a blink of an eye, everything can change. Our website genius, Jeremy (Kalininasaurus Rex 🦖) was in the midst of one of those seasons where it didnt matter what he did, players either withdrew or lost early. Sadly, the frustrating results continued to mount day after day and week after week, then comes this week, the Indian Wells GameWeek and everything changes. Jeremy moved up 77 spots this week and picked up 220 points on our leader!!!

Jeremy's team accumulated a ridiculous 794.27 points for the week. He had both winners selected as Key Players, a finalist (Maria Sakkari) selected as a Dark Horse and had his Captain (Sinner), his other KP (Gauff) and a Team Player (Kostyuk) make the Semi's. As crazy as it sounds, the pick that might have won him the GW might have been his ATP Dark Horse - Gael Monfils!

Wayne (Court and Spark) was the only manager that was able to stay within 60 points of Jeremy! Jeremy's team was incredible, but Wayne had a legitimate chance to win the week going into the Mens Final. Wayne was the only manager that had all 4 finalists this week, and if Daniil gets it done in dominant fashion, he might have come thru with his 2nd victory of the season. Wayne was 26 points behind our winner.

Its hard to give 2 much love to anyone outside of our top 2 managers, but Voltan (TC Choker), Alex (Patchouly) and Asen (Referee) rounded out our top 5.