Game Week 20 round up

Game Week 20 proved to be one of the most challenging of the season for Fantasy Tennis League managers, as the traditional post-Grand Slam slump took full effect. With Wimbledon wrapped up just days earlier, the tournament calendar was hit by a wave of withdrawals, as top players took time off to recover. The result? A game week where assembling a full squad of eight was more of a survival exercise than a strategic masterstroke. Some managers were left staring at zero active players in their starting line-up before trades even opened, making this one of the most unpredictable and frustrating weeks of the year.

ATP Gstaad  – Bublik Breaks Through on Clay

 Alexander Bublik claimed his first career clay court title in Gstaad, defeating  Juan Manuel Cerúndolo in the final. Known more for his flair than consistency, Bublik followed up his strong French Open showing with a composed, controlled run in the Swiss Alps. The victory surprised many given his historic discomfort on clay—some even joking it was more unexpected than  Iga Świątek winning on grass! Still, he was unplayable at times and fully deserved the title, adding another layer to his unpredictable but entertaining career.

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WTA Hamburg  – Boisson’s Breakthrough
 Loïs Boisson continued her fairytale 2025 with a maiden WTA title in Hamburg, overcoming  Anna Bondár in a composed final performance. Boisson, who stunned fans with a semifinal run at Roland-Garros as a wildcard, confirmed she’s no flash in the pan. Bondár had pulled off a surprise of her own earlier in the week, knocking out top seed  Ekaterina Alexandrova in the quarters. But Boisson was the player of the week—fearless, confident, and tactically smart. At just 21, she’s becoming one of the breakout stars of the season.

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ATP Båstad  – Darderi Delivers Again
 Luciano Darderi captured his third career ATP title in Båstad, defeating  Jesper de Jong in a quality final. Darderi impressed all week, beating fourth seed  Sebastián Báez in the quarterfinals and top seed  Francisco Cerúndolo in the semis. The Italian’s aggressive baseline game and confident court presence are becoming his trademarks, and this latest title continues his steady rise up the rankings. While de Jong had a strong run himself, Darderi’s level in the final proved a step above, confirming his clay-court credentials.

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WTA Iași  – Begu Reigns at Home
 Irina-Camelia Begu gave the home crowd reason to cheer in Iași, capturing the title with a straight-sets win over  Jil Teichmann in the final. The Romanian veteran played with poise and authority all week, including a hard-fought semifinal win over top-seeded compatriot  Jacqueline Cristian. With so many Romanian players in the draw, a local winner felt likely—but Begu’s calmness under pressure and experience ultimately made the difference. It's a timely title for the 34-year-old, who continues to deliver strong results on home soil.

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ATP Los Cabos  – Shapovalov in Cruise Control
 Denis Shapovalov was unstoppable in Los Cabos, not dropping a single set across four matches on his way to the title. He conceded just 18 games all week and saved his best for the final, where he swept past  Alexander Kovacevic in dominant fashion. Kovacevic had earlier shocked top seed  Andrey Rublev in the semifinals, but had no answers for Shapovalov’s firepower. After several inconsistent seasons, 2025 is shaping up to be a breakthrough year of sorts for the Canadian, who now looks settled in the top 30 and playing with renewed belief.

Here is the final Level 2 table for the game week: 

Congratulations to Nikhil Idnani and his team  nbladeweilder  who topped the level 2 standings this week defeating Violet and her Grass Court Masters into 2nd place in what proved to be another close contest.

Here is the head to head between the two teams.

Both teams ended the week with two winners.   Nikhil had Gstaad winner Bublik and Bastad winner Darderi while Violet had Bublik and Hamburg winner Lois Boisson.  Yastremska was the most valuable player for Nikhil outside of the two champions.

The top of the global league standings was heavily dominated by the 2nd chance teams who were in a better position to field a strong side for this game week and it seemed fitting that Emi's 2nd chance team topped the standings in the global league having so narrowly missed out on Wimbledon. Maybe no prize for this one but definitely bragging rights.  

Here is Emi's team

Here are the season standings after Game Week 20

After Game Week 20

🔢 Rank	🏆 Team Name	👤 Owner	💯 Total Points
1️⃣	ThunderTurkeys	Michael Blomer	9492.935
2️⃣	GOALDIES	Sagar Chowdhry	9469.436
3️⃣	MTL89	Kevin G	9309.924
4️⃣	fc izrodite	Силви Георгиев	9308.997
5️⃣	Nadal’s Forehand	Dragan Josifoski	9261.484
6️⃣	The Umpire Strikes Back	Jamie Edmundson	9222.588
7️⃣	broccoli	Alex	9204.544
8️⃣	Bonehunters	Goran Zadravec	9187.296
9️⃣	NEW CAL ACES 🎾🏖️	Mat Mermoud	9157.120
🔟	Fedex Superstars	Muhammad Aoun Abbas	9133.329

Monthly round up for June

 Here is the monthly standings for the month of June which cover the entire Grass Court swing.

