Season Leaderboard after Game Week 9

Here is the season leaderboard afer Game Week 9.

Muhammad Aoun Abbas replaces Metty's Marvels at the top of the pile after a great 10th place finish in Game Week 9. Силви Георгиев and Robyn Brailey both move up 2 places to 3rd and 4th respectively.  Marc Sab and Tricia drop 2 places to 5th and 6th respectively.

And we have three new entrants into the top 10. Matthew Markman moves up 3rd places to 8th. Davide Giulietti (Crimini) moves up 9 places to 9th and Sebastian Kromberg is up 10 places to 10th!

There are around 500 points separating the top 40 or so teams so its all still pretty tight as we enter the clay swing.

Game Week 9 was one of those game weeks that I love in FTL.  5 tournaments taking place across 4 continents with so many different options to choose from but also forcing managers to dig deep into their rosters with many of the top players absent. 

Charleston was definitely the most stacked draw of all the events taking place this week and the top players really rose to the occasion with the semi finals being contested by the top 4 seeds,  Pegula, Bencic, Jabeur and Kasatkina.  In the end it was Ons Jabeur who triumphed over Bencic in a reversal of the 2022 final. 

The ATP Houston event had a dismal time with the rain and didn't really get going until Saturday with Rd16 and QF matches being played on Saturday and Semi and Final played on the Sunday. Frances Tiafoe won his first title in 5 years (surprisingly) defeating the talented Argentinian Etcheverry. 

In Bogota Tatjana Maria retained her title with a win over exciting US youngster Peyton Stearns.  In Estoril Casper Ruud showed signs of a return to form by winning his first title of the year against good friend Miomir Kecmanovic.  And in Marrakech it was one of the lesser owned players Roberto Carballes Baena who prevailed over Alexander Muller (who did have quite a few backers this week)

A massive congratulations to Ess Ng  who won Game Week 9 with a great score of 466.85 points.  The spine of their team and the key to success was the TP quartet of Jabeur, Bencic, Pegula and Kasatkina who all made the semi finals in Charleston. Captain Tiafoe helped to seal the weekly win by winning four matches in 2 days in Houston. 

CooCoo 4 Coco Gauffs took 2nd place in the game week. They also had Houston winner Tiafoe and had a great pick with Bogota runner up Peyton Stearns while also getting good points from Badosa, Keys and Pegula. 

Gary Dadey took 3rd place with Captain Tiafoe and KP Jabeur both accumulating more than 100 points for him!

Congrats also to Sebastian Kromberg, Rafaelle Perron, Cleeve Carolissen, Sonja Kessens, Tony Aligianis and Davide Giulietti who all accumulated more than 400 points in this game week.

MONTECARLO - EARLY LOCKOUT

Please note that the Lockout for MonteCarlo was set initially for Monday, but when the OOP was posted earlier today, 3 Main Draw matches will take place on Sunday, so the Lockout has been updated accordingly.

Do not forget that the Dark Horse Category comes into play this week as well.

Monte Carlo Rolex Masters Draw

There is only one event in Game Week 10 - the Monte Carlo Masters.  And there have been quite a few high profile withdrawals.  Rafa Nadal is still not ready to make a return to the tour and Alcaraz also withdrew through injury but seems to be on the mend and should return in Barcelona.  

Other withdawals include Canadian pair FAA and Shapo. PCB, Korda and Monfils are still out with injury and the most recent withdrawal is Tommy Paul who is still waiting to take the court in the washed out Houston event. Surprisingly Tiafoe who is also in Houston is still in the draw but expect to see him withdraw if he progresses through his two matches today.

World Number 1, Novak Djokovic returns to the tour after being unable to play in the US but at 25 million he would be an expensive addition to your side.

FTL CUP DRAW - SINGLE ELIMINATION

 The FTL CUP Draw (Single Elimination) is available on the mainsheet.  Plz note that every manager that won their Group Stage has received a R1 bye.

OVERALL STANDINGS - THRU MIAMI

I've always found that the best time to start looking at the Overall Leaderboard is after the Sunshine Double.  Its a good barometer for where you stand after 8 weeks, as we've been through a Slam, a couple of Masters Events and a couple of small Game Weeks as well.

Interestingly enough, our leader (by 86 points) is Graham M (Metty's Marvels).  He came into Miami with the lead, and walked out of it with it as well. He had a 16th place result in Miami and was 14th month for the Month of March.  He's been involved in FTL every year since the onset, but has never finished inside the top 40, could this be his year?!?!

Aoun (Fedex Superstars) moved up 3 spots and now sits in 2nd.  He was 5th in Miami and was 7th for the month of March.  He finished inside the top 10 last year for the first time, could he finish the deal this season?

Marc Sab (The Champs) continues to sit in 3rd (102 points back).  He was 12th in Miami and was 2nd for the month of March.  He's been a top 20 manager for years, maybe this will be the year that he seals the deal.

Tricia (PREPARE FOR CZECH MATE) moved up 2 places and now sits in 4th.  She was 20th in Miami and was 12th for the month of March.  She's finished 2nd in back to back seasons.  Forever a bridesmaid and never a bride.  Will that change?

Robyn (Thanks But No Shanks) is our biggest mover inside the top 10 as she moved up 10 spots and now sits 6th.  She was 3rd in Miami and 10th for the Month.

There is a little less than 30 weeks left in the season, so there is still ample time for massive changes in the Overall Standings.  Never forget it only takes 1 great week to completely change your standing inside it.

MARCH FINAL RESULTS

The month of March only consists of 2 Game Weeks - the Sunshine Double.  It tends to be a very difficult time period as its getting rarer and rarer that a player performs incredibly well during both Masters events.  There are only a handful of players that have ever won the Sunshine Double on both tours (most of them have retired btw).  Carlos Alcaraz and Elena Rybakina looked like they had a real opportunity to be added to that list, but just couldn't get it done in the end.

In terms of FTL, the final March Results was decided by less than 10 points as Pete Schaumann (Bullseye) amassed an incredible 1477 points and won the Month.  He finished 2nd at Indian Wells and 10th in Miami. Something crazy happened along the way in order for him to get the win though.  He selected Iga Swiatek as his captain and once she withdrew, his Emergency Replacement (Zapata Miralles) that was set to come in retired during his first round match, so his ER2 came into play (Tommy Paul).  If Zapata Miralles completes his match (he was legit injured btw), Pete doesnt win the month!

Marc Sab (The Champs) finished second.  He had an exceptional month as well - he won Indian Wells and finished 12th this week.

Sadly neither of these managers were involved in Option 2, so Jamie Edmundson (The Umpire Strikes Back) who finished 3rd (16 points back) will collect the spoils :)

Btw our Miami Winner - Rydal 250 Sponsor Exemption moved up a ridiculous 64 places and finished inside the top 10 (9th)