Congratulations to Frank Nokla who's team tops the standings despite some pretty close competition from Rick, Tricia, Tim and Devin.

Here is a breakdown of the top 5 with performances by game week.

Interestingly for a monthly contest, there weren't too many standout game weeks among the top 5.  (Frank's 2nd place in Game week 18 being a notable exception)  but just solid consistency by all the teams involved. However, My Tim will rue that Game Week 18 performance! 

Wimbledon Round up

 Women's singles

The 2025 Wimbledon women’s singles tournament delivered a captivating blend of surprises, comebacks, and a long-awaited triumph. The early rounds were marked by a flurry of upsets as several top seeds made shock exits. Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, and last year’s runner-up Jasmine Paolini all bowed out in the opening stages, blowing the draw wide open and setting the stage for unexpected contenders to shine.

Chief among them was Amanda Anisimova, whose resurgence became one of the feel-good stories of the tournament. After stepping away from tennis in 2023 to address personal challenges, the American returned to the sport earlier this year with renewed focus and gradually climbed the rankings. At Wimbledon, she found her best form, powering through the draw with poise and grit. Her run to the final captivated fans and reminded the tennis world of her immense talent.

Standing in her way, however, was former world number one Iga Świątek. Known for her clay court dominance, Świątek had previously struggled on grass. But with a rare early exit at Roland-Garros this year, she arrived in London fresh and determined. She navigated the fortnight with growing confidence, dropping just one set—surprisingly to Caty McNally in the second round—before peaking in the final.

Though Anisimova fought bravely, the championship match proved a step too far. Świątek dominated from start to finish, showcasing a newly-adapted grass court game built on aggression, precision, and mental strength. Her straight-sets victory secured her first Wimbledon title and a significant milestone in her already illustrious career.

In a year defined by unexpected turns and inspiring narratives, Świątek’s grass-court breakthrough and Anisimova’s heartfelt comeback stood as powerful reminders of resilience, reinvention, and the ever-evolving drama of women's tennis.

Mens singles

The 2025 Wimbledon men’s singles tournament once again spotlighted the defining rivalry of this era: Jannik Sinner vs Carlos Alcaraz. After their five-set epic in the French Open final, the two young stars renewed their rivalry on Centre Court, meeting in a much-anticipated Wimbledon final. While the match didn’t quite match the drama of Roland-Garros, it provided a moment of redemption for Sinner, who had come heartbreakingly close in Paris. This time, the Italian prevailed in four sets, overcoming Alcaraz on a surface where the Spaniard had reigned supreme in recent years.

Sinner’s triumph not only marked his fourth Grand Slam title but also raised a compelling question: can Alcaraz match Sinner’s level on hard courts, just as Sinner has proven capable of challenging him on clay and grass? Their head-to-head continues to thrill, with each encounter adding fuel to one of tennis’s most compelling rivalries.

Novak Djokovic also reminded fans of his enduring greatness, reaching the semifinals at the age of 38. Although he was comfortably beaten by Sinner, the fact that he remains a deep Slam contender is extraordinary. Even Djokovic admitted that time is catching up with him, and that maintaining peak performance over two weeks is increasingly difficult against the likes of Sinner and Alcaraz.

Taylor Fritz also enjoyed an impressive fortnight, arriving in form after winning Eastbourne and surviving a pair of grueling five-set matches en route to the semifinals. Meanwhile, British hopes suffered a blow with the early exit of rising star Jack Draper, who lost to former champion Marin Čilić. However, Cameron Norrie provided a silver lining, bouncing back from a tough season with a run to the quarterfinals, where he was eventually halted by Alcaraz.

Wimbledon 2025 cemented a generational shift—and a rivalry for the ages.

Here is the final global league table for the week.

And what a contest it was!!   The battle went right down to the wire and, as seems to be so often the case with FTL this year, the margin between 1st and 2nd was a veritable baw hair (to use a rather crude Scottish term).   I think its only fair to say a massive congrats to Preston who wins the game week but also to 2nd placed Emi who missed out in the end by 0.428 points!  I mean that's nothing, right?  

Congrats also to Derek, Alex, Craig, Mathew and Rick who all cleared 1000 points in the game week.

Lets take a look at the head to head between Preston and Emi.

The main contest went right down to the wire because Preston had Sinner as Captain and Alcaraz as KP while Emi had it the other way round.  That small difference would ultimately decide the game week. 

Preston had all 4 mens semi finalists plus WTA runner up Anisimova and semi finalist Sablaenka.

Emi had 3 of the 4 mens semi finalists but crucially had Iga in her team which led to a great game week.

Both had the same dark horses in Nakashima and Navarro and both had high scorers on the bench (Shelton, Khachanov, Samsonova)  which could have boosted their totals even further but who was to know that Coco would flop like that?

Well done guys on a terrific week.

Wimbledon also saw the launch of the 2nd half masters where managers were invited to submit a 2nd team which would compete in a specially created league to encompass the 2nd half of the season.

Vladyka takes the honours in the first week of this contest with what in truth was a pretty solid side which he managed to put together with the restriction of a 100m budget.

GW21 - EARLY LOCKOUT!!

There are 2 Main Draw matches that are set to be played tomorrow, July 20th, in Croatia. (nothing i hate more than playing Main Draw matches before Qualifying is completed) 

 

If the first Main Draw match is pushed back, the lockout will be updated accordingly. 

 

Anyways, the website has highlighted this fact all week, but I just wanted to give everyone a reminder of the earlier than normal lockout and help ensure that everyone sets their roster in time for the upcoming lockout.

FTL Cup - Game Week 21

 Hi folks

Just a reminder that the FTL Cup returns in Game Week 21.

Here is the draw

This will be another tough game week to field a strong team for (although not nearly as bad as this one unless we get a raft of withdrawals) However it will be worthwhile checking out your opponent to see how they are likely to set up and see if you can use a trade or two to get an edge.

The Quarter Finals for the FTL Cup are scheduled to be in Game Week 23 (Cincinnati).

Game Week 18 results

 

Apologies for being a little tardy with the update for Game Week 18.  To be honest with all the crazy results going on at Wimbledon in the last few days, I was worried that I would have forgotten half of what went down last week.

But as I look back over the results of Game Week 18, it seems very much relevant to Wimbledon particularly in relation to the question as to whether playing in the week before a slam is the best preparation.

This is particularly relevant to the Bad Homburg event which is a fairly high level WTA event which attracts a strong line-up.  For Iga Swiatek, this is the one warm up event she always plays before Wimbledon partly out of necessity I suspect as she generally needs that extra time to recover from a tough European clay swing.  She may have exited earlier from the French Open than she is used to but she stuck to her routine and it seem to pay off as she made her first WTA final at grass court level.

Her opponent in the final was Jess Pegula who has had a consistently good season.  Jess was  to triumph in the final relatively comfortably defeating Iga in straight sets. Nevertheless it was a tough week for Jess with 3 setters against both Noskova and Navarro and a short turn around before Wimbledon.  In the circumstances. this may have been a contributing factor in her surprise Wimbledon defeat to Cocciaretto this week.  

The same could be said for youngster Maya Joint and Alexandra Eala who contested the Eastbourne final.  Bold predictions are already being made about these two becoming top 10 players in the future and they certainly served up a great final with Maya eventually prevailing to secure her 2nd WTA title while a visibly disappointed Eala will have to wait a little longer for her maiden triumph.

Both youngsters would have gone into Wimbledon full of confidence and many predicted Joint to defeat an inconsistent Samsonova anad Eala to defeat Wimbledon champ Krejcikova who despite a couple of wins appeared far from physcially read to defend her Wimbledon champ.  As it was, the two experienced campaigners came through these matches and it did appear that Maya and Alexandra just ran out of steam.

In sunny Mallorca it was Tallon Griekspoor who triumphed defeated Corentin Moutet.   Griekspoor would also perish in the Wimbledon 1st Round but at the hands of Jenson Brooksby who was the finalist in Eastbourne.  Brooksby has since lost to Fonseca at Wimbledon.

But there is always an exception and that man is Taylor Fritz.  Its about time they erected a statue for him at Eastbourne as he secured his 4th title there!

His reward was an incredibly tough draw at Wimbledon with Mpetshi Perricard in Round 1 and Diallo in Round 2.  Despite the short turnaround from Eastbourne, Fritz came  through both matches in 5 sets with the match against GMP spanning 2 days.   A pretty incredible achievement when you think about it but you have to wonder how much he has left in the tank for this rest of Wimbledon. Fortunately, as i write this, he has a day of  rest!!

And so to the FTL results.

Here is the global league table for Game Week 18

Congratulations to Ukr Tennis (Romchyk) who were top of the pile in the global league this week, 20 points clear of Frank Nokla teams in 2nd spot.

Here is the Ukr Tennis lineup

Romchyk had a solid team for this week with Eastbourne champion Taylor Fritz as Captain and Bad Homburg champ Jess Pegula as a KP.   A solid supporting role from Bad Homburg semi finalist Noskova as well as decent returns from FAA, Michelsen, Raducanu and Fonseca were enough to secure a great return of points for the Game Week.

Here is the table for level 2.

Congrats to Michael Blomer who is the week 2 prize winnter for this week edging out Flo Rnd by the smallest of margins!

Here is the head to head between the two lineups.

Remarkably Michael one the game week with a 6 player team so based on that stat alone, he probably deserved it.  Thunderturkeys actually had 3 of the game week champions in the shape of Captain Fritz, KP Griekspoor and Maya Joint.    Wallet Phone Keys Racket had a solid 7 players but only one winner in Fritz.   Had they played Fritz as a KP or a Captain, they would have won the game week!

FTL Cup update

 

Congratulations to everyone who won in the latest round of FTL Cup ties.

We are now down to the last 16.

The next round of fixtures will be held during Game Week 21